[ The Dog Fancier ]
This American magazine (Battle Creek, MI) began publication in 1891.
The December, 1904, issue carried a report, somewhat paradoxical given other articles remarking on the waning popularity of the Newfoundland breed, that there was so much demand for Newfoundlands that good examples were hard to find, a phenomenon noted by other dog fanciers at the time (see the note at the bottom of this page).
A press dispatch, dated Washington, D. C., Nov. 5, 1904, says: — The demand for Newfoundland dogs has been so great of late that a dealer in this city declares the supply has been exhausted, that he is unable to obtain a single thoroughbred specimen. He wrote a short time ago to the American Consul at St. Johns, N. F., asking him at what price he could obtain thoroughbred dogs there. The Consul replied that he had made an investigation and found that Newfoundland pups could be bought at $10 apiece. The dealer prepared to give an order for ten young dogs. Before sending, however, he received further information from the Consul that further investigation demonstrated the fact that there was not, as far as he could ascertain, a thoroughbred Newfoundland dog in the whole island, all having been crossed with hounds and other dogs.
The Consul staed that he learned that the only person known to possess a pure breed of Newfoundland dogs was a man in Pennsylvania. The dealer wrote to the latter, only to be told that the demand for his dogs was much greater than he could supply, and that orders had been placed which precluded any more for several years.
"It is well known," said the dealer, "that the smooth breed of Newfoundland is extinct, but that the other varieties are so nearly so as to render the obtaining of one practically an impossibility has come upon me in the nature of a surprise. The smooth Newfoundland has a rather small head and was white in color, with black spots. The breed desired now, which I have been endeavoring to obtain, is the very large sort, with broad muzzle, head raised, noble expression, waved or curly coat, and bushy curled tail; black and white in color. A smaller almost black breed is also desired, though to a less extent and is about as difficult to obtain." (11)
The idea that the Newfoundland was a vanishing breed was touched on in a surprising number of magazine articles and books in the early years of the 20th Century. For discussion of the idea, see this article here at The Cultured Newf.