Airedales

[Riley Dabling]

I am new to hound hunting. I was wondering what part does the airedale play in the whole game. I know not everyone runs them, but I have seen a few pictures of them in with the hounds at the tree or at the bay site. Thanks

[BoarHunter1]

Rich

Not much far as I know...

99% of them today are show dogs and worthless, there are a few lines that hunt, but they are hot nosed, silent & hot coated.

Crosses with hounds make for worse noses than a hound and less grit.

Overall Im not impressed with the breed.

I have seen vids of a gent in BC that runs his and a Plott hound on lions and they do well, the plott takes the track, airedales do backup.

If it were me, Id get some gritty hounds, or add a Jadg(s) to your pack.
Jagd Terriers are insane, driver, harder and a better addition-cheaper to feed and bred strictly to hunt, They are much smaller and more agile for hogs or in swamps.

My disclaimer is Ive only seen 2 ADs in the field, and some B&T/Airedale crosses I hunted behind in NC.




"The Dogs Of The British Islands", by J. H. Walsh.
The Airedale Terrier.


"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 of 241b., I have Never found one game - at least to my idea of the word".

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 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 ? '
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Daily Terrier Dose Website
'In this particular case, even the word "terrier" does not tell you very much, as a pit bull is not a terrier by any definition (it is too large to go ground and it does not even look like a terrier). The pit bull is a molosser breed, pure and simple.
Adding the name "terrier" to its name does not change the reality, any more than calling me "Sue" would make me a woman. For the record, the pit bull is not the only "terrier" that has been misnamed.
The airedale is almost pure otterhound underneath it all, and is a terrier in appearance only do to tremendous amounts of clipping and breeding to make it look more and more like a welsh terrier.
Go look at an old Airedale picture (it is not a very old breed) and you will see it is just an odd looking otterhound that has been tidied up. A hound is not a terrier, not does the Airedale fit within the terrier form or function mold.''

[Mike Leonard]

Boarhunter1 ,,

you are spot on and I think if hunters or newbees want trouble let them get some. My dad had a bunch of them and he was working predator control many moons ago. For the most part they were pure D trouble. One little bitch he said was an excellent den dog, Jadgs you bet forget teh big A's/ get some hounds that can hunt.

[pegleg]

I have often wondered about this. I can see that at one time perhaps the restricted number and types of hounds would necessitate a dog of more game being added. even in reading historic accounts it seem painfully obvious that many of those hounds of past years were not well bred and lacked fight. The larger coursing hounds that I've read about in circulation during the exploration and settlement of the US. definitely didn't seem to lack gameness. with stories of pairs repeatedly pulling down elk, black bear, mtn. lion, wolves and baying the odd plains grizzly.
My thoughts are that in the old world the division of use among the hunting dogs was so strong in many countries that it caused these early weaknesses. Trail and fox hounds were used to follow a trail jump the game and then if it as driven under ground the terriers job started. If it was deer or boar the sight hounds were used.
Here folks couldn't afford so many dogs and required a more universal type. this led to the many cur type dogs and I believe the practice of adding gameness to those strains of hounds that needed it. I know that there are hounds still out there that are weak on the tree, and those that need more grit. The reality is though that it isn't that hard to find a hound with grit today. Of course most don't show bully type gameness risking life every time they get a chance. To my mind this is just as well, stapling dogs and spending undo time and money putting them back together on a daily basis. I hear some guys say they wish their hounds had that kind of grit not me.
I had this experience that helped me appreciate the comparative gameness of hounds vrs. other breeds. My daughter came home one day with a cute little white puppy. That just happened to be a pit. with some misgivings I agreed to them keeping it. I kept a eye on him from the start and insisted on obedience and manners. Truthfully he was a great family dog never had to many problems with him. He harassed the propane guy and anyone he didn't know when we weren't home. He was dog aggressive not to the point of being uncontrollable but you had to keep a eye on him around males. I was fixing fence one day and somehow he and a hound started in fighting. The girls called hysterical which takes some doing to get them excited. I asked why they hadn't got the hotshot out? It's not helping. we've been using it on both them and they won't stop. took me a good twenty minutes to get home. They had ended up under the stock trailer and were locked together across the axles and I had to crawl under to drag them out. It was a while before I got them apart.
The hound had a fractured leg and some real deep punctures all over and one ear chewed half off. The surprise was how badly the pit was torn up. he had been scalped the hide torn off the top of his head and several places where his skin was torn loose. He had one front shoulder that had substantial deep tissue damage.
I figure if my hound can hold his own that long with that kind of pain and not be a dog aggressive pain in the ass why would I add a trouble maker to my pack with the sole purpose of adding grit? How many times has a lion hooked one and dragged it in for a good mauling only to have it get right back into the fight immediately? often with more purpose then before. I have a old female in the yard right now that I watched a bear try to swat a home run with cut her to the bone and broke her shoulder. she got up staggering like the town drunk and came right back.
So I haven't ever believed in grit as a reason to add any dog to my pack. If you ant a Airedale by all means get one. Just be realistic about what the real reason is and hat your really going to get for your troubles. I have run cowdogs in my pack before but only because they showed a interest and real talent in locating.
I for one believe that the houndsmen of the past did a great deal to improve and match our hounds to American game. The trick is finding the hounds You like once that is accomplished you won't be looking real hard at adding anything to your pack. I may add a dog here or there but it's mostly curiosity and the experience of handling a different type of hound. There is such a thing as to aggressive,to fast and to much speed in a tree dog. That is my long winded take on it and why I think we should look into the reasoning behind things.

[Coyote]

I asked this question one time to a veteran lion hunter out of Utah and he said, "Why waste time with one of them when you could be training a hound?"

[Sir Buckwheat]

I asked this question one time to a veteran lion hunter out of Utah and he said, "Why waste time with one of them when you could be training a hound?"

I've got more experience with bird dogs than hounds but I think the same basic principals apply. You have your main stream breeds that have been bred and used forever and you have some less known breeds. Some breeds have been ruined by the show rings but there are still a few hunting lines around, the Red Setter is a good example of this.

I've got 5 dogs in my kennel right now, no two are the same. I like trying new things and have tried several different breeds. Some I liked some I didn't, but I've been surprised by what I've found. I started into bird dogs with German Shorthairs. The best dog I've owned was my first GSP, one I got for free because by GSP standards he was ugly. His markings resembled English Pointers more than GSP's. After nearly 10 years with GSP and having several duds while looking for one to equal the old dog in my kennel I decided, much to the dismay of my GSP buddies, to try some other breeds. I've had a Britt, Pudelpointer, Wirehair, Drathhaar, English Pointer, Springer, and have trained several other breeds. What I found is that I require 2 different types of dogs. The versatile, Pudelpointer, and an English Pointer. These are the two best breeds for me that I've tried so far. I get a lot of sh!t about having a Pudelpointer until people hunt with him.

I've since decided to get back into hounds. When I ran hounds in High School and for a few years after I had mostly Redbones with the exception of a pair of Walkers I decided to try. For me I preffered the Redbones, they are what I liked in a hound. I hunted with guys that had Blueticks, Black and Tans, Redticks, Plotts, and several mixes. I saw some darn fine dogs but I preffered the Redbone overall. They fit me and my style. Last year a friend gave me a BMC pup after my old GSP died. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first. I'd been wanting to get back into hounds but Cur dogs weren't my idea of hounds. Now 10 months later I am looking into getting another! I plan on adding a Redbone to the mix as soon as my old Wirehair makes the move to the Big Uplands in the Sky because I can't imagine having a pack without a redbone in it, but I flat love the BMC's! They are the whole package from what I've seen so far, but thats my opinion.

The point to my longwinded post is, if you want to try a new breed do it. Find the best line of dog you can afford and that fits you then go for it. I've been told I was crazy several times but now some of those that told me I was crazy are looking at the breeds I run, others still think I'm crazy. Before you do it though realize that you may be eating the cash and time you put into the dog. I've eaten more than I like to think about but what I've found is worth it. I don't know much about Airdales but if you get one and like it let us know, a good dogs a good dog no matter what breed....other than Labs but thats a whole other topic!

[arizonabeagle]

sir buckwheat,
the thing your missing though is the fact that the BMC has been proven in the feild for a long time, in many places, on many species of game.

adding a BMC to your pack is not equivelant to the risk of an oddball dog like an airdale.
atleast, thats the way i look at it.
sure trying new breeds is great, but most guys wont go past whats already widely in use.

[Sir Buckwheat]

That is true. I wasn't really trying to compare the Airdale to the BMC (not much of a comparison anyway... ) just telling him that if he really wants to try one go for it, but make sure you get one from a proven hunting lines....I don't know if whether or not there is such thing anymore with some breeds though.

[pegleg]

there are hunting airedales but they aren't hounds don't hunt or handle like one and are sometimes difficult to get to work in a pack. but that is often the case with totally different styles of dogs. my point is if you really need or prefer one type why are you using the other. for people who say I want more handle or grit, etc. those things can be easily found in hound strains. grit is a fine line to walk with a pack of dogs. look at the old dog teams grit they had a plenty even baying polar bears on the ice flows. but if they weren't worked hard and handled sternly every minute you had to go buy a new dog sled team. I look at it like this if my hounds will take a bite of lion or bear when offered and turn down a brawl in the kennel that is the line I want to be walking.
if you just want to get a variety of dogs and hunt them on whatever then you have to accept their weaknesses and strengths together.

[Big John]

I remember when Bruce had this site you would automatically get banned if you even used the word Airedale on here! LOL!

[anarchy kennels]

So I am not by any means experianced in airedales but, I got one for free and it was the worst experiance i have had. When i got the dog i was told that he was not ill in any way, brought him home and the first thing he did was whipp all my male hounds, tore ears in half some stiches and countless other things. I was also told that he was a broke dog, not all my hounds were or are broke but i never had a deer race that lasted 8 days until i turned him loose on a lion track, took one of my pups with him and now its a huge deal with all of them. So if your going to run one with your hounds i suggest getting a pup to raise with your hounds so it knows him. And mine personally never showed me much on a track. But as a pet and traveln buddy my cur is only on topp of him. Sorry for the long wind.

[BoarHunter1]

If I hear one more time how tough Airedales are or how they outhunt Pointers in the field or out retrieve Labradors on the water, Im going to vomit.

All I see in Hunting photos of Airedales are them barking, not biting, game.

None of them close on dangerous game or are catchy.












If this was a real hog not a fat sow= dead dog




4 of them standing around


This was a Real Airedale, many decades ago, back in the day when they were hunters and closers

[desertdog]

I have to agree, I had one from Coyotegods and the one I have now is from Highcountry. They both tuck-tail and run from coyote's, and they aint decoying.

[BoarHunter1]

I have to agree, I had one from Coyotegods and the one I have now is from Highcountry. They both tuck-tail and run from coyote's, and they aint decoying.

Sorry to hear that, but its as I suspected.

How much did you pay for those dogs?

Are they good for anything?

[desertdog]

The Coyotegods pup (6 weeks) was 500.00, and the Highcountry pup was 950.00 + 500.00 shipping. First dog was also psyco and was eventually put-down, second dog I still have and has a great temperment, but if I hunt him more than three day's per week,(one hour per), he "lame's up" and is useless Mike B.