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Callard & Bowser’s Olivia, CGC (WP 89233802) |
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Olivia (called Livvy) was born on 12/02/98. She has one of the loveliest
personalities of any dog I’ve known! She is sweet, affectionate, willing and
eager to please. Cheryl is a college professor and has often brought her to
campus with her. Livvy is very well liked by the students! During her last
visit to the college, Cheryl put her in her office, put up the baby gate and
went off to teach her morning class on White Collar Crime. Just as she
was launching into her lecture on the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the students
started giggling...and there was Livvy at the door. She had apparently
followed Cheryl to class by
'air scenting' and went through the library, down the hall way and to
Cheryl's class. Needless to say, the discussion of anti-trust laws ‘lost out’ to
Livvy!
Livvy had her one and only litter 08/24/01. We had actually planned to breed her mother, Maggie, that summer but Maggie never came into heat. So we decided to breed Livvy, instead. We rushed around at the last minute, so to speak, getting hip/elbow x-rays while she was in heat. The vet, Dr Tara Sacramone, said her hips were excellent, to go ahead and breed her but to do a second set of x-rays for OFA AFTER she finished nursing her pups. The delay in sending in the x-rays is because OFA recommends against a formal hip evaluation while the bitch is in heat and shortly after whelping and nursing because of increased hip laxity. |
Above, Livvy (back) with her mother, Maggie(front) dressed for Easter Sunday!
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The OFA website states
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We bred Livvy to Boradaile’s Black as Ever (Sever) with the result being a wonderful litter of pups. Photos of the puppies appear below. |
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A digital image of Livvy’s hip x-ray is below. Considering the fact
that Livvy was in heat at the time her xray was taken (and, thus, showing
increased joint laxity), her hips are excellent! Note how tightly the hips
fit into the socket even though she was in heat (greater hip laxity) and
the poor positioning.
Livvy's Hips - x-ray taken during her heat
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Two of the puppies were bronze! We were quite surprised to see that Livvy and Sever – both black Newfs – produced two bronze puppies! In fact, ‘stunned’ is a better word! There are several photos of the puppies on this page. The one photo that I love the best is the photo of three of the puppies – Hannah, Baltik (the two bronze pups) and one of the black puppies all walking up some wide stairs going up to the horse pasture area. Livvy was a very good mother to all of her children. |
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You can find more information about OFA and PennHip procedures at: http://www.pennhip.org/PennHIPFAQ.html http://www.canismajor.com/dog/pennhip1.html http://mesavet.com/library/PennHip.htm http://espn.go.com/outdoors/sportingdogs/columns/character_ben/1791088.html
http://www.offa.org/hipproc.html
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Chad Ramsdell, age 2, showing 'Best Puppy' (tan and brown) how to eat a piece of kibble. One of Livvy's puppies looks on.
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If you are thinking of getting your dog's x-rays
done, you should know that there is an 'art' to doing a proper x-ray.
For a proper diagnostic x-ray, the dog's hips are supposed to be
exactly even; in this example x-ray below, the hips are not
even and, thus, make the hip joints appear less tight
than they actually are.
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Below, Chad is holding a real puppy ('Best Puppy' has been abandoned) with Livvy calmly looking on. We had the Ramsdells for dinner that day and Chad, feigning a cough, said he was too sick to eat. He asked to be excused. Having been excused and with the grown-ups safely occupied with dinner, he went to play with the puppies. He had taken this little puppy out of the whelping box and was holding her so nicely that we would never have caught on except that things were 'too' quiet....always a bad sign with kids or puppies!
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Two of Livvie's babies, above, going to their new homes. The little male (blue collar) has his mother's personality and is quiet and sweet! The little girl (pink collar) has her grandmother's personality and is a vixen! She is also VERY beautiful with a gorgeous head!
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Livvy taking her babies out for a walk in the orchard. The other 'girls' help to chaperone!
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Shown below is an example of the size hole that a Newfie can dig. To give you an idea of size, the beams above the hole are rail road ties. Livvie dug this hole just before she delivered her puppies...we think that she wanted to dig a nice safe 'cave' for them. Like her wolf cousins, she dug a hole that is small on the outside - just large enough for her to get in - but which baloons to a nicely spacious den once inside. Alas, poor Livvy. All that work and we didn't allow her to use it
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Below are three of Livvy's pups walking up the stairs to get to the horse paddocks. Note the two bronze pups (Hannah and Baltic).
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Livvy's Offspring in show Pictured below is Baltic - one of Livvy's pups as a youngster at his first show. His hips are OFA good, elbows and heart are OFA normal.
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Livvy’s hobbies include chasing our Arabian horses (bad girl!), eating fruit from our orchard, dragging in mud, hay and horse manure through the doggie door (yuck!) swimming and draft work! Like all Newfies, Livvy loves the water. She is shown below at her favorite local swimming spot.
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This photo below is another Livvy offspring, Hannah, winning Best of Breed puppy. Hannah has her own page on this website and you can turn to that page to learn more about her. Her hips are scored at the 69th percentile via the PennHip method, her prelim OFA elbows are normal, her heart is OFA normal, she is cysterneria clear and her eyes are Cerf scored as normal.
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Livvy also loves to go boating with her family. Like any good sailor, she carries her tools with her...of course, any outing in a boat always has the potential for needing rope.
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Livvy is just about ready for her draft dog test. She can work off lead (but carries her leash in her mouth), at three gaits (slow, walk and trot) on command
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