Temperament Matters

[marylouz]

http://www.ncanewfs.org/cbarq.shtml

Sweetness of temperament is the hallmark of our breed.

That is what the standard of the Newfoundland says, and is a key element attracting many of us to our dogs. It turns out that the University of Pennsylvania has developed a survey that anyone can take to assess his/her own dog. Thousands of dogs have been evaluated by this survey in the past ten years. The NCA has registered with the University so that we can also see the results of all the Newfoundlands who take the survey (if they follow the instructions below).

A big benefit of the survey for you is that it will also tell you whether some of the things your own dog does are, or are not, “typical.”
The Newfoundland Club of America will use these results to help determine what training materials and information will be of benefit to all Newfoundland owners.

So please do your part to learn a little more about your dog and our breed!

The NCA’s Charitable Trust Management Board, with the approval and support of the Board of Directors of the Newfoundland Club of America is administering a survey on the temperament and behavior of all Newfoundland dogs.

 

[Angela]

Please do this survey. In the past 2 years there have been TWO Newfs biting people severely in BC. These were NOT backyard breeder or puppy mill dogs but from reputable breeders. Neither attack was provoked by the person.

 

[shellyk]

I am totally not trying to be argumentative but I wonder if those Newfs really bit unprovoked. We are going through the "BAT" process with our rescued male Newf McGee and it is eye opening to say the least. He hasn't started the desensitization process yet but the education process for us is amazing. Yesterday out on a walk we almost had a situation...we were walking on leash at a public beach. A car pulled up, opened their door and a dog ran out towards us. The woman came running toward us with another dog on a leash to retrieve her dog. Just one of those would be enough to freak out McGee, when a very loud motorcycle drove by us which is another trigger for him. According to the BAT stuff we are studying there is a threshold for triggers and a bite threshold too. Luckily she caught her dog before they got too close to us. We have also learned that proximity of other dogs is a trigger for him. I don't believe he would bite but if he is pushed beyond his threshold it could happen.

 

[R Taft]

Even the best bred dogs cannot be relied upon not to bite in certain situations. And puppy socialisation is also a huge part of it, especially pre 16 weeks and support during the fear periods.

I think it is good to do the test, I have put Katy, newfie from puppy, through already. the result was very positive, but I bet it will not be so for Rescue Harry..... but I will always swear that the reason I got Annabelle through her agression for people and dogs was becuase I found out who bred her and how she was treated the first ten weeks of her life. We had a good grounding to get her back to being a very social butterfly.... Harry not so, he comes from one of Australia's worst breeders

 

[shellyk]

I don't think we will ever know McGee's early socialization. His first family wouldn't/couldn't give us the name of his breeder. I suspect that his first owners socialized him mostly to indoor things. I can run the vacuum cleaner on him and he doesn't even blink. They had a new baby and I don't think they took him outside much or out with many other dogs. He spent a lot of time crated in their garage . He was really out of shape when we got him at 17 months old. Luckily he loves people and we are determined to try to train/de-sensitize him to get over his fear of strange dogs.

 

[R Taft]

I don't think we will ever know McGee's early socialization. His first family wouldn't/couldn't give us the name of his breeder. I suspect that his first owners socialized him mostly to indoor things. I can run the vacuum cleaner on him and he doesn't even blink. They had a new baby and I don't think they took him outside much or out with many other dogs. He spent a lot of time crated in their garage . He was really out of shape when we got him at 17 months old. Luckily he loves people and we are determined to try to train/de-sensitize him to get over his fear of strange dogs.

That is what we are currently doing with Harry and did with Annabelle and Lukey, my other Rescue. Annabelle ahas turned out awesome, but it took about three years. I now trus her totally. She was mistreated however, hence she was severe. harry is due to socialisation by stupid owners, who I met. As I work with Newf Rescue and we spent quite some time convincing her to give him to newf rescue. She had him for sale as an aggressive dog on a similar page like your Craigs list... it took quite a lot of being very pleasant and nice.... we could not rehome him as he is unrealiable. But he is getting better each day... he too loves people, but is unraliable with birds, cats and aggressive dogs. he loves friendly dogs at our water training. But I manage him, he is not a "fixed" dog, he is always managed

 

[Darwinsnewfie@1855]

I just took the survey and it really made me think about Ella's overall temperament and personality. She doesn't seem to have any aggression related issues, but the survey did make me realize that she has some "fears" that might not be typically. She sometimes gets startled by very loud noises such as fire whistle, loud trucks and trains. This is strange because we live near the city and she is exposed to outdoor noises everyday. The other strange thing that she is most afraid of but wasn't specifically on the survey, is slippery floor surfaces or when she walks from one floor surface to another. She gets so scared of this that she crouches down and refuses to walk. I thought I did a pretty good job socializing her as a young puppy, but now I'm starting to wonder. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to work on these things or what I might be doing wrong. I take her on daily walks through the city and when she get scared of slippery floor surfaces, such as tile, I try to coax her with food. Now that I really think about it, I could be reinforcing this behavior by using treats. Any thoughts?

 

[R Taft]

I think if you treat movement it will not reinforce, but she might have hurt herself on a slippery floor and is protecting herself.... i would see if I could find a tiled flooring that is not slippery, but looks like it could be and work her there. To give her confidence that she is not going to get hurt. the worst thing would be to try and reteach her on a floor that is slippery... some of the Hospitals we go to have what look like slippery surfaces, but they are not. i think it is a special surface. That is where i take my pup as they are all therapy dogs in the future and the Hospital does not mind, but maybe you can find another place

 

[Darwinsnewfie@1855]

There's a pet store by my house that has similar floors to a hospital, do you think that could work. The only concern is that there will be other pets around that could make things more stressful.

 

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

There's a pet store by my house that has similar floors to a hospital, do you think that could work. The only concern is that there will be other pets around that could make things more stressful.

Re: the slippery floors in general: How old is Ella? Gracie was 12 1/2 when she died, but the last 3 yrs of her life she suddenly became very anxious of slippery floors or even changes in surfaces. For instance, we could walk on grass or pavement but not on wooden walks. She got better about it at times, and I never did completely figure it out. I'd remain in one spot until she decided to come with me...sometimes it was a looong wait. I'd love to know what else anyone would suggest in case it ever becomes an issue again. But I do have a number of friends who say their dogs hated tile floors. Like you, would like to know the answer.

 

[AngusMcDubhsMom]

Took the survey last night for both Annabelle and Traveler. It was very interesting and gave me a lot to think about regarding where they may need some refreshers in training. I do think some of the questions can be too black and white about the dog reaction. For instance, Gracie always barked at people...but it was for attention asking them to come see her. Still, this could be a very useful tool in understanding your dog and what training may still be needed.

 

[Darwinsnewfie@1855]

I totally agree. This survey gave me some insight on what I need to improve on with Ella. So, Ella is 7 months and she started becoming fearful of slippery floor surfaces and flooring transitions at around 4-5 months. I noticed it when we were visiting my mom who has a combination of ceramic, wood and carpet. If family members were on the carpet Ella would confidently come and eagerly interact with them. However, when family was in the kitchen on ceramic, she could not be coaxed into the room, not even with food. Her body language changed too. She crouched down, tail behind her legs, started panting and stared at me nervously for help. When she was 50lbs I would pick her up and carry her to a carpeted place where she felt safe. Well that no longer works because she weighs 80 lbs now and that was prob not the best thing to do anyways. The survey really made me think about fear triggers in dogs and how to help them over come these issues.

 

[wrknnwf]

Tried to sign up and it didn't like the access code which I copied directly from the NCA page.

Edited: NEVERMIND. Had to click "all newfoundlands" instead of NCA Charitable Trust

 

[R Taft]

Re: the slippery floors in general: How old is Ella? Gracie was 12 1/2 when she died, but the last 3 yrs of her life she suddenly became very anxious of slippery floors or even changes in surfaces. For instance, we could walk on grass or pavement but not on wooden walks. She got better about it at times, and I never did completely figure it out. I'd remain in one spot until she decided to come with me...sometimes it was a looong wait. I'd love to know what else anyone would suggest in case it ever becomes an issue again. But I do have a number of friends who say their dogs hated tile floors. Like you, would like to know the answer.

I think Ella is only a pup and in her fear period, so i would work with it happily and positive. make is safe and the rewards awesome.... But you have to be 100% sure she will not slip and regress and enforce her fear.... if the floor is not slippery at Petstock I would go there. Look I often ask people for special help. i might go in and ask could I come in before other people and have about ten minutes of training without other dogs. often if you explain people are so helpful.... Also check out kikkopup on Youtube, she has awesome videos on click and treat type training. I get my students to look at her videos again and again, no one can really better all she has done on those videos. there is one on every subject. i have not checked but she might have one on scary surfaces.

I spend a lot of time with my very young puppies on different surfaces and so did my breeder, that is the ultimate, to do it pre 16 weeks, but you can do some retraining to help her. just make sure she does not gt a good reason to be fearful, ike slip on a slippery floor and hurt herself

 

[Darwinsnewfie@1855]

So get this...Ella walked perfectly fine at the pet store. However, we went to my moms house who has ceramic flooring and again Ella got scared. All day I kept wondering why was she fine at the pet store but not my moms. The main difference I noticed was that my moms floors are shinny, you can almost see your reflection. The flooring at the pet store was not. Ella did not slip or slide at my moms even tho she was scared shitless, poor puppy. So I did a little experiment when I got home. I lined a portion of my kitchen floor with tin foil and slowly brought Ella in to see how she would react. She acted the same way near the tin foil as she did at my moms. She got close to the foil at first but when she noticed it was shinny she became fearful. Are some dogs afraid of their reflection or shinny surfaces. I never experienced or heard of this, but I'm wondering if Ella is more afraid of the shine and that's what's making her reluctant to walk on some flooring surfaces. Any thought?

 

[R Taft]

Click and treat..... this is why we do so many things with our puppies whenthey are very young.... i actually used space balnkets for Urhie and her puppy friends to walk over when they were little... they thought all the noise and shine was fun as we made it fun. now you will have to go to small incrementatl steps and reward each....Kikkopup on Youtube has some amazing videos on BAT, LAT or clicker taining fearful objects

 

[Darwinsnewfie@1855]

Thanks so much R Taft!!! I was on the Kikkopup site tonight and I saw how this trainer made a shinny floor surface out of wood and some sort of shinny metal. It even had black strips placed every couple feet. I wonder if the black strips help build the pups confidence by adding stability to the prop. Looks like I found my weekend project. This was very helpful!

 

[R Taft]

Good, she is amazing, I met her in Finland and she just has great videos.....

 

[victoria1140]

Did the survey,interesting but nothing l didnt know already.
I have two hyper youngsters who once Raven is not on restricted exercise will be able to burn off their excess energy and ultimately be more biddable.
They do what l need them to do most of the time,cat and bird chasing is a redirection thing that they may grow out of.

Rumbling at people going past our house less than 3 feet away means they are protective so long as they dont do it outside to people then again l can live with that.

So not sure on it but good to see the results

 

[marylouz]

A word to Breeders:
More on C-BARQ - Full Instructions are at: http://www.ncanewfs.org/cbarq.shtml
Over 400 Newfs have already taken advantage of this great tool AND contributed to the pool of data for the NCA CTMB - a WIN- WIN. Please take a moment and enter your dogs and then - as an ethical, reputable, responsible preservation breeder who cares about the future of our breed- SHARE the link with your puppy families and encourage them to participate! (Dogs need to be 6 months old to be entered).
Here are some thoughts from Pat Randall -
The Newfoundland standard strongly emphasizes the importance of temperament, referring to sweetness of temperament as the “hallmark of the breed,” the “most important single characteristic” of the breed. Occasionally, usually based on reports of isolated incidents at Dog shows or other, e.g. working, events, breeders and owners will question whether we are in danger of losing this ideal temperament. The reports are clearly anecdotal rather than systematic, and highly subjective. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the reports are amplified by the now more dominant social media. With these tools alone it is unlikely we will ever to make any educated judgment about anything other than the most blatant sudden changes in our population of Newfoundlands.
There are three issues that stand in the way of making objective observations of our population. First, is finding (or devising) an instrument to provide systematic and repeatable measurements of various aspects of temperament. Second, is our ability to apply the instrument to a well-defined population. Third is being able to provide absolute anonymity while still being able to access the raw data for individual dogs.
The C-BARQ questionnaire has been administered to thousands of dogs of different breeds and behaves with sufficient reliability and validity to serve as our instrument. It has already been used with service dogs and shelter dogs, in addition to the general pet population. It has a complex factor structure with the main data base having 12 factors (traits), 6 of which have proven repeatable across different populations. It is likely that we will be able to use all twelve in our more restrictive populations, though it is always possible that the Newfoundlands will have insufficient variance to make meaningful measurements on some.
Third, the questionnaire is being collected by a completely independent organization with high credibility.
This can be a game changing development in our ability to track one important aspect of our Newfoundlands, temperament.
- provided by Pat Randall