Have a look at your local [url=http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/Dogs Trust[/url, I agree that you'll be lucky to find a Bedlington there but you never know and you can search on line for their current "residents" - and they do have an awful lot of terriers of all shapes and sizes.



Advantage of rehoming from Dogs Trust - lets not beat about the bush, cost, it'll cost you around £80 to adopt a dog compared to several hundred for a breed, but putting that aside you're also buying into their help and assistance, they have already health checked the dog, they've neutered it and they have assessed it for behavioural problems before they release it into kennels for adoption, they also offer lifelong dog behaviourist consultations for free - and of course you are "rescuing" a dog.



As for your question on buying a puppy - its difficult, you need local knowledge of your breed and you've picked a not-so-common breed, there are factories that sell puppies, literally warehouses that stock "pedigree" breeds and you can find them with a google search, we have one in Leeds and they turn over an impressive number of unregistered puppies, they don't use the Kennel Club because they don't approve, instead you get a certificate (wow), and if you're lucky you might find out who the breeder was (but probably not) and if you're luckier still when that dog gets to be a teenager it might not have any in-bred problems - throw a dice if you want to deal with one of those places.



If you've been to dog shows then I'd suggest that is the best place to start asking around, and ask lots of people, you're going to invest a substantial amount of money on a true pedigree Bedlington so make sure that you're totally happy with the home that it comes from and that its still with at least one of its parents when you go to see it (preferably both parents) and that it lives in a domestic situation and not in a barn in a field somewhere.



Most importantly is what you put into the dog when you bring it home, 99% of dogs need a leader and they are happy to not have to take that role themselves, they need consistency from you and your family, they need to know their boundaries, whats acceptable and what isn't, they need a regular routine for feeding, walking etc, and if you let them down then you'll screw their minds up - two years on I'm still dealing with the effects of a bad owner on my current dog and he will probably not ever get over that trauma.



Good luck, and one last thing - if you want a portrait of him/her doing for a small donation to Dogs Trust, then [url=http://issuu.com/garykitchen/docs/dog_portraitsclick here[/url.



LOL - was that advert subtle enough ?

My pillow is not her territory. It's MINE!



She's also attempted the eat the SKY remote as well the little witch.

When Spooky was about 9 months old Emma gave him a bollocking about something trivial. He waited until she left her bedroom door open, crept in, curled one out and departed.



Told you he was MY dog

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22536727[/url



The evidence in the article is backed up by my own extensive research involving my own golden retriever Jake and two brother-in-laws and one close friend who are/were all police dog handlers - longevity in dogs is DEFINITELY connected to idleness





A police dog is normally retired at around seven years of age after years of living out of doors in kennels, being walked around the streets, chasing ne'er-do-wells, being thrown over walls and down embankments after ne'er-do-wells etc etc etc, after retirement, my research has proved, that they don't tend to live beyond their tenth birthdays, being worn out through hard work and all.



Jake was one month beyond his 13th birthday when the cancer claimed him and like the Irish Wolfhound in that BBC article had a lifetime of relaxing behind him, and like the Labrador took his exercise when running away from things that spooked him, like plastic bags or Cable TV street cabinets that hummed, that sort of thing.



Its a regime that I am also proud to follow - all of my friends of the same age as me now have fooked up knees, one has a hip thats completely worn away, at least one has already had a heart attack and when I sit with them in a pub our corner stinks of fiery jack and they all moan when they stand up, I on the other hand have hardly ever troubled the NHS with an ailment (so far) - the main difference is that they all played football at Sunday League and five-a-side level until recently, one still plays but he is also mental - they've all knackered themselves completely whilst I lived a sedentary life and still have parts of me that haven't been used yet.



Seriously folks, stick the gym membership in the back of the drawer and sit down for a nice cup of coffee and some chocolate cake, no-one ever died from relaxing.

I assume this is meant to be tongue in cheek, but on the off chance that it's not, I will just point out that every study ever conducted on the subject of physical exercise has shown it to be beneficial in a whole host of ways. Not football though, that's a mug's game if you like having functional knees.

None of my footballing friends have functional knees at 56 years of age





Owning a dog is one surefire way to make sure you get a healthy dose of exercise and rain.