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The North Pole has its reindeer, and come Christmas season Butler's Orchard has its own animal assistants to help visitors get ready for the holidays.

For more than 12 years, Bob Rogers of Derwood and his Newfoundland dogs have spent a weekend each December working at the Germantown farm. The dogs are hitched to wheeled carts and haul fresh-cut Christmas trees from the fields to customers' cars, and Rogers collects donations for canine health research since large breeds like Newfoundlands often develop health problems.

"The doggie's moving it," Stella Kaplowitz, 2, of Silver Spring exclaimed as Newfoundland Carly towed the family's Christmas tree through the snow Sunday.

"These dogs really like to work. They want to be with you," Rogers, 57, said. "And the kids love it, too."

Rogers, who runs a software services company, started working with Newfoundlands in 1989 and trains his four dogs for draft tests, where the dogs pull and maneuver different apparatus such as wagons, carts and sleds, and water tests. Rogers uses a pond at the orchard to train in the summer, he said, and employees enjoy volunteering to pretend to drown while the dog swims out to them with a rope or life preserver.

"These dogs are really diabolically smart and they love to do this kind of stuff," Rogers said. "We wanted a dog that was gentle with people who knew how to work, and they're perfect for that."

Rogers is also involved with the Newfoundland Club of America and judged draft tests at the group's National Specialty show in Michigan in April, he said. Newfoundlands, which can weigh up to 150 pounds, are good at long-distance swimming and have thick coats to protect them from icy waters, according to the American Kennel Club's Web site. The dogs were used in the Canadian province of Newfoundland to pull fishing nets, haul lumber from the forest and power blacksmiths' bellows.

"It's helpful, especially with two kids," said Matthew Kaplowitz, who was at Butler's Orchard with wife Jessica, Stella and Leo, 3 months. "[Stella] likes the dog — she'll probably want one now."

Butler's Orchard also gets into the giving spirit around the holidays. The Dickerson-based nonprofit Operation Second Chance brought wounded soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center to cut trees on Saturday, and the farm is preparing 175 donated trees for the Alexandria, Va., nonprofit The Gleaning Network, which supports needy families, orchard manager Susan Butler said. The Damascus-based Faith Connections will bring in needy families to cut 25 trees Saturday.