 In his book Excursions In and About Newfoundland During the Years 1839 and 1840 , the geologist Joseph Beete Jukes describes the St. John 's water dog . " A thin , short @-@ haired , black dog came off @-@ shore to us to @-@ day . The animal was of a breed very different from what we understand by the term Newfoundland dog in England . He had a thin , tapering snout , a long thin tail , and rather thin , but powerful legs , with a lank body , – the hair short and smooth . " wrote Jukes . " These are the most abundant dogs in the country ... They are no means handsome , but are generally more intelligent and useful than the others ... I observed he once or twice put his foot in the water and paddled it about . This foot was white , and Harvey said he did it to " toil " or entice the fish . The whole proceeding struck me as remarkable , more especially as they said he had never been taught anything of the kind . " 
