Airedale terrier

Airedale terrier is the largest of terriers: a strong, proportionally built dog, with a red-black coat, straight back, noble head, very elegant in movement. Intelligent, medium temperament, balanced.

Nature

Airedale terrier is a handsome, temperamental dog with a classic “terrier” silhouette. He is even called the king of terriers, because in this group of British dogs he was the largest. He was equipped with high intelligence. Of course, as a typical terrier, he has a feature of independence – he is stubborn and likes to put his own way. Alien dogs usually do not provoke fights first, but when attacked, they cannot blow their grits. He is friendly towards strangers.

Skills

Today, the Airedale Terrier is no longer a bloodthirsty rat slayer, but a show and companion dog. He also works well as a vigilant watchman and sometimes a defender. It is a great companion for children’s games. This is a patient dog that does not react aggressively to nagging torments.

Training and education

Airedale terrier reacts badly to strength training, based on coercion and so-called “Hard hand”. It can be arranged perfectly, but by a consistent and gentle person.

Who is this race for?

Airedale terrier will work as an excellent family dog ​​as long as he is treated as a family member. His spontaneous joy of being with loved ones is destroyed by those who lock him in a kennel and leave him alone. He hates it. He feels good even in the city apartment, provided that adequate walks are provided. At home, he is calm and takes up less space than some small, busy dogs.

Advantages and disadvantages

Disadvantages

• needs a lot of traffic
• has a strong hunting instinct
• may move away from the owner
• sometimes stubborn
• requires labor-intensive care

Advantages

• excellent family dog
• great children companion
• reliable defender
• calm and balanced
• adapts to different conditions
• It doesn’t molt

Health

This breed is generally healthy. Of the genetic problems, skin allergies and hip dysplasia are most common in airedale terriers.

Feeding

Airedale terriers usually enjoy an excellent appetite. Their nutrition is no different from that of other dogs of large or medium breeds. The diet should be well-balanced, rich in nutrients and vitamins. You can give high-quality dry foods with the addition of glucosamine and chondroitin, adapted to the age of the dog, or prepare meals supplemented with calcium-vitamin preparations and protecting joints.

Care

For our airedale terrier to be similar to model copies, we need to take care of his hairstyle. Otherwise, it will look unattractive. It will simply be a big, rough-haired shag. By trimming it, i.e. pulling out its dead hair, we give it a beautiful, classic form of a square terrier. Just cutting your coat, without trimming, will make the hair grow back inferior quality, softer, less colored, and sometimes twisted.

If we want to expose the dog, it is best to take care of an experienced groomer. We can also learn to do it ourselves. In addition to trimming, however, you need to master the art of shaping your garment with a trimmer and scissors in accordance with the breed standard, and so as to emphasize the advantages as well as cover up the flaws of our dog.

In addition to trimming, the most important procedure that should be performed regularly is brushing – both to remove tangled leaves, twigs, etc., and dead hair. The fact that the airedale terrier does not molt seasonally does not mean that it does not gradually lose its dead hair. We remove some of it from time to time by trimming, but you can simply brush some of it on a regular basis. Airedale terrier bathes rarely, 3-4 times a year.

Accessories

For the care of airedale terrier, it is worth buying three brushes and two combs. The powder brush (from wires without balls at the ends) will remove the undercoat. The wire brush will comb the hair on your paws, and the natural hair brush will be useful for combing and modeling the hair in other parts of the body. The rare comb will also be used to comb the paws, and the comb with medium tooth spacing for combing hair remains after trimming on the torso.

History

The origin of the airedale terrier dates back to the 19th century, when in Yorkshire, in the Aire River Valley, this breed began to be created. Aire and its tributaries were known for their abundance of fish, and fishing was a favorite pastime of the local people. But the anglers had competition: clever and eternally hungry otters. They were able to effectively break through even the most fish stream.

No dogs were used for hunting – local hybrids called otterhounds (otter – otter). They were medium-height dogs, agile and sharp, with a very poor appearance. Only their cleverness and sharpness mattered, not their beauty. Do not confuse these pooches with a big, shaggy otterhound, because this breed was bred much later in the south of England.

On farms, in villages, in small towns – such as Bradford or Leeds – the local population had another entertainment – ratting (rat – rat). After work, usually on Saturday nights, cruel performances were held. Live rats were admitted into a specially constructed, high-fenced arena, followed by a dog. The enthusiastic, large crow made bets, often high, how many rats, in a given time, such a dog can strangle. Some dogs were real record holders. These rats, most often black and tan ointment, were called Broken Coated Working, Old English or Rough Coated Black and Tan Terrier.

Meanwhile, fishing enthusiasts came up with the idea to cross their otterhounds with the best of rat-catchers. He did it for the first time Holland Buckley in 1853. He lived in a small village – Wielfried Lomes. The results were extraordinary. Until now, otterhounds have caught land otters. Now a new, bitter variety was throwing into a fight in the water. The endangered otter fled to its hideout, the entrance to which is under water. Proponents of ratting also began to let rats into the water, followed by dogs able to dive. Now the crowds gathered in the crowds moved over the streams and rivers. This is how the next of the cruel “sports” came about.

The smartest dogs, stranglers, were at a great price. The most cut was considered to be around Bradford, Shipley, Otley and Bingley. They were later named Waterside Terrier (waterside). In some areas they were used to fight dogs, crossing them with Bull and Terrier. They also tried to combine with border collies to get a dog to guard the herd. To add beauty, Welsh and Irish terriers and rough-haired fox terriers were added .

Dogs from the Aire Valley spread quickly throughout the UK. The name Airedale Terrier was given to them in 1878 by doctor Gordon Stables, a cynological judge, a great enthusiast of this new breed. The British Kennel Club officially recognized the breed in 1886.

Proper skill and willingness to learn allowed the breed to quickly gain her fame as a companion and defense dog. Airedale terrier also began to shine at shows. At the end of the 19th century, nobody used Airedale as a rat-trap anymore. The army and British police reached for these dogs. He was soon called the “war dog.” He became famous in the activities of the police and army in the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900, later in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) alongside the Japanese services. Hindu, American, German and of course British troops had it.

The Wehrmacht valued them so much that there were more of them in the army than native breed dogs, as excellent as dobermans, boxers, giant schnauzers  or even German Shepherds . To this day, airedale terriers are still very popular in Germany.

If we think that the airedale terrier as a “war dog” was a terror, an aggressor, a biting beast, then we are wrong. Most often it was used to find the wounded, carry reports, signaling the approaching enemy. In old photos we often see airedale terriers in a business white coat with a red cross sign, walking alongside his guardian soldier.

In the 1920s, airedale terriers became extremely popular and fashionable in the United States.

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Airedale terrier – group III FCI, section 1, reference number 7

• Origin: United Kingdom
• Character: easy to deal with, trusting and friendly, brave and intelligent; alert and fearless, but not aggressive
• Size: dogs – approx. 58-61 cm, bitches – approx. 56-59 cm
• Weight: 20-30 kg
• Coat: hard, dense and rough, not so long that it seems ruffled; adjacent, straight and dense hair, grows on the body and limbs; topcoat, outer coat is hard, wire, stiff, soft and short undercoat; the hardest coat is slightly wavy
• Color: saddle pad – upper parts of the neck, back and top of tail are black or gray-black; remaining flamed surface of the body; the ears are often darker and black deposits (osmolenia) may occur around the neck and on the temples; some white hair on the chest is acceptable
• Lifespan: 10-12 years
• Vulnerability to training: quite high

Interesting facts

The “King of Terriers” – Airedale Terrier – was dethroned by the product of Soviet cynologists who created an even larger terrier – Black Russian. However, the black terrier was included in the second group (schnauzers), as a close cousin of the giant schnauzer. So it can be said that the airedale terrier still reigns in group III, which includes only terriers.