Luca

I spent Saturday in Denver with my friends Bruce and Mike. We came upon a Newfoundland Dog club. They were raising funds by giving children rides in wagons pulled by the dogs. Bruce noted, "That one looks like it wants to eat me." "That one" turned out to be Luca, the dog in this picture (taken by Bruce). He's a puppy, weighs 160 pounds and eats a chicken breast twice a day.

Newfoundlands have been used for centuries in Canada as water rescue dogs, because of their ability to pull extremely heavy loads. They also look like something of a gorilla/wookie/bear/dog (I won't lie; some of the children were scared). From one site about the breed:

Equally at home in water or on land, the Newfoundland was large enough to pull in a drowning man or to break the ice as he dove into the frigid northern ocean. His lung capacity allowed him to swim great distances and fight ocean currents.

At the end of a day's fishing, the day's catch was loaded into a cart, and the dog was hitched up to haul the load into town. Other Newfoundlands pulled wagons to deliver milk and mail throughout the island.