Took the Airedale cross pup ferreting

[skycat 6,173]

My pups are always brought up around ferrets: the court is in the back yard and all the pups spend time nose to nose with the ferrets from the moment they come out of the nest: I've had a couple of split tongues when a pup has licked at the mesh to greet a ferret, but only in terrier pups, never lurchers or the Airedale, so Schuck and Lena are well used to seeing the ferrets at close quarters.

 

With this in mind I decided to take Shuck ferreting: she is well ready for it, always sniffing down rabbit holes and following her nose to holes. We took Cricket, the Whirrier as he is such a consistent marker and steady as a rock. Actually, having not been ferreting for a while except once in the deep freeze, I'd forgotten just how good he is. As Andy says, he is a ferreting dog, rather than a dog you take ferreting. He has endless patience and will stand, immobile for minutes on send, just waiting for the rabbit to show its head. And he marks true and obvious: freezing above a particular hole on a warren, and 9 times out of 10 he's about spot on when the rabbit bolts.

 

Schuck exceeded all expectations, and I'm not just saying that LOL. She watched and followed Cricket about for a bit, then decided to take up her stand over a different hole to him. It was very slow going: these rabbits have already been ferreted a bit, but not cleared out completely, so we were never going to get a big bag, and of course they were wary of bolting as well. I was a bit worried that it would all be too slow for her, as she is only 5 months old, but after the first one bolted she seemed to cotton on very quickly to the fact that the rabbits she could smell underground, were about to come out, or not, in most cases! Luckily, (or unluckily as we only got 5 in 4 hours) the warrens were very shallow and 3 digs were done in double quick time.

 

Schuck took a nip on the nose from the 'savage' polecat hob, and when the next rabbit appeared in Andy's hand, she backed off looking a bit worried, so he threw the rabbit a few yards away so she could go and have a nose at it. I wasn't expecting anything but she picked it up, gave it a little shake to make sure it was dead and when I said her name she picked it up and brought it straight to me, putting it at my feet despite a looming great lens in her face. She was dead steady all the time she was out, and never stopped following her nose and listening and watching everything that was going on, including the digging which she observed with total attention.

 

However, it wasn't Schuck that made my day, (though she did of course) but Cricket, who, once we'd got all the ferrets from a non productive warren, disappeared completely to ground, and backed out dragging a dead rabbit that the hob had killed all too quickly and left. I keep telling Andy that he feeds the ferrets too well LOL, as they just won't stay on a kill for a second. But without Cricket being small enough to squeeze the few feet into that burrow we'd have had even fewer rabbits to show for our trip.

[skycat 6,173]

More pics:

The retrieving one is a bit blurry as I didn't even have time to focus the camera properly: I didn't want to miss out on her first retrieve. I don't know if you can see but she is looking a bit wary about coming straight to me as I had Cricket beside me, but she did it anyway, bless her. I haven't even done any rabbit skin dummy retrieving training, so this was literally the first time she had ever had a rabbit in her mouth, though of course she sees them all the time either caught by the other dogs out mooching or hanging up in the shed.

[tus 22]

good read and pics

[rocky1 942]

allways like your posts and see your airedale pups ,as i have airedale blood in my pup,it nice 2 see how they getting on

[Born Hunter 17,796]

These airedale lurcher pups are showing promise. How old are they now?

[runforyourlife 361]

top read, top post... good dog, keep them coming on how the airedale gets on..

[stroller 341]

Great write up i look forward to seeing how this unusual x works out for you, i know for a fact that they will be useful as you put a lot of effort into your dogs but i wonder how you will rate them against past experiences and the more traditional crosses?

[Dan Edwards 1,134]

Where did you get this pup? Was it an import?

[juckler123 707]

Realy like the look of the Airdale cross Skycat all the best with them

My mate owned a pure airdale called tauper nothing slow about that dog once switched on he was a demon.

One thing really stood out to me beside the gameness and that was the thickness of skin he had a hide and a half on him

[skycat 6,173]

Where did you get this pup? Was it an import?

 

Do you mean the lurcher pup (Airedale cross Saluki/Grey)? If so, then no, she is home bred out of my Redline Airedale: t'was an accident when my big dog got to her, but I'm not sorry now as they are already showing such promise. I've been reading about the attempts to cross Airedales with Staghounds in the USA: I still can't figure out if they are good or not as there seem to be conflicting opinions when I read about them on the Real Working Airedale forum.

 

Dan: have you had anything to do with these crosses? And if so what were they like? One person did tell me that two litters were bred from a track Greyhound which had never been worked: that could be the reason for lack of grit or whatever. Obviously I'm not likely to come across any big or dangerous game for my dogs, though I'll be interested to see what they make of foxes, which both parents love to bits LOL

[Dan Edwards 1,134]

I've had a little to do with the crosses but very little. I think they could have made descent dogs for terrier type work and would have made handy little all around hunting dogs for "mooching" about but they are not coyote dogs. The staghound airedale cross from what I've been told by those who watched them run lost "grit" and kill power. I believe it 100% too. I've never seen an airedale or airedale cross with the grit of a coyote dog. Not even close to be honest.

[skycat 6,173]

And yet I've seen people saying that Airedales will kill coyotes if they can get to them: as on a trap line or one that shot and wounded. That said, those coyote dogs must be fantastic to watch in action: they must be real killing machines with speed: surely the result of strict breeding over many, many years.

[KittleRox 2,147]

Where did you get this pup? Was it an import?

 

Do you mean the lurcher pup (Airedale cross Saluki/Grey)? If so, then no, she is home bred out of my Redline Airedale: t'was an accident when my big dog got to her, but I'm not sorry now as they are already showing such promise. I've been reading about the attempts to cross Airedales with Staghounds in the USA: I still can't figure out if they are good or not as there seem to be conflicting opinions when I read about them on the Real Working Airedale forum.

 

Dan: have you had anything to do with these crosses? And if so what were they like? One person did tell me that two litters were bred from a track Greyhound which had never been worked: that could be the reason for lack of grit or whatever. Obviously I'm not likely to come across any big or dangerous game for my dogs, though I'll be interested to see what they make of foxes, which both parents love to bits LOL

A question for you Penny,did you have this accidental mating on purpose I myself always thought an Airedale x would be very useful,

I,m thinking you planned it but kept a lid on it because of all the messers who in there expert opinion (lol)thought they would be pxxh

[Dan Edwards 1,134]

And yet I've seen people saying that Airedales will kill coyotes if they can get to them: as on a trap line or one that shot and wounded. That said, those coyote dogs must be fantastic to watch in action: they must be real killing machines with speed: surely the result of strict breeding over many, many years.

 

I dont doubt there may be an Airedale that can kill a shot coyote or maybe even one with a drag or a trap on it. That aint the same though and takes all of the coyotes skill away from it.

[skycat 6,173]

Where did you get this pup? Was it an import?

 

Do you mean the lurcher pup (Airedale cross Saluki/Grey)? If so, then no, she is home bred out of my Redline Airedale: t'was an accident when my big dog got to her, but I'm not sorry now as they are already showing such promise. I've been reading about the attempts to cross Airedales with Staghounds in the USA: I still can't figure out if they are good or not as there seem to be conflicting opinions when I read about them on the Real Working Airedale forum.

 

Dan: have you had anything to do with these crosses? And if so what were they like? One person did tell me that two litters were bred from a track Greyhound which had never been worked: that could be the reason for lack of grit or whatever. Obviously I'm not likely to come across any big or dangerous game for my dogs, though I'll be interested to see what they make of foxes, which both parents love to bits LOL

A question for you Penny,did you have this accidental mating on purpose I myself always thought an Airedale x would be very useful,

I,m thinking you planned it but kept a lid on it because of all the messers who in there expert opinion (lol)thought they would be pxxh

 

Honestly, I didn't intend this mating. I did want to breed a lurcher from my Airedale in a couple of years, but I would never have thought about using Saluki/Grey as I would have been too worried about losing biddability and responsiveness in a Saluki/Airedale lurcher. I had thoughts of using a Deer/Grey as that cross are usually pretty biddable as well as intelligent) The sire to these pups is obedient as long as you are engaging his attention fully, i.e. in a working situation where things are happening, but he's a sod for buggering off on his own if we're just out for a mooch, and goes completely deaf; he doesn't usually go for long, but if I mooched in an area lifting with hares I'd have definitely needed a shock collar to get the sod back to me.

 

Couple that trait with the drive of the Airedale and you can see the potential for a dog which is uncontrollable! I though long and hard about getting Dill jabbed up with the mismating injection to abort a litter, but in the end, had heard too many stories about one deformed pup being born even after having that jab to want to risk it. As it was, I told a few people who had expressed an interest in an Airedale lurcher, and put them completely in the picture, along with the risk of ending up with a deaf-you-out dog that sticks two fingers up every time it gets on the scent of something. :whistling:

 

I can see that these pups will take some controlling when they get to that age where they think they know it all and want to do their own thing, and I also think that had I had this litter 20 years ago I wouldn't have been able to understand them and get them to do what I want. Having had the Saluki types for many years, and as I get on well with Dill, who also takes some controlling when she's hunting hard, I decided to risk it. So far so good, and I shall make sure not to put them into situations which they can control and deaf me out. Their upbringing so far is the same as any other lurcher, but I'm careful not to let them run together or go out on big land where they will be drawn on to find game which runs fast and far. Schuck is already air scenting and can tell the difference between a rabbit above ground and the scent coming from a burrow. When she goes mobile it isn't long before a rabbit gets up, and she's only 5 months old. So watch this space to see whether or not I was right in allowing this litter to be born! It could, in the immortal words of Chalkwarren: become EMOTIONAL :laugh: