Update on the rubbish Airedale crosses LOL

[rocky1 942]

my bull/airedale/deerhound/grey is coming on well ,12 months old on the 12th of jan and was doing well untill this weather came ,started him of a 10 month,after 3 times watching on the lamp ,and had connferdence in him 2 have a go ,he got 3 that very same night,by the time he was 11 month he had 13 ,that recent weather break we had he got another 3,so all in all he doing fine ,just takeing it easy with him

[hickymick 37]

Lovely looking pups, How do you think they will compare to other terrier crosses,as in prey drive and gameness.

 

Ask me in another 7-8 months'time! If I had wanted to breed deliberately for gameness as in biting quarry, I would have used straight Greyhound over the Airedale as some Salukis aren't too keen on that sort of thing. I've never used the sire deliberately on biting quarry so he's never seen one single handed, only with other dogs if something has got up by accident; he seems to quite enjoy himself though LOL

 

Prey drive, as in desire to hunt and catch: I'm sure these pups will have loads, just not sure if it will encompass the whole spectrum of wildlife we have in the UK. Time will tell.

years ago in edrd,there was an article,on working airedale's they had to cross em with APB to stop them being too game,in usa big game lol

[farmerkev09 105]

nice pics

 

atb farmer

[andyrose 8]

nice looking pups, like the name "schuck", looks like it might be an apt name

[darrell jnr 16]

Hi Penny i,d of never in a million yrs envisaged the aeirdale x like how these pups have turned out,well done they,re a nice pair of well grown pups,they look like they,re coming along lovely,fair play to you ...atb with them...yis..darrell.

[stevemac 441]

Hi Sky cat did you have a redline airdale? If so how was it to live with and how did it go in the feild.

 

Steve

[boyo 1,398]

penny those pups have really started to level out look like they will be usefull animals when fully matured .all the best with them .

[skycat 6,173]

Hi Sky cat did you have a redline airdale? If so how was it to live with and how did it go in the feild.

 

Steve

 

Yes, my Redline is the dam to the pups (accidentally mated by my Saluki/Greyhound) Dill, the Airedale is everything I could have hoped for in the field. Superb nose, hunts non stop better than most Spaniels I've seen: hunts fur and feather equally well but really gets excited when she hits fox scent. She is very full on but now at 3 years old is as obedient as I could wish for: OK, I couldn't call her off hot scent if its a fox, but I've had her out beating in the shooting field as well and she did OK for a dog that has never really been trained for that. She goes through any cover, and although she's slow, too slow to catch anything that runs fast, that's not what I got her for. She finds stuff and is also a great yard dog and a great companion. Everything good I read about from people who've had Airedales for years is true!

With a summer haircut:

And retrieving a rabbit:

[skycat 6,173]

nice looking pups, like the name "schuck", looks like it might be an apt name

 

 

LOL Yes, comes from Black Schuck, the beast of the fens, and she was a terrible pup: at 5 weeks old she bit me every time I went near her: never known anything so vicious, and it wasn't play either. Like a demon dog in the making: I got her sorted and she grew to realise that it is better to be nice to me than nasty LOL LOL Now she adores me, can't think why BLess her little sharp teeth LOL

[stevemac 441]

Great looker Ive had my eye on these dogs for years. Would you rate her scenting ability on a fox as good as a hound? meaning is the drive there to take her to the end of the trail. you said she was in her summer hair cut. does she have much of a coat in winter?

[MOO 730]

They youngsters seem to be well made animals ...good luck with them

[skycat 6,173]

Great looker Ive had my eye on these dogs for years. Would you rate her scenting ability on a fox as good as a hound? meaning is the drive there to take her to the end of the trail. you said she was in her summer hair cut. does she have much of a coat in winter?

 

I'm honestly not sure, firstly because she has never had the opportunity to follow a fox for any great distance as she works with lurchers, if you get my drift: they don't go that far. Everything I've read about the Airedales in the US says they aren't real cold trail dogs, unlike the hounds which are bred to trail cold scent. Dill does a fair bit of air scenting as well as ground scenting. She'll get a faint whiff of air scent then go and locate the animal using a mixture of head up and head down, though for small game at close quarters in dense cover it is all nose down work.

 

The drive is enormous, but it is a thinking dog, one which is constantly figuring stuff out in her head, rather than just following a ground scent for miles. A lot depends on how they are brought up I guess. If she'd been brought up with hounds rather than lurchers she might have been different. There are some great accounts of hounds and Airedales working together on some of the American forums, and they seem to compliment eachother.

 

One of the most interesting things my Airedale did was to locate, by nose, from well over 300 yards away, hidden in a deep ditch , were two deer. It was the way she went about locating their exact hiding place which impressed me: she came down off a bank on the edge of a field on flat land which stretches for miles (the fens) and she'd gotten a whiff of air scent,which took her to within a 150 yards, then she put her nose down and quartered the field for ground scent, like a pointer, before eventually getting to the ditch where she once again picked up the air scent and flushed the two deer. It was an interesting thing to see.

Dill with winter coat: harsh, very thick and oily:

[stevemac 441]

Thankyou skycat for your honest evaluation of your dog. I think you have just primed my passion for the breed once again. My hunting buddy is just starting an airedale blooded lurcher, for a pup he is a very smart dog and very active on the hunt not the fastest 12mnth old pup ive seen but is picking up the bunnies with the skill of a seasoned vet. So if he is any indication your in for a good time.

 

Steve

Edited December 28, 2010 by stevemac

[skycat 6,173]

For an opportunistic hunter like me I'd sacrifice speed for brains any day. Of course you need a certain amount of speed but out and out blind pace is more likely to get a dog killed in the places I hunt. Got any photos of your mate's dog? Be interesting to see an Airedale Stag cross.

[stevemac 441]

Ive looked through the computor and seems I have pics of his other dogs but not that one so Ill have to get you one next time i see him.