THE AIREDALE TERRIER 



By HUBERT REEDER 



OGS, much all else, 

 depend largely on 

 - Dame Fashion for 

 popularity, and be it 

 said to her lady- 

 ship's shame, merit 

 seldom enters into 

 the least of her cal- 

 culations. For once, however, she 

 seems to have called common sense into 

 c< msultation, and in placing the seal of 

 her approval upon the Airedale terrier 

 she simply gives credit where due. If 

 ever there was a paragon in dogdom 

 that paragon is certainly the Airedale. 



This dog had established an enviable 

 reputation in England before it began 

 to attract the attention of our fanciers. 

 Though it has now belonged to> a dis- 

 tinct breed for nearly fifty years it did 

 not make its appearance in America un- 

 til late in the nineties. A few speci- 

 mens were then bought, simply because 

 the breed was fashionable abroad, and 

 the purchasers suffered somewhat of a 

 shock when they first saw their new and 

 costly pets. Airedales are not prepos- 

 sessing, at first sight, and appreciation 

 of their beauty often comes only with 

 time, and familiarity with their good 

 qualities. 



Personally, I confess that I took to 

 them right away. The well-poised 

 head, so haughty and thoroughbred ; 

 the sturdy body, so clean and symmet- 

 rical ; the great, yellow eyes, so full of 

 honesty and intelligence, and the proud 

 carriage, speaking so loud of character 

 and strength, made me overlook com- 

 pletely the ugly color and the rough- 

 ness of their coat. 



I once asked a charming New York 

 woman who kept a large kennel of 

 Airedales what made her choose such 

 ugly brutes. 



"Why, their very ugliness," she said 

 promptly, "it is so beautiful and aristo- 



cratic." And she was right; their ugli- 

 ness is both beautiful and aristocratic. 



After the introduction of the first 

 Airedales, tales of their wonderful 

 achievements soon began to circulate, 

 and some of our leading sportsmen 

 took the trouble to investigate their 

 truth. As a result, England was 

 searched from end to end for the best 

 blood that could be had, several ken- 

 nels took to breeding from it, and the 

 Airedale became solidly established in 

 this country. 



I will not attempt in this article to 

 trace the origin of the Airedale ; others 

 have tried it without shedding much 

 light on the subject, and I intend to 

 touch only on those points that may be 

 of practical value to the dog lover- In 

 other words, to show in what the Aire- 

 dale has, and can be, used. Neverthe- 

 less, for those who wish to> know its 

 provinience, I will say that about sev- 

 enty or eighty years ago the York- 

 shire sportsmen, who are extremely 

 fond of shooting and hunting, but don't 

 often have the means of carrying a 

 large kennel, set upon the task of de- 

 veloping a working dog, capable of be- 

 ing trained to any kind of game. 



In this endeavor many species were 

 crossed and intercrossed, experiment- 

 ally, until two satisfactory varieties, the 

 "working" and "waterside" terriers, be- 

 came recognized breeds. From these 

 eventually evolved the Airedale, named 

 so because found principally along the 

 valley of the Aire. 



Prominent writers on the subject as- 

 sert that these dogs have in their blood 

 strains of the otterhound, Scotch, Irish, 

 Bedlington and bull-terrier. The list I 

 think rather incomplete. Reliable train- 

 ers have reported several cases of pedi- 

 greed Airedales who pointed steadily 

 without being taught to, and this trait 

 not one of the above breeds possesses. 





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