Working Airedale Terriers

[skycat 6,173]

Ian: I sent you a pm yesterday, I think it was. Please could you look at your personal messenger!!

[weasle 1,119]

All dogs deserve a good crack a the whip mate. I've found jobs for most my useless mutts it's all about using what you've got IMO and from what I hear the Airedale is pretty versatile if I wanted a fox killerid get another wheaten or a half x bull. I'm after a dog that an use it's nose and do as many diffrent jobs as possible.

 

That's fair enough,as long as you know what your getting,but reading this and other threads you would think your getting a monster used to hunt bears ect ect,thing is though a brave bear dog wouldn't last long I would think.so on one hand your being told about the mighty American Airedale on the other you have Americans breeding to stay out of harms way.

Different country's different jobs. Solution same one that's been used for years to save a breed ad a bit of bull lol

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2013 by weasle

[jrearthdog 8]

the airdale is used in a pack to be the one that would go in when others would not and to put more pressure on bears or lion to get it treed the one other thing the airdale adds to the pack is its brain .how do you think the dogs you have said would be as no stupid dog would last long and some could just run away when faced with big game coming at them also us breeders dont breed to say out of harms way they breed for brains which means going in when you will not get killed and working as a pack ,and if working with one when the one that can go in will (usualy `the one at the back of the game which will turn the game) you then want another dog that ends up at the back to go in it is this presure on the game that puts the presure on it to tree it but dont forget the game may not tree and go for the dogs

Edited November 24, 2013 by jrearthdog

[weasle 1,119]

I picked up all that from reading bits about them on net (I'm not as stupid as I sound).

As I say all great in America but maybe not so good in uk.

Must be better for pups to go to homes that know that, than passed around as a jacker.imo

[longbow 14]

Great another thread on Airedales, a breed I have always admired and deserves its place in the hunting field, I do hope to own one one day. Many thanks to the originator of this thread for the lengthy and informative post. But for heavens sake is everybody on this forum obsessed with "gameness"! I have read a few post on Airedales and they always dissolve into a squabble about game mess. "yeah but is it game." not everybody wants a fire breathing tear em up nutcase. Is it wise or even relevant in our currant situation (UK) to want to breed such hard dogs. I would like to see the Airedales challenging breeds like the visla and the griffon types for a place, realistic or not? Anyway maybe I have gone too far

I look forward to reading more about the working credentials of the Airedale, and please don't get bogged down with " gameness"

Cheers

[artful212 394]

I picked up all that from reading bits about them on net (I'm not as stupid as I sound).

As I say all great in America but maybe not so good in uk.

Must be better for pups to go to homes that know that, than passed around as a jacker.imo

pmsl

[the scudd 82]

how are these dogs at retrieving duck say for example from a lough

Edited November 24, 2013 by the scudd

[foxhound45 167]

Hey Scudd!

 

Yes the Airedale can be a great water dog, though you know yourself, with the right foundation in entering. I once made a mistake with a dog (not an Airedale) in picking it up and throwing it into water on a blistering hot day. The dog was a year old and still the water caused enough shock that it grew up hating water., Would cross it, swim through it no problem if it had to, even jumped into streams but voluntarily for a retrieve?.....oh no!

 

It came to it that I had to accept it I ruined the dog. Even after months of trying to rehabilitate the dog and reverse this new nervousness I caused, nothing ever worked. Not even all the dogs storming into the water.

 

I also once heard of this happening to 2 other friends, 1 who tried to make a spaniel go into briars and another friend who tried to make a terrier go up into a dead end shoot.

 

I have totally digressed here, but the good thing about an Airedale not only are they highly attributed to water, but being dog friendly would not fight with other dogs on a boat heading over to hides. How many times have we seen two dogs growling on the verge of fighting when on a wooden boat heading over or coming back from hides or islands! Being on a small wooden rowing boat with an outboard in the Lough Neagh waves as dogs start fighting and shifting there weight about the boat is not a nice experience. It never goes down well with friends either if your have a temperamental dog.

 

I can remember spending a season going over to islands on Lough Neagh to shoot with friends. One friend in particular had a Chesapeake Bay retriever, this dog was highly defensive of both master and shot duck. When I say "defensive", this is an absolute understatement, as we could just about board the boat if his owner was on before us! We always had to board first and get him to do the ropes leaving the quay with the dog hopping in after him. We see this in the deer stalking world were the Chesapeake can be highly protective of a carcass and not let anyone but the owner touch it.

 

So as an under-utilised breed in the UK within the wildfowling world, I am too blame also being in a wildfowling club and never using any of my Airedales for this purpose, but when we look to the U.S. the breed is used widely by shooters.

 

On a different note how are you finding the shooting this past few years?

 

 

View from Pagin Island, Lough Neagh, looking Northward:

[skycat 6,173]

how are these dogs at retrieving duck say for example from a lough

I haven't done a lot of feather with my bitch, but she was a natural from the word go. So soft mouthed it amazed me. The one time I took her on a shoot where there was a flight pond, she was straight in there putting the ducks up. When a pricked bird came down and hid under the overhanging brambles at the edge of the pit: had steep high banks, she practically submerged to go in there and find it. Took her some time, but she persevered and eventually came out with the duck, and had to climb near on vertically up the bank through the brambles with it. It is that sort of determination and perseverance I admire so much ... as well as her 'gameness' in other situations, which I cannot go into in detail on here.

 

BTW, I've also seen privately sent videos of an Airedale killing badger in America: they are not all bayers!

[BIG G wheton machine 1,594]

 

how are these dogs at retrieving duck say for example from a lough

I haven't done a lot of feather with my bitch, but she was a natural from the word go. So soft mouthed it amazed me. The one time I took her on a shoot where there was a flight pond, she was straight in there putting the ducks up. When a pricked bird came down and hid under the overhanging brambles at the edge of the pit: had steep high banks, she practically submerged to go in there and find it. Took her some time, but she persevered and eventually came out with the duck, and had to climb near on vertically up the bank through the brambles with it. It is that sort of determination and perseverance I admire so much ... as well as her 'gameness' in other situations, which I cannot go into in detail on here.

 

BTW, I've also seen privately sent videos of an Airedale killing badger in America: they are not all bayers!

 

must be the wheaten in them lolol

[weasle 1,119]

You cannot have it all ways go on about gameness one minute, Then it ain't important the next.

Not obsessed with gameness my self,Gamest thing I have is a ferret.

I have never seen a picture of one yet put up by the proud American owner of one any where near a animal that could defend its self.Yet they fly over here and become Rambo.lol

http://airedalesareafailure.wordpress.com/about/

Edited November 25, 2013 by weasle

[Accip74 7,112]

You cannot have it all ways go on about gameness one minute, Then it ain't important the next.

Not obsessed with gameness my self,Gamest thing I have is a ferret.

I have never seen a picture of one yet put up by the proud American owner of one any where near a animal that could defend its self.Yet they fly over here and become Rambo.lol

http://airedalesareafailure.wordpress.com/about/

So the guys not keen on Airedales then? Lol ......I like the 'Stonehenge' excerpt......he got through 14 Airedales before coming to the conclusion that they were no good lol.....different time, different class......fascinating read

[weasle 1,119]

 

You cannot have it all ways go on about gameness one minute, Then it ain't important the next.

Not obsessed with gameness my self,Gamest thing I have is a ferret.

I have never seen a picture of one yet put up by the proud American owner of one any where near a animal that could defend its self.Yet they fly over here and become Rambo.lolhttp://airedalesareafailure.wordpress.com/about/

So the guys not keen on Airedales then? Lol ......I like the 'Stonehenge' excerpt......he got through 14 Airedales before coming to the conclusion that they were no good lol.....different time, different class......fascinating read

. you cannot say he didn't give them a fair chance or generalising lol.

Good read though as you say.

A few good points in it,feeding a dog that you could get something quarter the size to do the same job.

Personally couldn't live with a dog so big and strong if I saw it skipping around a fox no matter how good it was at bushing.

But each to there own.

[PMul 145]

skycat, on 25 Nov 2013 - 01:35 AM, said:

 

as well as her 'gameness' in other situations, which I cannot go into in detail on here.

BTW, I've also seen privately sent videos of an Airedale killing badger in America: they are not all bayers!

 

Ok, I've read enough of the b/s and miss direction..............time for the truth!

 

Funny how these posts always include............."Pups may be available soon"

 

Penny, the last time you were on here claiming your gyp was "game" you were at the same time (same day) on the Traditional Airedale board, asking if an Airedale can be game.................lol. You got your answer then "NO".

You may be well intentioned (the jury is still out), but you are definitely a bullshitter...........enough with the "private video" and the "I know something you don't" attitude.

 

First my credentials;

I work Airedales and hounds to bear and cat.

I am paid to do this, so I don't carry passengers.

I know / have corresponded with most of the major players in the Airedale world.

I have been fortunate / determined enough to gather some of the best working Airedale blood in the world.

It was my two Airedales that appeared on the cover of "Earth dog Running dog" several years ago.

Most importantly...............I'm not, now or any time in the future selling any pups........lol

Oh, and yes.............I know what "game" looks like...............

 

Now for the facts;

An Airedale is a good all round dog, a jack of all trades. he can do a decent job on most things, but does not replace the specialist on any.

A good big game Airedale is like a good badger dog..................just right. To tough and he dies quick..........not tough enough........same end different means...............Don't think that because he works big game that he is some killing machine. Fact is, to last at this game a dog has to be smart.............real tough, rough and gritty but most of all, smart.

 

You want to trail a day old track.........get a hound.

You want to retrieve geese out of big tides.............get a Lab.

You want to push bush for rabbit .............get a beagle.

You want a GAME dog ...............get a Pit.

 

But, if you want a good all round dog, that can do most things well, and an excellent companion dog and something a bit different, then the Airedale might be the dog for you.

I know I will always have one.

Edited November 25, 2013 by PMul

[Hot Meat 3,109]

That's what I'm after a jack of all trades that can turn its hand to anything