The Working Airedale Terrier - Still Going Strong Here In Ireland With An Táin Working Airedales

[foxhound45 167]

Just a photo of some of the An Táin bitches that will be keeping the working Airedale in the hands of our future hunting generation

 

 

Hope you liked them!

[Accip74 7,112]

Nice pics.....how was your season overall?

[General lee 979]

Good job mate nice dogs keep it up I really like these Airedales they're something I might look in to for myself in the future

[skycat 6,173]

Lovely head on that bitch.

[bullx100% 681]

How come she's on a long line.....as she got bad recall or is that just the way you prefer to work her

[longbow 14]

Good luck to you, I have always admired the Airedale, they need a champion it seems.

Incidentally I have just read an advert for pedigree Airedales. The ad uses terms like "gorgeous" & " fabulous pedigree"

The best bit is they are only asking £950 for a pup, perhaps it should buy a brace? Doomed to be a minority breed.

[Hot Meat 3,109]

A lot if not most dogs doing trail work work on a long line, even if just in training.

 

 

 

Cracking pics mate, you got a litter planned?

[foxhound45 167]

Thanks for the positive feedback, only one fo these bitches has been truly tried and tested in the field (the oldest) with the other two being in the same age category of about a year and a quarter so well away from being worked properly and from producing litters.

 

I will try to answer some of the comments and if I have missed anything, my apologies.

 

how was your season overall?

My season was relatively tame. I have a bitch out on loan who is getting loads of work which allows me to focus on these two younger bitches. One is deer only as I need to keep her this way but I go against my very own advice and luckily she knows when I am hunting hares than hunting deer but since I always recommend a dog is kept for a specific job (this does not apply) I really have to knock it on the head when I ask her to hunt up rather than track which she excels at.

 

How come she's on a long line?

That bitch on the long line is new to my kennels and I have had her about 4 months now. I will never take a chance with her until I have indoctrinated her properly and what you can't see in this photo are the nice fields of lambs scattered all round me while I took the picture. It is not that I don't trust her............but...........I don't trust her! lol

 

Better to be on the safe side. You will notice that the other Airedale is not on a long line as we spend many a dark winter morning stalking deer in the Sperrin Mountains in Co. Tyrone walking through fields of sheep. Therefore it is not that an Airedale is uncontrollable or too game for its own good but instead I like to keep new arrivals on a tight leash.....a bit like an army recruit.

 

The best bit is they are only asking £950 for a pup?

 

My sole aim of the An Táin project is that in the future you will never have to worry about this in a decade or so. Sadly developing numbers of a breed takes time. Do I go for quantity or quality. I honestly believe halfway between both. Get the breed established, try and record where dogs are going so new handlers have some indication of the dogs lineage to prevent inbreeding and then as litters develop focus on the core competences of each dog. If a dog isn't game it doesn't mean it is useless.........it just requires that animal finds its purpose, maybe a quieter dog would be a better cover dog, or tracking dog or utilised by a wildfowler.

 

I think to wash our hands of any dog of any breed and call it useless is not the dog being inept but in fact it shows the hunter does not fully understand the animal before him or her regardless of the breed. How many times do we here of a terrier being useless or a lurcher not capable of holding a fox as useless. They may not have the complete skill set some lads require but focusing on the dogs other strengths may in fact make it superb for another hunter who understands what way the dog works best.

 

Anyway, I digress a bit here but back to the £950.........It is alot to ask for any dog, will probably have breeders rights attached to it and the moment it is sold on you would have a breeder demanding that the dog should have been sold back to him or her. A message to the breeder............"You bred the dog for money! You lost that right the moment you focused more on silver lacing your palm than the requirements of delivering a highly energetic working animal into a domestic environment while the whole time posing as ambassadors for the breed, shame on you!".

 

Sorry, that has been eating at me for a while since it is personal with a woman from N.I. I know.

 

Cracking pics mate, you got a litter planned?

 

No litters planned yet "Hotmeat", Me and a good friend of mine are working on producing one litter with a sire from N.I. but no joy yet.

Edited March 18, 2014 by foxhound45

[foxhound45 167]

[foxhound45 167]

A quick word about the tail.................

 

When I first got into Airedales I always wished ones that had their full tail had got them docked as pups and always felt they "looked better" docked. As time went on my whole thoughts on this have completely reversed. Nothing better than seeing that tail extend full when on scent and waving above the heather like a beacon.

 

Airedales tails are white on the underside and stands out brilliantly in the dark heather. Having that big tail as a signal makes up for a breed that does not bay. A concept some people find hard to understand. An Airedale was bred to to work alongside hounds and are normally very silent in the field. Some may think this is a bad thing. Where I work my dogs this is great, it causes little disturbance, I know where my dogs are at any one time as the land round me has pockets of woodland in large expanses of bogland so once the dogs leave cover I can see them immediately.

 

So if you do get a pup and have the chance of docked or undocked (I no the la can be funny on this) please don't go running chopping tails off. They are there for a purpose and a brilliant purpose they serve too. An Airedales tail does not get cut in brambles, that is why it curls over its back. The inventors of the breed thought of everything so consider leaving them be and enjoy every physical trait the breed has to offer.

 

Thank-you.

Edited March 18, 2014 by foxhound45

[krawnden 1,036]

An Airedales tail does not get cut in brambles, that is why it curls over its back.

 

What makes you say a curled-over-the-back tail doesn't get cut up in brambles?

[foxhound45 167]

It doesn't I assure you. It does not wag like a springer. Trust me on this.

[skycat 6,173]

I have to admit that Dill's tail, my bitch, has never been damaged in cover, but I still hate the look of a dog with a tail curled over its back like a pig Just doesn't sit right with me somehow. But looks never made a working dog, so long as all the bits of the body are in the right place.

[bullx100% 681]

Cheers for answering my Q foxhound....I wasn't sure if you were working on a recall or if you prefers to work your dog on a line.....I no some people when track like to work them on a line but as there was another one off lead I was a little unsure.....good luck In the future with these......I'm hopping they come good for you I think a working Airedale has a lot to offer in the field

[Blind Hawk 57]

Mighty dogs No mistake