[ London Times ]
This newspaper, most correctly known simply as The Times, began publication in 1785 and continues to this day.
On April 18, 1864, The Times carried a news report on a dog show held at the Cremorne Gardens on the Bank of the Thames in London. (Originally an aristocratic residence, the Cremorne property was developed into an extensive pleasure grounds in 1845, hosting various spectacles and entertainments until its closure in 1877.)
The review of this show begins by noting the increasing popularity of dog shows in England, though the reporter is less than enthusiastic about the facilities at Cremorne. While, he notes, there was some improvement of the ventilation of the main exhibit hall since the first dog show held there the prior year (after which many of the exhibited dogs died, apparently due to stressful conditions, an "intolerable miasma" of odor and hot, stale air), the facilities remain inadequate, especially those where the larger breeds were exhibited. This was a week-long benched show, with the extensive hourse noted here:
The pets and toys which are accustomed to human companionship may be able to bear the long hours of exhibition well enough, but the large animals, the hounds, mastiffs and Newfoundlands, who, in the ordinary course of their lives, never see half a dozen people a day, and seldom see strangers without irritation, are likely to be all the worse for being kept on view to a crowd from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Newfoundlands are discussed as follows:
There is rather a full show of Newfoundlands, in which, as is always the case, there are many of the good tempered hairy black and white brutes that pass as Newfoundland dogs in London, but nowhere else. The few true dogs of this breed, the small jet-black, thin-headed animals, may be seen at a glance; and visitors will do well not to fall into the mistake of supposing that these creatures are as good-tempered as their spurious black and white namesakes.
This reviewer's remarks about what constitutes a "true" Newfoundland are extremely similar to remarks in this Times review of the second international dog show held in London in 1863. While these Times articles are published without bylines, I would not be at all surprised if both articles were by the same reporter.