THE BEDLINGTON TERRIER 227 



and has plenty of courage. If anything, indeed, his pluck is 

 too insistent. 



The standard of points as adopted by the National Bedling- 

 ton Terrier and The Yorkshire Bedlington Terrier Clubs is as 

 follows : 



Skull Narrow, but deep and rounded ; high at the occiput, and 

 covered with a nice silky tuft or topknot. Muzzle Long, tapering, 

 sharp and muscular, as little stop as possible between the eyes, so as 

 to form nearly a line from the nose-end along the joint of skull to the 

 occiput. The lips close fitting and without flew. Eyes Should be 

 small and well sunk in the head. The blues should have a dark eye, 

 the blues and tans ditto, with amber shades ; livers and sandies, a 

 light brown eye. Nose Large, well angled ; blues and blues and tans 

 should have black noses, livers and sandies flesh-coloured. Teeth 

 Level or pincher-jawed. Ears Moderately large, well formed, flat 

 to the cheek, thinly covered and tipped with fine silky hair. They 

 should be filbert shaped. Legs Of moderate length, not wide apart, 

 straight and square set, and with good-sized feet, which are rather long. 

 Tail Thick at the root, tapering to a point, slightly feathered on 

 lower side, 9 inches to 11 inches long and scimitar shaped. Neck and 

 Shoulders Neck long, deep at base, rising well from the shoulders, 

 which should be flat. Body Long and well-proportioned, flat ribbed, 

 and deep, not wide in chest, slightly arched back, well ribbed up, with 

 light quarters. Coat Hard, with close bottom, and not lying flat to 

 sides. Colour Dark blue, blue and tan, liver, liver and tan, sandy, 

 or sandy and tan. Height About 15 inches to 16 inches. Weight 

 Dogs about 24 pounds ; bitches about 22 pounds. General Appearance 

 He is a light-made, lathy dog, but not shelly. 



There is a tendency nowadays towards excess of size in 

 the Bedlington. It is inclined to be too long in the body and 

 too leggy, which, if not checked, will spoil the type of the 

 breed. It is, therefore, very important that size should be 

 more studied by judges than is at present the case. The faults 

 referred to are doubtless the result of breeding for exception- 

 ally long heads, which seem to be the craze just now, and, of 

 course, one cannot get extra long heads without proportion- 

 ately long bodies and large size. If it were possible to do so, 

 then the dog would become a mere caricature. 



As a sporting terrier the Bedlington holds a position in the 

 first rank. He is very fast and enduring, and exceedingly 

 pertinacious, and is equally at home on land and in water. 

 He will work an otter, draw a badger, or bolt a fox, and he has 



