Newfoundland dogs as hunters? Has anyone seen any soldier accounts or Civil War-era mentions of Newfoundlands being used for hunting? I have not, so I was surprised to run across
this article about the Lewis & Clark expedition that includes several instances of Captain Meriwether Lewis’s Newfoundland, Seaman, hunting. As a water dog, he preferred rivers and streams as his “hunting grounds.”
One of these episodes prompted Lewis’s first mention of the dog in his journal:
"I made my dog take as many [squirrels] each day as I had occasion for. They were fat and I thought them when fried a pleasant food. Many of these squirrels were black. They swim very light on the water and make pretty good speed. My dog was of the Newfoundland breed, very active, strong and docile. He would take the squirrels in the water, kill them, and swimming bring them in his mouth to the boat."
The article also references three instances of Seaman hunting other prey:
A member of the expedition crew noted, "Saw a flock of goats [pronghorn antelopes] swimming the river this morning near to our camp. Capt. Lewis's dog Seaman took after them, caught one in the river, drowned & killed it and swam to shore with it."
When a hunter wounded a deer and it ran into a river, Lewis wrote, “My dog pursued, caught it, drowned it and brought it to shore at our camp." He also recorded Seaman catching geese.
I’d never given any thought to the idea that a Newfoundland’s attraction to swimming figures might be put to use for hunting. It seems like something that would have been useful to Civil War soldiers. Anyone ever hear of this?