Chewy the Newfoundland who loves gardening and saving lives

I got Chewy, short for Chewbacca, when he was eight weeks old — he was this giant ball of a Newfoundland puppy. We drove five hours from North Carolina to Georgia to get him; it was love at first sight, though I did not expect how much of a role he would play in our family.

He grew from 10lb (4.5kg) to 100lb (45kg) in the first 10 months; now at four he has calmed down and looks like a big, fluffy, long-haired bear — enormous, and you just want to hug him. His personality changes with the person he’s with: soft, gentle and slow with my 96-year-old grandmother, Barbara; needy and cookie-driven with me; and hyper with my children, especially my 15-year-old daughter, who likes to tackle him.

We live next door, so Chewy and my grandmother see each other multiple times a day and are always doing something together. In April my grandma wanted to do some gardening — she would point to a spot, Chewy would dig the hole, she’d put in the plant and he’d fill it with dirt.

chewy, chewbacca, newfoundland, puppy, gardening, grandmother, north carolina, georgia, daughter, children