The Newfoundland Dog

(Lord Byron’s dog, ‘Boatswain’, by Clifton Tomson, 1808)

     I happened to read a short historical sketch which had the Newfoundland Dog as its subject and confess that I did not quickly associate the word “Newfoundland” with dog the way I would have if Labrador had been mentioned. I will not say much more about the breeds since my knowledge of them is slight and I would not want to offend any readers who may be members of the Westminster Kennel Club. I will, however, pass along two interesting bits:

Delivery Before Amazon

“The Newfoundland dog is habitually used in its native country, for the purposes of draught. They are easily broken in, and soon inured to the trammels of harness; three, four, or five are used in a sledge or other vehicle, and will convey a load of some hundreds weight for many miles with great ease. This, when once instructed in and accustomed to the road, they will do without any supervision; and having delivered the load with which they have been entrusted, will return to the residence of their master, to receive their accustomed food…”

Dogs Before Dog Control

“Captain Brown states, that in 1810, it was computed that there were upwards of two thousand of these Dogs, at and in the vicinity of St. John’s, Newfoundland. They are left to shift for themselves during the whole summer, and are not only troublesome to the inhabitants, but become absolute nuisances, from starvation and disease.”

Sources:
    The short sketch is found in Vol. 1, of The Cabinet of Natural History and American Sports, which was originally published c1830. In the 1973 edition put out by the Imprint Society you will find it on p; 19.
     The source by Captain Brown cited in the sketch is the following: Biographical Sketches, and authentic Anecdotes of Dogs ; exhibiting remarkable Instances of the Instinct, Sagacity, and social Disposition of this faithful Animal : illustrated by Representations of the most striking Varieties, and by correct Portraits of celebrated or remarkable Dogs, from Drawings chiefly original. Also, a Historical Introduction ; and a copious Appendix on the Breeding, Feeding, Training, Diseases, and Medical Treatment of Dogs; together with a Treatise on the Game Laws of Great Britain. By Captain Thomas Brown, F.R.S.E., F.L.S., M.R.P.S.E., M.W.S., &c..
[To give you something to look forward to in 2018, I plan to do an essay on book subtitles. You don’t see many anymore like the one above]

     The illustration is from: “Byron and His Dog in Pictures”, The Guardian, Dec. 3, 2013.

     I was not aware of Byron’s dogs and only learned about them in my typically dilettantish way. I can assure those of you who are more serious about canine things that much more is easily found about Newfoundlands, Labradors and the dogs that Byron had. Boatswain’s tomb, by the way, is bigger than Byron’s.
     But, even dog scholars might not have known about the two interesting doggie tidbits noted above. And here are some more:
     When I went to look for Captain Brown’s book I learned that it is exceedingly rare and not easily found. After some searching, however, I did learn that, ironically enough the entire volume is available (in electronic form, if not on sale or in many libraries). Apparently it was one of the books scanned before Google abandoned the project ( - that should be the subject of another post). For loyal readers and dog lovers here it is.
Biographical Sketches, and Authentic Anecdotes of Dogs…

PS - The short sketch did not include mention of the fact that by 1815 dog control of a rather serious type had been implemented in St. John’s - “that all dogs found at large should be forthwith destroyed…”
The book also mentions many other breeds such as the Russian Dog, the Iceland Dog and the Greenland Dog, the Esquimaux Dog, the Siberian and the Maltese.