[ Gentleman's Magazine ]
The Gentleman's Magazine was an important and influential monthly magazine in the 18th and 19th Centuries; it began in 1731, ceased regular publication in 1907, and shut down completely in 1922.
The issue of January 1806 ran several corrections to previous obituaries; one of those corrections clarified that a woman's death was determined to be due to rabies contracted from a Newfoundland dog:
The death of Mrs. Duff, it seems, was not owing to the bite of a mad dog, as was at first understood. In the month of March last, playing with a Newfoundland dog, she received from one of his paws a scratch on the cheek, but so slight as not to be perceptible; and the animal, as usual, went into the water, as was his daily practice, and appeared in perfect health. Some days afterwards it became melancholy, and bit one of Mr. D's grooms; upon which the dog was secured, and afterwards gave evident marks of madness. Mrs. D. was under no alarms on her own account, but often mentioned the narrow escape she had met with, from the hazard she had run in playing with the dog so short a time before it was thought proper to confine him. It was only 24 hours before her death that the physicians formed a suspicion as to the probably cause of her illnes; and then not till the circumstance was recollected by her friends. Mrs. D. was in perfect health and spirits till within a few days of her decease, and went out in her carriage only three days before it took place; the immediate cuase of which was fainting-fits. What adds to the distressing event is, that Mrs. D. was in the family way, a circumstance which had been the cause of great joy to the Earl of Fife's family.
I said above this was a correction of an earlier obituary of Mrs. Duff, but that's not quite accurate: it is in fact a correction of a correction.
The first correction appeared in the supplement for the year 1805, and was much more detailed than the original obituary it sought to clarify; among its many new details was the fact Mrs Duff was playing with a dog which "very lightly bit her nose." The dog's breed was never mentioned.
The original obituary, which appeared in the December 1805 issue, was quite brief, giving no cause of death or any details related to her passing.