Boomer, a 3-year-old Landseer Newfoundland (Newfoundland is his breed, which hails from the Canadian island of the same name, and Landseer refers to his black-and-white markings), is here to fill that second void. Boomer measures 36 inches tall at the withers (the ridge between the shoulder blades where dogs and horses are measured for height) — a bit smaller than Gibson’s 42.2 inches — and 7 feet long from nose to tail tip.

Even for a Newfoundland, one of the largest dog breeds around, Boomer is big. (According to the Newfoundland’s AKC breed standard, 28 inches is an average height for males. And Boomer weighs more than the typical Newf too, tipping the scales at 180 pounds, with the average weight for males ranging from 130 to 150 pounds.) “