[ Sporting Magazine ]
The Sporting Magazine (1792 - 1870) is considered the first general sporting magazine, though in its later decades it gave considerable emphasis to fox hunting. But it published all manner of sporting-related material, from news stories to poetry to calendars of upcoming sporting events. The subtitle of this magazine was "Monthly Calendar of the Transactions of the Turf, the Chace, and every other Diversion interesting to the Man of Pleasure, Enterprize and Spirit." [more at Wikipedia]
The August, 1805, issue included a sobering story about (for the purpose of discouraging, let it be said) the use of bloodhounds in the Carribean islands for the purpose of chasing down runaway slaves; this article considering the history, the training, and the effectiveness of this use of bloodhounds, and occasionally mentioned other breeds. Newfoundlands are mentioned in a lengthy footnote in which the author argues against the likelihood that "house dogs" would be effective in either chasing down slaves or as attack dogs:
The house-dog commonly used in the United Kingdom, is the barking cur, who is not capable of a dangerous attack, and his use is only to create alarm; and even when a more powerful species are used, as the Newfoundland breed, they never kill or wound, except they are aggravated, of which several curious instances have recently occurred; two are in the immediate recollection of the writer; one, he believes, at an inn near Hounslow, where a servant being detected by the faithful guard in the act of robbing the house at night, he threw him down on the spot, and placing himself upon him, held him there uninjured till the morning, when he delivered him into other custody. Another was, when an housekeeper remaining in a house alone, where a quantity of plate was deposited, borrowed, for one night, the dog of a neighbouring butcher to protect her, who in the following morning presented her with a culprit before the side-board, in the person of a relation of her master: — the rest of the story is too invidious. (769)