The Bedlington Terrier 467 



and perhaps the records of a few packs of English fox hounds, for there are 

 plenty of Bedlingtons that can be traced back to dogs of W. Clark's breeding, 

 and he traced his dog Scamp back to Squire Trevelyan's Old Flint, a dog 

 whelped in 1782. There are no end of broken lines in such a pedigree as 

 that, besides which we know absolutely nothing as to what Old Flint looked 

 like, and simply to suppose that Flint was a Bedlington such as we have 

 to-day because Bedlingtons can be traced back to him is absurd. Further 

 than that, we know as a matter of fact that some of the dogs of about 1820 

 named in this old pedigree were not Bedlingtons at all. At least one 

 famous bitch was brought from Staffordshire with a company of nail makers 

 who settled in the neighbourhood of Rothbury, by which name the breed 

 was known until quite recently. A pack of fox hounds was kept there, 

 and as a matter of fact these were simply the local terriers used to go 

 to earth. 



As late as 1875 Mr. Pickett, to whom more than any other person was 

 due the elevation of the variety into the station of a recognised breed, wrote 

 to the Live Stock Journal of London, and gave the dog no other name than 

 a northern counties fox terrier. He wrote as follows in introducing a 

 description of the breed : " I have in my possession the original copy of 

 Tyneside's pedigree, dated 1839, signed by the late Mr. Joseph Aynsley, 

 who was one of the first breeders of this class of dog, and who also acted 

 as judge at the first Bedlington show, and quote the following as a description 

 of what a northern counties fox terrier should be, viz.: 'Colour: Liver, 

 sandy, blue-black, or tan. Shape: The jaw rather long and small, but 

 muscular; the head high and narrow, with a silky tuft on top; the hair 

 rather wiry on the back; the eyes small and rather sunk; the ears long and 

 hanging close to the cheeks, and slightly feathered at the tips; the neck 

 long and muscular, rising well from the shoulder; the chest deep, but 

 narrow, the body well proportioned and the ribs flat; the legs must be long 

 in proportion to the body, the thinner the hips are the better; the tail small 

 and tapering, and slightly feathered. Altogether he is a lathy made dog.'" 

 From the manner in which this description is introduced the supposition 

 is that it is copied from the pedigree referred to, and it is within quotation 

 marks in the original letter in the Live Stock Journal, showing that it is not 

 Pickett's own. 



The standard of the Bedlington Terrier Club, adopted thirty years ago, 

 has been more recently condensed as follows: 



