[ Gentleman's Magazine ]
The Gentleman's Magazine was an important and influential monthly magazine in the 18th and 19th Centuries; it began in 1731, ceased regular publication in 1907, and shut down completely in 1922.
The September 1818 issue featured an article entitled "Remarkable Instances of Sagacity in Dogs," authorship attributed only to "F." The author writers of a dog, named Tray, who was temporarily left by his master, who was traveling from Scotland to London, in the care of a landlord, and while in that landlord's care was "frequently assaulted" by another dog on the property. So Tray decides to get some muscle to help deal with his problem:
Tray submitted with admirable forebearance for some time, but his patience being exhausted, and oppression becoming daily more irksome, he quietly took his departure. After an absence of several days, he returned in company with a large Newfoundland dog, made up directly to his tyrannical assailant, and, so assisted, very nearly beat him to death. The stranger then retired, and was seen no more, and Tray remained unmolested until the return of his master.
It seems Tray had returned to Scotland to get the Newfie's help, at least as far as his owner was concerned, for he believed that Tray
had absolutely journeyed into Scotland to relate his ill treatment, and to bespeak the good offices of his friend who had been the companion of his journey back, and his assistant in punishing the aggressor. It proved to have been so; for, on arriving at his home in the Highlands, and inquiring into particulars, he found, as he expected, that much surprise, and some uneasiness, had been excited by the return of Tray alone; by the two dogs, after meeting, going off together; and by the Newfoundlander, after an absence of several days, coming back again foot sore, and nearly starved.
This strains credulity. The inn where Tray's owner left Tray (while he went into the City of London) was located in St. Alban's, a town on the far north edge of the London metropolitan area. Tray and his owner, we are told, lived in the Scottish Highlands — a good 350 miles away from St. Alban's, if not more. For a dog to cover that distance in "several days" is impossible, unless one has a very generous definition of "several days."
To his credit, the author of this piece expresses his own incredulity, for he introduces the above episode as follows:
The following is a more curious fact, and was related to me under circumstances which leave it on my mind without the possibility of doubt; and yet 'tis strange, 'tis passing strange!
To put it mildly....