[ Dogdom ]
A monthly American magazine (Battle Creek, Michigan), edited by F. E. Bechmann, devoted "Exclusively to Dogs, Dog Fanciers, Bench Shows, and Field Trials." Early 20th Century.
The January, 1914, issue carried a note about a Newf being honored for rescuing a child:
The New York Woman's [sic] League for Animals recently held a reception and presented a massive bronze "hero medal" to Teddy, a Newfoundland, belonging to Olaf Hansen, New York. Last summer Teddy leaped into the Hudson river and saved two little children from drowning. When this case came to the attention of Mrs. James Speyer, president of the league, she immediately arranged for the reception and the giving of the medal, which hereafter is to be to heroic dogdom what the Carnegie medal is to heroic humanking. (667)
The "Carnegie medal" is awarded by the Carnegie Hero fund to "individuals in the United States and Canada who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others" (Carnegie Hero Fund Commission website). Not to be confused with the British literary award also known as the "Carnegie medal."
The New York Women's League for Animals grew out of a Women's Auxiliary branch of the ASPCA, incorporating separately as the Women's League for Animals in May of 1910. Their main purpose was to build an animal hospital, which opened in 1914, eventually becoming the Animal Medical Center, which continues in operation as both an animal hospital and post-graduate veterinary training center in New York City to this day. It is the largest non-profit animal hospital in the world.