Page 288 - ShowSight - September 2019

the
by RICHARD REYNOLDS photos by Bill Reyna TERRIERS’ TEMPERAMENT
This is his right from the ages - the heart-stirring ‘ Yonder he goes!'
Not for the lust of killing, not for the places of pride,
Not for the hate of the hunted we English saddle and ride,
But because in the gift of our fathers the blood in our veins that flows Must answer for ever and ever the challenge of ‘Yonder he goes
— WILL OGILVIE
“Guarding” a hole or burrow is discouraged. One dog will work the hole while others honor that work. In dogs that lack a hunting instinct, this will often produce a kerfluffle.
There are probably few of us, when we got our first Bedlington Terrier, that went out in search of a hunting dog. We all have different reasons
that we were attracted to the breed, but here in the US, those that actually hunt Bedlingtons are a rare breed indeed. Not so in the UK and in Europe where Bedlingtons have been hunted on a variety of quarry, some of it legally. Only recently has the Bedlington Terrier Club of America looked back to the roots of the breed in order to preserve the very desirable attributes of the breed and improve upon some of the more frequent shortcomings.
No one argues that the Bedlington Terrier was bred to hunt by both sight and scent. To the west of Northumberland and the Town of Bed- lington, in the lakes and fells, foxhunters and Terriermen were developing the Border, Lake- land, Patterdale and Fell Terrier to hunt with the Fell packs and to bolt fox and Badger from their dens amongst the rocky crags and crevices of the fells. Bedlington itself was a mining town and the Beddy was bred for a different kind of hunting and is a generalist, not a specialist. Put- ting meat in the family pot was a priority and Beddys frequently hunted in trencherfed packs. The Bedlington’s most prevalent use in the UK today is as courser (or lamping) on rabbits.
286 • ShowSight Magazine, SepteMber 2019
Most hunting dogs have a specialized job description. Teamwork is required. A good hunting instinct requires a healthy respect for your teammates regardless of size, appearance or function.