From: hope@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov (Sharon Hope)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: Newfies
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:10:56 GMT
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA


Hi-
Margaret's answer is quite good.  I was so astounded by this post that
I could not resist adding my own 2 cents worth of meanderings.

I have not been without 1 or 2 Newfies in my home for the last 21 years.  I
have never encountered a Newf which was unreliable with children.  It is 
certainly possible that a brain tumor or other sort of external anomaly
could affect an individual, but as a breed they are exquisite with children.

The Newf book relates a tale of a parent coming into a room and rescuing a
Newf who is unwilling to stand up for fear of knocking over a child, but 
who is in great distress, as that child is occupied with trying to use 
scissors on the ear leather of the Newf.  The point of the story is that 
KIDS should not be left unattended with the Newf FOR THE PROTECTION of the
NEWFIE!

My own experience has been that the Newf is wonderful with children no matter
what the age of the dog when they first cohabitate with children.  Our Newfs
have always taken it upon themselves to play lifeguard in the pool and when 
shut in the other yard when kids are swimming have sometimes done damage to 
a screen door in an effort to return to their inbred duty-i.e. lifeguard.
(Did you know that at one time in history a required part of the equipment
for the lifesaving stations all along the coast of England was a pair of
Newfoundland dogs?  That they have an innate behavior-NOT TRAINING- which
causes them to circle a conscious swimmer within comfortable reach and allow
for the swimmer to grab any part of their anatomy & then tow them to 
safety WITHOUT ever attempting to grab at the swimmer?  That they instinctively
grab an unconscious swimmer with their mouths by the upper arm in a manner 
which causes the body to roll to a face-up position and tow the unconscious 
swimmer in this fashion to safety, either individually or in pairs?)

Please try to find out how this outrageous assumption  of unreliability 
was made.  If there is anecdotal evidence to this I would greatly 
appreciate knowing about it.

By the way, the Newfoundland was used as a part of the prescribed therapy
for emotionally disturbed children in the 1970's in a study done in Northern
California by an accredited institution.  (San Rafel? I forget the details)
They were found to have a great calming effect on hyperactive children, among
other benefits.  (I read about the study, but never actually read the 
published results of the study.)  I was teaching hyperactive kids at the 
time & brought my NEWF in one day as a topic of study.  He was a show 
CH and a CD, but we had no children of our own at the time.  He entered the 
9th grade classroom as if he owned it, went with me to each desk (sort of 
at heel).  For each of the 50 students in the classroom he (we never 
practiced this) sat next to the desk while I made an introduction "Bo, this
is Suzy, Suzy this is Bo."  At this point he would lower his head to the 
desk top and accept a pat on the head or a caress of greeting if the 
student was so inclined.  Any student who was uncomfortable with this was
not pressured in any way (by Bo or by me) to make contact, yet they were 
well within reach of his big nose & tongue.  Later, he curled up on the 
floor and was so unobtrusive that visitors were unaware of his presence.

Finally, one of the kids who was clinically hyperactive in the extreme range
spent part of the day walking & brushing him as a special treat.  The attention
span of that student toward classwork was measurably longer after interaction
with Bo than it had been previously or was on later occasions.

Good luck,
Sharon Hope     hope@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov
all opinions my own
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs