[ Taylor / Man's Best Friend ]
George B. Taylor (? - 1905) -- there are several prominent figures of the time with this name (two of them being famous Baptist missionaries), though I believe this particular George B. Taylor is the one who was a reporter for the New York Times, as the review of this book which appeared in that paper identified the author as a "newspaperman," and a funeral notice which appeared in The New York Times (November 4, 1905) for "George Butler Taylor" identified him as "late of the reportorial staff of The New York Times." The History of the New York Times 1851 - 1921, by Elmer Davis, identifies a George Butler Taylor as "for twenty-six years a reporter" for that paper and who died November 2, 1905.
This book was first published in 1891 (New York: Frederick A. Stokes) with no subsequent editions.
Newfoundlands are first mentioned in conjunction with other giant breeds:
The man who wishes to keep a Great Dane, a Mastiff, a St. Bernard, a Newfoundland or a Russian Wolfhound should have special quarters for it. The best home for one of these immense animals is a stable or an outhouse, and it is hardly possible to keep one in good condition without employing an attendant to minister to its wants and to give it its airings. Even then, in a great city, the animal would suffer. It would have to be promenaded on a chain, or let loose, so muzzled as to render it miserable. Large dogs are not fitted for large cities. They may be ornaments, but they become spirit-broken unless they have freedom, exercise and access to water. (12 - 13)
The next mention comes in the oddly-titled chapter "The Giant Pets of Race":
The great show or watch dogs referred to, Danes, formerly known as Siberian or Uhn dogs, Mastiffs, St. Bernards, Newfoundlands and Russian Wolfhounds are more ornamental than useful, if we may except what they may do as watch dogs and, in the case of the Newfoundland, the possibility that it might save a life from drowning. All are fitted for the country; none flourish unless they have large, airy quarters, constant exercise and some access to water.
The most substantive, and final, mentions of Newfoundlands is as follows:
Have we any Newfoundlands here? Very few, if the correct type is to be accepted as a criterion of value. The exhibitions recently have been wretched, while in England they have been very good. It is a faithful, docile and intelligent beast, indispensable where there are children who disregard maternal advice and "go near the water," provided it has had a few lessons, first in recovering articles thrown in the water, and then in rescuing a child able to swim but who will simulate one in peril.
No dog has suffered so much from the tricks of dog "jockeys" to satisfy an incorrect public standard of excellence as the Newfoundland. The race came of crossing, but the proper type is a jet black animal; white breasts are not blemishes by any means, and its coat should have a little wave in it, but this should not by any means tend so much to curliness as to be what, among women, is known as "good-natured hair." The popular fallacy was that the dog should be huge, with a coat as kinky as an Ethiopian's wool, and the dealers, by crossing, supplied the demand, until what appeared to be uninteresting runts took the prizes at the shows and enlightened the victims of the "jockeys." (17)
This book was positively reviewed in The New York Times on September 27, 1891.