Bertha Bear

I'm reading "Marley and Me" for my book club, and feeling the need to talk about my dog-Bertha. Bertha is a shaggy black bundle of love and energy. She looks to be a Smooth Coated Retriever, but when we picked her up, we were told a Mastiff-Newfoundland-Lab mix. The dad was the biggest dog I've ever seen (and I've had BIG dogs before, 120 pound German Shepard, and a Great Dane) The father dog rested his bowling ball sized head on Max's shoulder-with all four of his feet still on the ground. Bertha ended up being what we call medium sized dog-65 pounds. She's all the dog I can handle. I do believe that she has Newfie in her because she is freaky strong. She has the kind of super strength that allows her to break logging chains, and pull the bumpers off of trucks. We really did have to use a towing strap as a tie down, because she broke Max's logging chain and then she pulled the bumper off the truck she was tied to. (If you know Max, you know that we have a "few" cars and trucks in our yard-all in need of "just a little work") Bertha can be mellow-after her daily 2 mile walk, she's a pussy-cat.
We had to have her kenneled this past weekend, because we were out of town. My mom stayed and watched the younger two kids, and I love my Mom enough not to want her to get dragged down the road by my dog. I do have to laugh at the thought of her taking the dog for a walk, or putting her outside. It'd be more like Bertha taking her for a drag across the icy drive way and down the road. I can just see our black dog dragging my Mom away, and her getting smaller in the distance.
"Where is your Mom? I thought she was here for the weekend?"
"Oh, she took Bertha out and must be to Mora by now."