Last June, Rich & I said goodbye to our darling old ladies, Tasha & Daisy, and have been sad and dogless ever since.

Yesterday, finally, we picked up a new dog, Sampson. He’s a 17 month old Newfoundland and we are his fourth and final home. Although my parents are newfie breeders, this is not one of theirs. He’s a rescue who originated from a puppy mill.

Sampson travelled in style (with a new bed, too) on our 7+ hour journey home through NY, CT, Mass, NH and Vermont. We are pretty well-equipped for newfies.

In this picture standing with Rich, Sampson actually looks a little small. 

Trust me, its an optical illusion.

Here are pictures of Sampson learning about our house where you can get a better idea of what a little pony he is.

As you can see, his butt is almost as high as the counter top.

But for him, the business end when it comes to the kitchen is his face and he has no problem sniffing around on the counter to see what we may have left behind.

We’ll have to teach Sampson the difference between dirty and already clean dishes in the dishwasher. Perhaps he’s considering a way to inherit the nickname of one of my sister & bro-in-law’s former Malamute: “pre-rinse”.

Notice the towels all over the floor. We’ve had a few water events already. Rich is also thinking we might want to change his name to Niagara.

Now Rich has something interesting in his hand, so Sampson is following him into the living room.

Only to learn that no, Rich will not be sharing his Magic Hat beer.

Luckily he wasn’t interested in the Jade plant. After observing him for a while, I went through and “puppy-proofed” the house.

In case you were wondering, normally newfs have much longer hair, but he had a summer cut at his rescue home.

This is only one side of Sampson. The other is that he can also be a little wild which is not fun with a dog his size. He’s still a puppy at under a year and a half but has not had any training. While this will take some effort and great patience on our part (the reason that he was in the rescue home for 4 months and that the previous owners gave him up), he is going to be well worth it. Nobody ever taught him what it means to be a newfie. He’s going to be a wonderful dog.

Based on the fact that I was out walking him at 5am this morning for 2 miles, I also think this might be a great exercise plan for me!