[The people of Labrador and Newfoundland] are extravagantly fond of the canine race — and the noble animal known as the Newfoundland dog, may be said to be almost necessary to their existence. Every family has one or more of them. He is an inmate of the hut, and fares almost as well as the children of the family. Whenever the little ones go to their sports, the dog accompanies them, watches them while at play, and escorts them safely home. Should one of the little urchins fall into the water, the dog will rescue him from drowning; and the habits and services of the faithful animal endear him to every inhabitant of the island. This dog, of the genuine Newfoundland breed, has a remarkably pleasing countenance, is exceedingly docile, and of great size and sagacity. They are so strong, that the inhabitants often yoke them in pairs to a light sledge, and in the winter haul their wood from the forests three or four miles in the interior. In the performance of this task, they are so expert as to need no drivers. After having delivered their load, they will return to the woods if their masters remain, and are then rewarded with something to eat. The feet of this dog are more palmated than those of other species, which structure enables it to swim very fast, to dive easily, and bring up any thing from the bottom of the water. It is indeed, almost as fond of the water as if it were an amphibious animal. So sagacious is it, and so prompt in lending assistance, that it has saved the lives of numberless persons, who were on the point of drowning; and this circumstance, together with its uniform good temper, has justly rendered it a universal favorite.
Innumerable anecdotes are related of the sagacity of the Newfoundland dog, one of which I will mention. A short time before I visited the island, a little child belonging to a family living but a few rods distant from the shore, strayed away and climbed up on one of the fish stages, that are built to overhang the water, so that in dressing the fish the offals maybe swept off into the sea. The little fellow in running about on the stage, accidentally fell off into the water, where it was twelve feet deep. The old dog, who had been snoozing away upon the shore, the instant he heard the splash in the water, jumped in after the child, and seizing it by its clothes, dragged the little suffer out of the water, and leaving it, ran to the door of the house, and setting up a dismal howl, at once alarmed the mother of the child. Following the dog, who bounded back to the object of its care, she found that her child was saved, and clasped him to her bosom. (68 - 71)