Introducing Barnabas

Introducing Barnabas

After losing our dog, Buster, to cancer, we were devastated and not sure if we even wanted to get another dog. The weekend we put Buster to sleep was the same weekend as a writer’s conference. I did not want to go but at the same time I didn’t want to miss the conference. It was hard. Poor Dave had to drive the whole way to the farm (4hrs) and then the whole way to the conference (another 4 hours) all in the same day.

Emotionally and physically exhausted, I attended the conference while Dave did his own thing. I am so glad I went. I met a very special young writer who lived in rural Missouri near my mother’s farm. When I told her about our thoughts on getting another dog, in particular a Newfoundland, she agreed that they are a great breed. I told her we would have to wait a while because all of our research pointed to the fact that most Newfies are anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000. That was a little more than we could afford at the time. I figured it would happen in God’s time.

About a month later, my new friend emailed me about a dog auction in her area. I had never heard of this, but apparently breeders who either don’t sell all of a litter, or just want to downsize their stock, will sell dogs at this auction. She said most people are looking for the small dogs so often the larger dogs would go for a lot less than normal. I told her to please keep an eye out for a Newfie. We wanted pure bred because of their gentle nature, not because we wanted show-worthy or breeding dogs.

Thus, Barnabas entered our lives He was about three months old and already about 25 lbs. A little fluffy bear, I could hardly stand the cuteness. We wanted the all black, but Barnabas was a Landseer, which means he has white legs and tail with black spots on them, and a head and saddle area mostly black. Barnabas was not the one we would have picked, but he is the one God had for us. We are so happy with him. 

Barnabas, Adjusting to his new home

It took nearly three days for us to settle on the name. We wanted something different. I thought something Biblical would be nice too. We made several lists. I liked Goliath, but Dave said he was a bad guy and he didn’t want to name our dog after a bad guy. Thus also, Cujo and Brutus was out. I liked Einstein, Beethoven, and Sebastian. Dave liked Sampson, Czar, and Moby. All good names, but none of them said, YES, THIS IS IT!

Finally, on the third day I said, we gotta get this puppy a name so we can call him by it and start training. So again, we said we’d like something Biblical. I started going via the web through all the male names and we came on Barnabas. I liked it. Dave liked it. It was set. Then I remembered, one of my favorite authors, Jan Karon, had a book series called the Mitford series and in chapter 1 of book 1, the main character finds a stray dog. He eventually adopts him and names him Barnabas. According to the book, he was as big as a Buick. That seemed to fit our pup perfectly. Then I looked up the meaning of the name Barnabas. It means ‘son of comfort.’ He was our son of comfort after losing our precious Buster, the love of our lives. The name was beyond perfect.

Barnabas and his "cow" belly

The first few months of potty training were difficult. He also chewed EVERYTHING. We gave him toy after toy, and he chewed the toys and the shoes and the bed and a few library books and DVD’s and furniture and the walls of our house. But we loved him anyway.

We found a trainer online and are working with her to get Barnabas under control. She says he is very smart. But as big as he is, he will need a lot of training. We are working on this, and once he grows out of his puppy-craziness, I believe he will be a fine dog. We already love him with all of our hearts and the pain of losing Buster grows fainter.

Barnabas hugging daddy after work

More to come on the Barnabas journey…..Stay tuned…..