Bedlington Terrier

People often describe the Bedlington Terrier to be more like a lamb, being walked around on a leash. This is mainly because they have a thick non shedding fur on their bodies. Their colour coats vary in many a different colours ranging from the likes of blue, liver, sandy brown, black...and some also tend to have tan markings. As the dog grows older they become paler, but are never pure white in any case. If it were to occur then it probably means it is lacking guard hairs. Guard hairs are the harsh thick hairs in their coat that make them look like a lamb and also offer them protection.

They as a breed have a head in the shape of a wedge. Even though they have triangular eyes like most Terriers, their body shape is very unusual as compared to the other Terriers. It more like those of a Greyhound which is the reason they can gallop at high speeds. Their front legs are constructed very differently from the other breeds of dogs. It’s very peculiar. The legs are narrower at the bottom of the legs than at the elbows, as compared to the other dogs that have closer elbows and the feet being further apart. This construction of the legs on the Terriers make it looks like a triangular formation when seen from the front. The advantage to this construction on the legs is that it enables them to turn around quickly and pivot smoothly and it can easily match up to the moves of the quarry as the Terrier chases them at high speeds.

The Bedlington Terrier is all about grace and light movement as it moves around. It looks like less of running and more of floating to us humans. This is the reason they cover ground so easily and so fast, even though they are small in build. They have a huge patch of long hair on top of their skull. It covers the muzzle and ears. The hair is a little thicker than the body on their legs too. This in practice saves the dogs life and from potential injury many a times, especially when they hunting quarry, chance are they might get bitten by the quarry. These long patches of hair save them from the bites by a lot. The Secretary Bird has this similar construction of an extra coat as compared to the rest of the body on their wings.

Combing and grooming is needed every twice a week to as their coats tend to curl up. Those people who take the dog to shows prefer large amounts of hair on them as compared to dogs who are more like house pets are trimmed down to have lesser hair and hence are much more manageable on a regular basis. The face hair on them is hand scissored and the rest of the body is trimmed using an electric hair trimmer with adjustable hair length option.