A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much.
~Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
Newfoundland terriers are a breed well beloved and oft-commemorated through history. The poet Lord Byron left a famous inscription on the burial site of his own Newfie, named Boatswain, and is infamous for his extreme devotion to the dog. Several presidents and politicians have kept Newfies as pets, including Rutherford B. Hayes, James Buchanan, and Robert F. Kennedy. Noted explorers Lewis and Clark took their Newfie, Seaman, with them on their expedition. British painter and sculptor Edwin Landseer often used Newfies as his subjects in his paintings, like the one shown here below, and subsequently became the namesake of the Landseer breed of Newfies. Continue reading Newfoundland Dog Breed - Gentle Giants . . .
