I stumbled upon a curious book the other day while browsing around a bookstore. It’s called Life Among the Giants, by William Ball. Mr. Ball lives with his family in Eastern Ontario. In his case, family includes four Newfoundland dogs. Since I have two Newfs at home, I bought the book and was anxious to read about his experiences.

I enjoyed the book, which provides the readers with the story of their family’s involvement with the breed and a number of anecdotes about life with a houseful of giant dogs. There are also quite a few black and white photos of dogs and family.

Life Among the Giants was a fun overview. As someone already living with Newfs, though, I was left wanting lots more detail, from care to stories. I was left with lots of questions and wanting lots more stories. The book is only 143 pages long and photos take up quite a few of those pages. With up to four of these wonderful big oafs around the house, the potential for misadventures must be enormous. There was a lot of potential to take the book to another level and get deeper into the character of the family as well. Still, if you’re considering adopting a Newfoundland, I recommend the book. It gives a taste of their personalities as well as a good idea of the broad range of activity level between younger and older Newfs.