Child Proofing the Newfs

Many thanks to my cousin Reid and his wife Angela for being brave enough to come to our house for dinner. Although Katie and Louie meet children all the time on our walks we don't have many small visitors come to our home. I warned Reid that they would likely be quite wild for the first five minutes and the Newfs didn't disappoint my expectations. When faced with a family of five coming into our yard and home Katie and Louie were overstimulated and reacted accordingly. They were barking with their sonorous Newfie voices, Louie was bouncing all over the place held in semi-check by my hand on his collar, and Katie was giving them wary looks. It's interesting how Katie and Louie reacted so differently. Although they were both quite loud it was clear to me that Katie was afraid of the "invaders" and Louie was overjoyed to make some new friends.

Looking at this display from a child's perspective it must have been quite scary, but my little cousins were courageous. The frenzy soon died down and we were all able to relax a bit. Within ten minutes the kids were giving the dogs commands like sit, down, wait and giving them carrot pieces as rewards. I think we have a group of future dog trainers here.



We had a peaceful dinner outside with Katie laying under the table as usual and Louie laying over to the side politely waiting for us to get done. After dinner we played with the dogs and their toys in the backyard.



Katie and Louie decided to show the kids how Newfoundland dogs have fun.