The problems

Rainier, as we have mentioned, is 9 months old.
When we had Shasta, he was 8 weeks old. There is a HUGE difference training a 8 week old and a 9 month old.... as we have discovered.

Rainier has/had several "outstanding" issues.

i) potty training

She was not exactly fully potty trained when we got her. So, in the first few days, she had several accidents in the house. Not unexpected, just sometimes inconvenient. She somehow loves our basement bedroom landing and has pee-ed there several times.

The funny thing about a Newfie/Landseer, they don't really eat very much. They eat about the same amount as a fully grown Lab would... but they drink like fish!!! The amount of water she drinks would be almost triple what Shasta used to drink. So, they pee a lot.
Fortunately, this problem seems to be under control... for now.

ii) jumping/pouncing

As with any dog her age, she gets excited when she meets people. She is a very people-loving person... and I guess she has never been trained not to jump, as a greeting. Which is very unfortunate, not to mention DANGEROUS. She is 85lbs and when she jumps on me, her front paws actually come up to just between my chest and shoulders!! She has knocked over an old lady at the park and thankfully, that's been the only incident so far. We are very aware of this characteristic and have been working on it. As you might imagine, Rainier doesn't quite know how big she is. So far, I think we have made progress that might give us an "F" grade...

iii) mouthy

No, not like she barks all the time. But more like she bites all the time. She has a rather soft mouth and her teeth are dull. So, it is not like it is extremely dangerous nor painful. However, she likes biting. The vet did mention that she has all her teeth fully grown, so, we are actually not too sure where the problem is. Also an "F" grade on this.

iv) commands

I'm not sure if the only thing she knew when we got her was "sit". She looked at us with a puzzled look whenever we said anything else. The Russian lady told us her name was Oreo, but she didn't respond to that either... ???? So, here's some progress. After 3 and a half weeks, she now recognizes her name as Rainier. She will respond to Rainier!! She does sit, lay down, stay, leave it, come here... all pretty well when NOT DISTRACTED. When she is distracted, like at the dog park, all bets are off.  I would give an "A" grade on this, but since we still have not succeeded in getting her to "come here" at a dog park... I put it as a "C", "C+"...

v) walking on leash (let's not even go to walking off leash yet)
Again, let the "commands" section above, when not distracted, she actually walks pretty well on leash. When distracted, again, all bets are off. She has stopped pulling as much on a short leash. She still tends to pull a little more on a loose leash.

vi) crate training

I am going to dedicate another post just to this portion. But, "A"!!! When we first got her, she refused to go into the crate. Last night, she voluntarily went to sleep in her crate!!! Jessica's proudest moment since we got Rainier.