[ 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]
In 1867 (I can't determine the month, as the only online copy of this year of this magazine omits each issue's title page), this magazine carried a piece (one of a series) entitled "Other Days," by "Athelwode," that presents a series of vignettes describing fights between animals. One of those brief accounts involves a Newfoundland:
A contest between an eagle and a dog of the Newfoundland breed which lately took place in the far West is worth recounting from its singularity. An eagle measuring twelve feet from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other, had pounced down upon the dog, which we may assume to have been asleep when descried, or the attempt would not have been made to carry, it off. A violent struggle instantly ensued, the eagle trying to use its beak and claws, and the dog avoiding its blows with clever agility, but missing no occasion to bite its wings. Thus the attack and defence proceeded, when by a sudden and successful grab Nero disabled one of the eagle's pinions, and a witness of the fray at this moment coming up with a pitchfork, the bird was secured. (314)
This is not the first time a Newf mixed it up with an eagle; there's an account of a similar story in the December 1816 issue of Sporting Magazine here at The Cultured Newf.