Horsham Newfs

Wellington Weekend

Horsham Newfs enjoyed yet another fantastic weekend away working their dogs at Wellington Country Park just south of Reading. Over the weekend 5 caravans, 1 horse box and a tent were pitched to house the intrepid and hardy campers from our club. A pair of gazebos were erected to create a central meeting area and at the height of the weekend we had 18 adults, 6 children, 1 bump, 18 Newfs, a Leo and our very own lovely little Niblet all enjoying the early September sunshine.

Carting and water tests were our main focus with a few attempts to pass the strict good citizen tests and as you can imagine, eating and drinking played a central role.

We had some successes and we had some …… let’s call them challenges!

Successes:

‘A’ Test

Ebony handled by Robin
Bramble handled by Ellie
Mica handled by Charlie
Freya handled by Dani
Leo handled by Dean

‘B’ Test

Freya handled by Sheelah
Bramble handled by Nick

Level ‘2’

Tallie handled by Keith

Challenges:

‘B’ Test

Millie – every single exercise was failed in dramatic style with the crowds being fully entertained by her antics

‘C’ Test

Izzy – so near yet so far, she passed all exercises except her favourite, the boat jump / tow

Level ‘3’

Mica – 2 seconds short on her down stay

Level ‘4’

Dexter – 5 seconds short on his down stay

As a result of our challenges we realised that down stays need to be practised and needless to say that both Mica and Dexter have since executed more than a dozen picture perfect down stays each. It’s also clearly evident that safe swimming is another skill that both Newfs and owners need to practise. We have our work cut out for us!

We didn’t see much of the children all weekend. They all worked their dogs and proved more successful in passing than most of the adults. They spent a vast amount of time playing in the horse box, there was cricket in the field, a train ride round the grounds and plenty of woods to hide and play in. They were thoroughly entertained and most reluctant to disperse and go their separate ways on Sunday evening. I seem to remember one of them trying to coerce Mum & Dad into a pulling a sicky on the Monday but sense prevailed and we waved goodbye to them.

A gentle reminder to anyone camping at Wellington in the future ….
1. There is no power so do bring a battery
2. There are no loo’s nearby so do bring a portaloo or at least be prepared to fend off the stinging nettles 3. A mains kettle won’t boil on a 12V battery ….

All in all it was another wonderful Newfie weekend away. It was great to see so many members of the group enjoying their dogs together. Long may it continue!

Georgia Leybourne

Ange to the Rescue

Quite often when we all trundle off camping we forget things. Fortunately for the group as a whole Ange is often the last to arrive and does have a garage full of spares and other very useful things.

Recently we had a typical Friday arrival when camping at Wellington. Kev and Keith arrived mid morning to gradually put up awnings and gazebos, sup a few beers and await the arrival of the masses. Much merriment occurred on this particular occasion as one particular family arrived to set up camp.

After the usual greetings and slaps on the backs the first question was – WHERE DO WE PLUG IN? – Now if any of you have ever been to Wellington you will know that there is NO power. As this was explained their faces fell. Guess who had not brought their battery!

No problem – phone call number one to Ange, a spare battery was located and put in the Mercer van in preparation.

It wasn’t long before question number two came along – WHERE ARE THE LOO’S? – Nobody had to say anything, the look on our faces was enough. The father of the family had very carefully removed the portaloo from their caravan before departing their house in order to reduce clutter in the caravan.

Again no problem – another phone call to Ange, a spare portaloo was located, given a cursory hose down and installed in van along with the spare battery.

This continued for quite some time until Ange was finally forced to leave home, another call and the van would have exploded.

But never fear, if there is anything you ever need, just call Ange!

Boat Cleaning Day

What a wonderful turnout we had for boat cleaning day. So many pairs of hands made light work for all the tasks that needed doing.

Spare wheels were mounted onto a re-built, re-enforced trailer. Non-slip matting was added to the floor of the new boat. Both boats sparkled after a scrub and a power wash. The much deflated but hugely favoured white fenders were revived with expanding foam. You should see Millie try to murder one now! The carting course props were all re-painted, the electrics on Wendy’s trailer were mended and rendered in working (and legal) condition. Most jobs got completed.

Kevin and Ange as usual laid on a fab spread with hamburgers and sausage baps consumed by all along with simply dozens of cups of tea.

So all in all it was a very successful day. Thank you to Kevin and Ange for housing the boats all year and hosting such a proficient working party. But thanks too to all those member who came to lend a hand!

Aldermaston

Another excellent display! In true Horsham Newfs style the rehearsal was a complete disaster but the actual performance came together remarkably well.

Below is an except from the commentary delivered on the day.

Thanks goes to Wendy for organising the event and all those who showed up and made it such a fantastic success.

Exercises in the Water

Jump from the wall – Millie (Keith) & Izzy (Kev)
Quadruple children rescue – Bramble (Ellie), Kayos (Ben), Freya (Dani) & Mica (Charlie)
Double take out & boat tow – Dexter (Kev), Tallie (Keith) & Hudson (Angela)
Drowning dog & person – Niblet (Kev) & Mica (Nick)
Dog takes person to boat – Duke (John)
Unconscious person & conscious person – Mica (Nick)
Dogs & swimmers from boat & boat tow – Millie (Keith), Izzy (Kev) & Panda (Wendy)
Items dropped from boat – Odin (John) & Ebony (Robin)
Hidden rope – Tallie (Keith)
Hidden person – Kodi (Sandra)
Multi-tow – Dexter (All)

A Bit of Newfie History

Newfoundlands were first bred in Newfoundland, a country of the coast of Canada. Newfies were bred for a number of reasons but all had a particular function in mind:

Water Based Functions:

Canadian Indians used Newfies to help them out on hunting expeditions, particularly where fishing was involved
Fisherman in Europe used Newfies on the boats to help swim the heavy nets out in a big arc for maximum effectiveness
Sailor used Newfies on ships to help them smell land when fog rolled in
Newfies are now used by the Europeans to assist with life saving based from land, life boats and jumping from helicopters

Newfies are particularly renowned for their work in the water. With their oily coats which aid buoyancy & keep them warm, their webbed feet for good propulsion and their excellent tracking abilities – the Newfie makes for the perfect sailor.

In 1814 a Newfie rescued Napoleon from drowning. Saving lives in the water is one of the aims of the training undertaken by Horsham Newfs with some typical exercises being shown today.

Land Based Functions:

Canadian Indians used Newfies to protect their women and children whilst they were out hunting
Upon arrival in England Newfies were used as companions and carers of young children due to their gentle nature
In Poole harbour Newfies were used to pull carts carrying the fishermen’s catch up the narrow alleys in port
Newfies were also used in relays to transport wares up and down to Billingsgate market in London
During World War 1 Newfies were used as messengers and trackers by the medical corps particularly to sniff out the wounded in the field

Newfies come in three official colours – BLACK, BROWN and WHITE WITH BLACK MARKINGS.

Black is by far and away the most popular (common) colour.
Brown is much less popular but equally beautifully with a wide variety of acceptable shades.
White with black markings are known as Landseers made famous by the painter Sir Edwin Landseer who captured their distinguished markings in his paintings.

There is a friendly rivalry between the owners of BLACKS and the owners of WHITES WITH BLACK MARKINGS, particularly amongst this group. The owners of the BLACKS find it particularly amusing when the Landseers are mistaken for St. Bernards.

Due to the docile and gentle nature of Newfies, these beautiful animals were introduced into family life as playmates cum carers for young children. This type of usage was depicted in Peter Pan with Nana.

Famous owners of Newfies have included:

Lord Byron
Charles Dickens
Queen Victoria
Bing Crosby
The Kennedy’s
Humphrey Bogart
Captain Cook

Harbourdeep Navarro – Aka “Merlin”

Merlin joined the Hawkins household as a very bouncy 8 week old puppy. Throughout his puppyhood he grew and grew and grew! His worried owners asked me when he would start to grow and then (as time progressed) when he would stop. My answer was when he was ready!

As a puppy the one show award that eluded them was Best Puppy in Breed - then Junior classes arrived. Merlin has gone from strength to strength notching up three seconds on the trot and then four firsts including winning his class at the Newfoundland Club Champ Show.

Last weekend we went to a show to celebrate Loxley’s birthday and his last class in Puppy. Both won their class and battled it out (in very friendly terms) for Best of Breed. Merlin won and went on to win second in the Working Group.

The boys will be in separate classes until next April when Loxley is out of Junior – then the battle will really begin and hopefully Debi & I will still be friends at the end of the day (she’ll have a long walk home otherwise!). Both dogs are worked and have passed level A water and Merlin has also passed level 1 draught.

In a recent article for a dog paper Sarah Cundy wrote an article regarding working and showing Newfs. She mentioned that a Show Champion Newf has not achieved top honours in either working discipline – well that is a challenge that we are determined to attempt. We’ll let you know how we get on but in the meantime we’ll keep showing and the dogs keep growing!

Angie Mercer

If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again!

Izzy passed her level B water test in September 1996. This was followed by seven years hard labour training for and attempting level C. Eventually in October 2003 she cracked it at the tender age of 9 years and 3 months!

Although Izzy is not the first dog from Horsham Newfs to pass this level we were overwhelmed by the congratulations received from the members and the number of bottles of champagne that appeared on the table that night.

Thank you to everyone for helping us celebrate this major milestone in Izzy’s career. Special thanks though go to Nick Hawkins who spent hours swimming with Izzy and helped us achieve her pass.

Kev & Angie

How did we all do at the Southwater tests?

13 dogs from Horsham Newfs entered the tests but only 3 managed passes.

Congratulations go to Alfie for level A, Bramble for level B, and Izzy for level C.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who got up early to help set up, worked tirelessly throughout the day and stayed to help clear up at the end of the day.

All the dogs tried hard and “snippets” from the judges’ reports are below:

Alfie: A good start for a youngster
Bramble: Almost faultless test
Izzy: Excellent test for an old girl!
Ebony: Great potential
Loxley: Shame about the safe swim
Millie: Very keen but not focused
Merlin: Went for a little wander on return with boat
Leo: Very sedate retrieve
Robbie: Good try
Brun: Very keen – almost over enthusiastic
Tallie: Very good control by handler
Freya: Tried her best
Mica: Unlucky – needs more practise

Horsham Newfs members should be very proud of themselves for hosting water tests that were very competently and expertly run and were enjoyed by all entrants. Give yourselves a large pat on the back!

Kev Mercer

Winter 2003