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the miners round about Bedlington-a village in Northumberland, from which the dog takes its name -trained the best specimens, and would not dispose of them for "untold gold." That he was a game, useful terrier goes without saying, or he would not have survived; but, like others of his race, he was the result of judicious crossing with local dogs, and did not owe his origin, or any part of it, to foreign importation.

It is most unpatriotic for writers on canine matters to fly back for the origin of our best dogs to foreign countries. Even this has been done with the Bedlington, as was the case with the Dandie Dinmont terrier. The latter was said to have got its crooked fore legs and peculiar shoulders from a cross with the German dachshund, the writer to that effect forgetting that what would produce it on the one would do so on the other, viz., a long heavy body, too much for the little legs to support without giving way under its weight. Of the Bedlington, it was said that the strain had been brought, about the year 1820, from Holland by a weaver who settled near Longhorsley; but all the Holland there has been about him was that Mr. Taprell Holland was one of his great supporters twenty-four years ago, and a leading exhibitor of the variety in its earlier days.

In the Field, 1869, there was a capital illustration

of two Bedlington terriers, belonging to Mr. Holland, named Peachem and Fan; the former 21lb. in weight, the latter 15lb. The character given these two dogs and others of the same strain was so high that inquiries were then made as to their history, and these resulted in the publication of all that could be obtained of the history of this variety. Little, however, appears to have been known of them out of their own locality, but that they had claims to be quite distinct from other terriers was at once allowed, and thus their popularity to a certain extent followed. A correspondent in 1869 wrote in the Field:

"This valuable dog was first brought over the Border from Hawick, about seventy or eighty years ago, by Mr. Luke Cowney; from him Mr. Selby, of Biddlestone, got the breed; and from thence a few were brought to Morpeth by Mr. Cowney's son, where they first became more general. Bedlington, which is close to Morpeth, was a noted place for dog fanciers, and they soon bred a large number of these terriers, and they quickly spread all over the country; hence the name they now have of Bedlington. They are pretty general in the district between the Coquet and the Tyne, but have been bred in and in to a damaging extent, hence no doubt the delicacy sometimes alluded to, although

under any circumstances they are delicate feeders. They are very speedy and enduring dogs, and are greatly valued by the pitmen for rabbit coursing and dog racing; they are sharp dogs with ferrets, and are very plucky, and will work an otter famously, giving good tongue-quite a hound's voice. I cannot imagine a more useful dog, and they are invaluable for keeping rabbits down in young plantations. The following are, I believe, the main points. of a true Bedlington: muzzle fine, longish, and rather pointed; flesh-coloured nose; ears drooping and lying close to the head; eyes close to one another, hazel or reddish-coloured and small; the hair on top of head much finer than coat, and lighter in colour; they are long in the leg, with straight toes, well split, long, and turned out, often one more so than the other; they stand about from 14 in. to 15in. at the shoulder; shoulder blades at the top well apart; the barrel large and chest deep; tail fine and pointed, but covered with wiry hair; the coat is fine, but not silky, and rather thin; their colour is very much that of dressed flax, with sometimes a little more red in it. From the texture and colour of the coat, they are also called the linty-haired terrier."

With a character such as the above there is no wonder that there came a run on the Bedlington terrier, though some correspondents had written of

him as a dainty feeder and a "bad doer" generally, which in many cases he remains to the present day. Following the above came other communications, all pretty much to the same effect, and great praise was given to a dog known as Ainsley's Piper, which lived between 1820 and 1830, and claimed by many to be the best of his race. This dog had attained a reputation for great pluck and courage. He was entered to badger when but eight months old, and from that time until he was almost blind was fully employed with the otter, fox, foulmart, badger, and vermin of all kinds. When fourteen years of age, grey and toothless, he drew a badger which other terriers had failed to move, but shortly before this old Piper was a hero in another quarter. In 1835 Mrs. Ainsley was in the harvest field and had left her four months old baby in a basket under the hedge with old Piper in charge. A ferocious sow came prowling around when the labourers were out of hearing, and attempted to get at the child, which no doubt pig-like it would have devoured. But Piper would allow nothing of the kind, and kept the creature at bay until assistance came, and the grunter, much against its will, was driven off to the stye, shortly afterwards to be destroyed. was always believed that Piper saved the baby's life, and so the poor old dog was duly cherished, as

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were all his progeny, for the canny Northumbrians loved their children as well as they did the sport given them by their dogs. Piper was fifteen years old when he died, and to this day his name and blood are valued in the pedigrees of the Bedlington terrier.

In 1869 the following interesting and valuable history of this breed appeared in the Field, and has been copied since without proper acknowledgement:

Owing to the interest lately evinced in the Bedlington terrier in the pages of the Field, I am encouraged to contribute my quota of information. But, as I find myself in opposition to most of your previous correspondents, I had better first give you, sir, and through you the public, the guarantee of one who has made the acquaintance of the breed in its native district. I am also supported by the high authority of Mr. Joseph Ainsley, the first owner and breeder of the Bedlington terrier proper. Mr. Thomas Sanderson, too, a breeder of forty years' standing, has given me the benefit of his extensive experience; and I could name others who have bred and owned this dog for twenty and thirty years respectively.

"To make myself understood, I find it necessary to premise that during the first quarter of the present century Mr. Edward Donkin, of Flotterton,

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