THE BEDLINGTON TERRIER. 



BY \V r . H. RUSSELL. 



>HIS dog first emerged from prehistoric obscurity in 

 the County of Northumberland, in the extreme north 

 of England. A distinct breed of Terrier, native 

 and peculiar to this district, he was known and appreciated 

 there long before the era of dog shows; and since he has 

 become more widely known and carefully bred, he has, with 

 all his improvements, retained the typical characteristics 

 which we find noted in the earliest descriptions of the best 

 specimens, and which mark him oif from all other breeds 

 of Terriers. 



The earliest records and traditions we have treat -of him 

 as the associate of gypsies, rat-catchers, traveling tinkers, 

 and such people, to whom he was a friend and guard, or an 

 ally and companion. in sport. However humble his patrons 

 at that time may have been, they were of a class who, thor- 

 oughly understood Terrier sport hunting with these dogs 

 every animal in the country that wore fur. 



Mr. W. E. Alcock, the present able secretary of the Bed- 

 lington Terrier Club, in an article on this breed, states that a 

 famous Northumbrian piper, James Allan by name, who 

 was born about 1720. in a gypsy camp in Rothbury Forest, 

 near the center of the county, has left testimony, which has 

 been published in his biography, to the effect that his 

 father and himself kept rough Terriers. The father, 

 William Allan, was much famed for his skill as an otter- 

 hunter, and was much in request among the gentry as a 

 man who could always show them good sport. 



The dogs that Allan use^d were called Rodberry (Roth- 

 bury) Terriers, and were the ancestors of the present-day 



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