Ode to Winston

When I was a child, we had Newfoundland Dogs.

Newfies are big, slobbery, gentle beasts. We raised Winston from a pup and I'm certain I will never feel that same affection as I did for our Winnie. Don't get me wrong, I love my dogs. Winston, however, will always hold a special place in my soul.

Newfs are creatures close to God's heart. Their webbed feet, thick, waterproof coats, and rudder-like tails make them natural lifeguards.

There was a Newf in the icy water saving lives on the night the Titanic sank. There was a Newfie at the Battle of Trafallgar in 1805, a Newf rescued an entire ship of people in 1919, and a Newf rescued Napoleon, in the dark, when he fell off a dock and into the water.

Newfies aren't for everybody. These animals are great slobbery animals and anyone with a fetish for a clean house probably isn't suited for this breed. Once a Newfie touches your heart, however, you are forever changed.

Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog
by Lord Byron

When some proud son of man returns to earth
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth,
The sculptur'd art exhausts the art of woe,
And stoned urns record who rest below;
When all is done, upon the tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been;
But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to wwelcome, foremost to defend;
Whose honest heart is still his master's own,
Who labours, fights, lives, breathes, for him alone
Unhonour'd falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in Heaven the soul he held on earth;
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claimls himself sole exclusive of Heaven!
Oh, man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debas'd by slavery, or corrupt by power,
Who knows thee well, must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
By nature vile, ennobled but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye! who, perchance, behold this single UrnPass on--it none you wish to mourn:
To mark a Friend's remains these stones arise,
I never knew but one, and here he lies.

Newstead Abbey, November 30,1808

On one side of the pedestal supporting the antique urn he had inscribed:

NEAR THIS SPOTARE DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF ONEWHO POSSESSED BEAUTY WITHOUT VANITYSTRENGTH WITHOUT INSOLENCECOURAGE WITHOUT FEROCITYAND ALL THE VIRTUES OF MAN WITHOUT HIS VICESTHIS PRAISE WHICH WOULD BE UNMEANING FLATTERYIF INSCRIBED OVER HUMAN ASHES IS BUT A JUST TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OFBOATSWAIN, A DOGWHO WAS BORN AT NEWFOUNDLAND, MAY 1803,AND DIED AT NEWSTEAD ABBEY, NOVEMBER 18, 1808.