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Airedale Terrier - The Early
Days
1850 - 1910
The Airedale
Terrier was formally known as the Waterside or Bingley terrier. It's roots
can be traced back to the valley of the river Aire in Yorkshire district
of Great Britain. It's most important ancestor was the local rough coated
working terrier. Mostly black & tan with a fearless temperament and strong hunting instinct. Being a medium sized dog in general appearance for a terrier the Airedale was big. This gave him later the name "king of terriers". The Airedale was always a breed which was known for its versatile working abilities.
Around 1850 Mr. Holmes
carefully crossed otterhound with the local working terrier to get a
stronger and bigger dog with the brain, the temperament and the coat of
the terrier and the retrieving ability, the nose and the qualities in
water work of the otterhound. To better the breed other breeds like
collies and bullterrier have been crossed in. Like the most other breeds
too, the Airedale and his ancestors have been workers in those days and
their look has rapidly changed in the last 150 years mostly because the
show breeders got a hold of them.
The Airedale is from its roots a pure
hunting dog as its ancestors the old rough coated working terrier was used
for fox and badger hunting mostly. Through the time it became a terrier of
the stronger type like Irish or Kerry Blue and was more used for otter
hunting or as draw dogs when hunting fox or badger. The Airedale was a
breed of the working class and as such it should be able to be handled
with less afford and fit the needs of those days. That means a dog has to
guard the owners property without being a over aggressive dog, tolerate
the children on the streets and work for the pleasure of its master, be it
rat catching or otter hunting. Coming from this background, it is no
wonder that the Airedale was appreciated in America as ideal farm all
around and hunting dog. A stable temperament, true grit and a lot of brain
is what it needs to handle the big game like bear or mountain lion and
survive the encounter.
During the WWI the
Airedales become famous for its rock solid temperament and for its loyalty
to its master. There are several reports of Airedales which have saved a
lot of lives and got their job done even badly wounded. The Airedales did
their job between fire and explosions next to them and searched wounded
soldiers or brought messages from one group to another. When it is called
a war dog nobody with knowledge is going to think about the Airedale as a
man aggressive dog. What it should never be!
In 1893 the first
Airedale was imported to Germany. Quickly the Airedale become recognized
for his loyal temperament and its working qualities. We know that the
Airedale was used as hunting dog in Germany on every game which was hunted
at this time. Especially when hunting wild boars the Airedale performed as
outstanding hunting partner because of the combination which let him work
in the USA so well, too: brain & grit! But the Airedale became more and
more a official working and service dog. The German club the Klub für
rauhaarige Terrier (later the Klub für Terrier) forced this development
and became a supporter of raising the size for the Airedale to 60cm /
23,62 inch. This was just logical because a bigger dog better fits the
needs of the police work than a smaller dog. By selecting the Airedales
for abilities which are needed in police and military work and knowing
that around 1910 the beginning of protection sport started it seemed not
surprising that nobody cares about the hunting qualities. As a result of
this today there are no lines left which are used for hunting in Germany.
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