Breed Profile –
Airedale Terrier |
The Airedale Terrier is a good-sized dog with a large personality.
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| Group: |
Terrier |
Uses: |
Hunting, working, obedience, agility |
| Color: |
Tan head, ears, legs, chest, and belly; sides and upper body are black, dark gray, or black with a red mixture. |
Coat: |
Hard, dense, and wiry with a soft undercoat |
| Life Span: |
10 to 14 years |
Grooming: |
The Airedale Terrier is a "trimmed" breed, meaning the pictures you see of gorgeous show dogs represent hours of grooming. If you are clever with your hands, you might want to take lessons in hand-stripping, which requires a great deal of patience. Pulling the hair doesn’t hurt the dog if it is done properly. If you are not ready for this kind of grooming, the alternative is to use clippers but, again, get a few lessons first. If neither one has any appeal, seek a professional groomer. |
| Height: |
Males 23 inches, females slightly less; sturdy, well-muscled. |
Weight: |
Well-boned with proportionate weight |
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General
The Airedale Terrier is a good-sized dog with a large personality. Two traits common to the breed go hand in hand: self-confidence and the desire to dominate. He’s also fearless to a fault, stoic, loyal, tenacious, intensely curious, intelligent and with a lively sense of mischief. These traits spell out a dog that is not for the faint of heart or the weak of resolve. The Airedale must be persuaded, not coerced, into following the rules firmly, consistently and nicely. Anyone with similar characteristics or who admires and can cope with such strong traits will make a good owner.
The Airedale is not a go-to-ground terrier for obvious reasons. He is too big to enter the den of a hedgehog or polecat, but he can and will dispatch any prey immediately if it bolts. As any owner is quick to cite, the Airedale’s true terrier fondness for the earth is deep. Sometimes it goes very deep—excavating huge holes in the back yard in pursuit of real or imaginary prey!
Unlike many of his smaller terrier cousins, he is not hyperactive and matures at about three years of age into a calm house dog. Affable and amusing as a companion, he’s also sensitive to raised voices or harsh corrections.
Some of these terrier attributes will stand in the way of anyone who mistakenly thinks that an Airedale will be a pushover as a pet. His tenacious spirit may be mistaken for stubbornness and thus mishandled. His intelligence allows the dog to outwit you, and it is not so easy to maintain discipline over a dog whose feelings you’ve hurt. Just when you’re about to clamp down for some misbehavior, he turns on the charm. Oh well, maybe you’ll catch him to make the correction next time. It can be difficult to keep one step ahead of an Airedale.
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Characteristics
If you’ve never met an adult Airedale, the time to do so is before you’ve decided on this breed. For good measure, meet more than one. Attend dog shows and chat with breeders. Visit breeders where you can spend time in the house or outdoors, interacting with the dogs. It’s not enough to view them through a kennel fence.
Not every good dog owner is necessarily the right person to own an Airedale Terrier. For starters, he’s a medium-to-large dog, about 23 inches tall at the shoulder and usually weighing between 45 and 65 pounds. Therefore the owner must be physically able to handle a dog of this size and strength. Then add the ability to cope with —and thoroughly enjoy —the Airedale’s playful, exuberant personality. Finally, there is the need to accept a dog as a lifetime commitment. If you start off with a puppy, he will remain a puppy for 18 months, he will be a young adult for another 18 months and he will continue to share your life for about another 10 years.
The Airedale is a protector of property, but will not necessarily stay on his own property. Solo expeditions by these hunters generally have sad endings with the traffic on our roadways, so the suburban or country Airedale needs a safe fenced area. While the breed is not at its best in the city, there are exceptions. If the owner has no yard, a strong lead and plenty of walks will have to suffice.
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Health
It’s always dangerous to say that a breed has few health problems, but the Airedale is so blessed. Apart from worms, which are easily controlled today, and skin conditions due to flea bites or diet (also controllable), the breed enjoys a relatively clean bill of health.
Hip dysplasia (HD), which can occur in any dog but more often in large ones, is present in the Airedale; research is underway into its hereditary aspects. Since it is an inherited debilitating disease, the prospective buyer should ask to see proof of hip testing and clearances on the pup’s sire and dam. There are special x-ray tests to detect HD and affected dogs should never be bred. A dog with the lowest degree of affliction may never show any signs of the disorder. More severe cases result in painful disuse of one or both hind legs and are treated with pain-relieving medication or surgery including the latest in total hip replacement.
Occasionally von Willebrand’s disease, which is an inherited blood coagulation abnormality, occurs in Airedales. There also is growing concern over problems with the immune system, tracing some of it to an overreaction of the dog’s system to the broad use of multiple immunizations. Some breeders are now cutting back on the number and frequency of these shots, so consult your vet for guidance.
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Other Info
The Airedale is instinctively a protector of his property and his family. His size and strong bark, which exposes large teeth in powerful jaws, make him a formidable foe to the unwary. Only if he senses the need to do so will he attack. Wherever the Airedale is used as a guard dog, he is trained for the job. One hears many more reports of Airedales’ saving toddlers from drowning or from darting into traffic than stories of Airedale attacks on intruders.
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