The first issue of 2020 arrived! With so much “stuff” in the mailbox these days, there is less cause for joy when opening the mailbox, but then the Newf Tide arrives!
It is the spring of 2020, however, so all mail goes into a “holding” location before it is opened. When the time comes, lapsing in judgment as with other times, I start heating the glass kettle of water for a cup of coffee and begin perusing. Something broke my focus long enough to rescue the kettle. (Borosilicate glass kettles are harder and harder to find.) Most of the water was gone, so I started again. Coffee in the morning with the Newf Tide on a Friday – so many good things at one time!
It has become my habit to read from back to front, checking in on what the Board and committees have been doing, moving through the photos from working events and conformation shows, then looking at the show placements. There are some familiar Newfs, clearly relatives of one or another I’ve known, and there are familiar expressions, heads, coats and structures from different breeders’ lines.
Then there are the stories, and there was one in this issue that fully captured my attention: “Pure Instinct”, by Stacy Kipp. The story was remarkable, but her interactions with her Newf, Oso, were most striking. I may need to quit joking about the Newfs trying to telepath their communications. Her description of Oso “planting an image in her brain” was very clear, an image that is more data than visual, and her willingness to trust him shows the value of investing in your relationship with your Newf.
Note: “Pure Instinct” is a story published in the first quarter 2020 issue of Newf Tide, available by subscription or as a member benefit from the Newfoundland Club of America.
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