22 THE AIREDALE 



to saying anything definite about how they made 

 that dog, which we now call the Airedale, you 

 begin to deal in traditions as conflicting as theo- 

 ries on the Martian canals and speculations as 

 vague as old wives' tales. Taking all the yarns 

 and guesses and boiling them down to an average, 

 we find that the Airedale, so most people think, 

 was originally a cross between a tan-grizzle ter- 

 rier, now extinct or absorbed in other breeds, but 

 once common in the Midlands, and the otter- 

 hound, a big, wire-coated water dog of the blood- 

 hound type, that comes in all colors of Joseph's 

 famous coat, but mainly white with black and tan- 

 nish markings. To this cross were added dashes 

 of bull terrier, which breed was, at that time, 

 just coming to the fore with its deserved reputa- 

 tion for grit, and Bedlington terrier, a light- 

 weight, top-knotted dog from the North of Eng- 

 land. 



Probably there were sprinkles of the blood of 

 the collie and of all terriers found at the time 

 between the Midlands and the Scottish Border- 

 land. All these (fox, Manchester, Welsh, Old 

 English, and Dandy Dinmont) were then more or 

 less indefinite as to type and uncertain as to 

 breeding, which helps materially in making con- 

 fusion worse confounded. Just how and why this 

 strange, indefinite mixture should have resulted 



