Working Airedale

The AKC also claims the English Bulldog was bred to bait bulls. But the KC English Bulldog was never bred to bait bulls. They also say that the English Bullterrier was created to be a fighting dog. While some WERE fighting dogs, the breed was created for the bench show. They love to make up awesome and creative histories of breeds.

 

This isn't intentioned to bash them, either. Just being honest about the fact that 1) they were first created for show and then honed by some breeders into a working breed and 2) they really aren't terriers (they were NEVER bred by ANYONE to go to ground, period). So they are hardly the "King of Terriers" - that would probably be the Jack Russell as they are the most popular and effective dog for actual terrierwork.

 

cliff where do you find the info that the airedale was created for show ?

 

from a book dating back over 100 years...




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ppphaaa mere show dogs !!! lol
good pics Lee. n that is a big grizzly.

 

here are some dodgy pics from a book from 1935 you can just about read the text,

 

Well, mostly common sense from the fact that they were bred from dogs meant for show, such as the "old english black and tan terrier" which was really just a Welsh Terrier that the English tried to claim. It seems to me like if you were creating a working breed, you wouldn't use show breeds in the creation?
And those pictures Lee D posted seem to attest to the fact that they were never known for terrierwork, as 'big game' hunters.

 

from what ive found they have a lot of otterhound in em and that by no means was a show dog. and where are you finding your info?
unless youre referring to the manchester, the black and tan wasnt a show dog either. that term dates back before the 16th century, and they were true terriers

 

cliff did you read the text on the 1st pic from where it says "historically considered" ?

 

I'm having a hard time finding my reference so perhaps I am wrong. I'm still looking, though. Might see if I can find something about them on terrierman's blog. I'm still not willing to concede that they are terriers, however.

 

Yes, but even on the AKC website, it refers to the "extinct black-and-tan terrier type". The "old english black and tan terrier" is supposed to have gone "extinct" but really it was simply a Welsh Terrier that the English tried to claim as their own breed... that at least is my understanding from several sources on google but I suppose we all know you can't believe everything you read online.

 

An old (ish) thread but thought I would add, I have owned and studied Airedales for many years and might be able to add a little.

They were never bred as a show dog (initially) but as an all around sporting/working dog from mining communities in the North of England and Southern boarders of Scotland. All of the current official history is either incomplete or incorrect. I have sourced docs from the early 19th century which show that the start of the development of the breed begain as early as 1820, and was started with at the time and for a time thereafter the most formidable fighting dog the Scottish Blue Paul terrier (now extinct although some claim to be breeding again lol). This is the same base dog which started the Pitbull.

Airedales did indeed later have Otter hound and Welsh terrier although the black and tan terrier was not the Welsh terrier but a very game small northern English terrier now extinct which again formed the base of the Staffordshire bull terrier.

English bully and other pit dogs as well as the Irish terrier were used in the development of the Airedale and it was bred to hunt, as a gaurdian and yes as a fighting dog in Victorian times - one of the top late 19th century pit fighters was an Airedale called Thunder.

I have had various Dales from some of the best British/world Breeders including Sarendon and Glentops and sadly many are now bred for show/appearance over here in the UK. Beryl Maccallum who still breeds (Glentops) and is named by many as the patriach of the Airedale still breeds for temperament although she has had 5 English champions. My last but one dog was from her and you could not have known a more game dog, he is missed and in the UK there is little opportunity to work an Airedale anymore but he was a ruthless killer and a true scrapper, he never backed down from another dog. He was small at 25kg but so aggressive in fight and different from all of the other Airedales I have owned as his breeder believed that the most important thing was to maintain the original Airedale spirit. She spoke to me about her sadness that this had pretty much been bred out of the bred in the UK. But I was privileged to have experienced what a true Airedale could do.

My current Airedale from possibly the top Airedale kennel in the World - Sarendon - is a lovely dog but just doesn't cut it temperament wise. If you can get an Airedale with proper temperament I don't think you'd be dissapointed and would be hard pressed to better it with any breed of terrier but it seems they are far and few between now.

 

friend had an old airedale dog that worked fox cudnt have asked for a better dog around holes he was put to a few greyhound bitches and pups of them were excellent workers at any quarry! to say that creating a working dog that show dog blood wouldnt be used is wrong there are alot of dogs that have great conformation and great drive and working ability worker to worker trial and error.there is as every dog man knows no 2 dogs put togther can say that the off spring will be top working dogs it does give a far better chance breeding dogs with a good working line.but some traits can be that strong they will stay with a breed weather you breed show to show.i have staffords that come from show lines but for the past 5 gens have been bred worker to worker and all kc dogs not the short type of stafford i have bred for more athletic dogs and they all have heart and are excellent at there job.

 

Thanks day and pockets for the information. Sure would like to own a nice working Airedale one day. From my research there seems to be some people in the states breeding them for work. Seems to be renewed interest here in breeding dogs to be multipurpose hunters. In addition, there are some breeders consistently breeding dogs that excel in protection work.

 

http://airedalesareafailure.wordpress.com/


As to their gameness, “Stonehenge,” in his “Dogs of the British Isles,” gave them a very bad character indeed, so far as courage was concerned.
“Airedale terriers are a Failure.
The result of my experiences of them is that I find them to have good noses, they will beat a hedgerow, will find and kill rats and rabbits, and work well with ferrets. They are good water dogs and companions, possessing a fair amount of intelligence. This is the sum total of their excellence. They came to me with a great reputation for gameness, but out of fourteen that I have personally tried at badger and fighting with a bull terrier, I have Never found one game – at least, to my idea of the
word”.
But any terrier that would do the above work better than another would be worth keeping. Were a dog like he of 45 1b. weight or more to be used at a badger he should kill the poor brute instead of merely “drawing” him.’
This is strong speaking, but this gentleman’s experiences corroborate every word of what has gone before, and the woeful exhibition made by some Airedales when tried at a badger at Wolverhampton last January was literally the laugh of the show.
So far, I am aware that my endeavours to supply information about the origin of the Airedale have not been attended with success, but upon the merits of the breed I can speak with more authority, having had the benefit of the experience of a gentleman who took it up some short time back from the glowing accounts he had heard of its gameness and bottom. The result was most mortifying.
He could make nothing of the dogs, and was heartily glad to get rid of them. Prom what he tells me concerning Airedales, I have no doubt that they potter about the banks of a river, and take water well, and that they will kill rats, which, as they scale from 401b. to 501b., is not much in their favour.
I think that those individuals who at Wolverhampton show about 1883 made a semi-public exhibition of him against a badger, an animal the like of which the poor dog had never seen before, were extremely badly advised.
As for fighting, any terrier fond of it is a nuisance to his owner and to the owner of any other dog. For the Airedale terrier was claimed superiority as a worker of the riverside after rats, and as an assistant to the gun in working hedgerows and thick coppices, which, it was said, he could do better than a spaniel and take up less room than a retriever.’
I will even go further, and admit that specimens may be produced which will tackle a badger under protest; but not another step will I go in favour of the Airedales as a game, hard-bitten race.
Summing up the merits and demerits of the breed, it must be said of the Airedale that his want of heart, his size, the diversity of types, and tendency to throw back in breeding, are great drawbacks, which his fondness for water, scarcely out-balances.
Therefore, when we find, as I believe we can, that a wire-haired Scotch, Dandie Dinmont, Skye, Irish, or small bull terrier possesses all the gameness of the Airedale (in addition to which they take up one quarter of the room, and can go to earth), the question only remains, ” Why keep an Airedale ?




‘The Airedale is almost pure Otterhound underneath it all, and is a terrier in appearance only due to the tremendous amount of clipping that goes into making it look like a Welsh Terrier.
Go look at an old Airedale photo ( It is not a very old breed) and you will see that it is just an odd looking Otterhound that has been tidied up.
A hound is not a terrier, nor does the Airedale fit within the terrier form, mindset or function mold.
Adding the name ‘terrier’ to the name, doesnt change the reality.’

 

Dales dont close on fur, they dont catch or put teeth on fur, like Pits, Dogos, Jagds, Drahthaars or even harder Cat Curs.

3 on 1 and its all standing around vs a trapped coyote laying down.




Pre cut dogs. Otterhounds underneath it all.




2 on 1 and you have a sniffer and a singer. No biters..this is a working kennel.

 

Interesting article

 

this one was caught by 2 staffs and one Airedale (wich is not in the pic lol), two other Airedales just bayed but one holded until business was finished

(but i ain't saying that they are good or game)

 

Hairy hound's is all they are............lol.......