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- Hi, I'm Nancy Strohmeyer, and have Windancer Airedales.
We got our first Airedale in 1995.
Since then, we've had, we are on our sixth Airedale,
and we've had three litter of puppies.
What they were originally bred for, is
to catch otters and rats, small vermin.
In terms of size, they're the largest of the terriers.
Standard is 23 inches at the height of the withers.
The bitches are slightly smaller.
That's not what you see in the ring,
but that's what the standard is. (laughs)
The males usually weigh somewhere between 55 to 60 pounds,
and the females between 45 and 55 pounds.
As far as the terrier, the dogs in the terrier group,
the Airedale is one of the few dogs in the group
that really gets attached to their owners.
A lot of the terriers, the smaller terriers,
are more, they would rather more run in a pack
and be closer to each other than their humans,
and they kind of tune the human out a little bit.
The Airedale is pretty responsive to their people,
which, in my opinion, makes 'em a little easier to train.
The Airedale terrier makes a great pet,
because they are intelligent, can be easy to train
with consistent positive training methods,
and enjoy being with their people, including children.
Of course they both have to be trained on
how to interact with people and be supervised.
But the Airedale wants to be with their people,
and I think that's one of the endearing qualities
of an Airedale, is that they really want to be with you,
and interact with you and stuff.
They're not a dog to be left out in the backyard alone
and stuff, they'll just become easily bored and destructive.
The Airedale dog breed originated
in the Aire Valley of Yorkshire.
It was, the purpose was to catch otters, rats,
and other small vermin.
This would be Yorkshire in England,
which was between the Aire and the Wharf Rivers.
So the dog is able to swim well in the water.
Their feet are somewhat webbed.
And they're a sporting dog as well as
a really good working dog.
They proved their worth in World War II as a sentry,
a messenger dog, a Red Cross dog, and a guard dog.
The Airedale terrier is a medium-sized dog.
They're 23 inches at the withers.
They have a straighter front.
It should come up as from the front up underneath
their chin, it kinda goes in a, like a cane style.
Their head is long, narrow.
The forehead and the foreface should be even in length.
There should be no obvious stop.
The muzzle should be well-formed and not snipey.
As a working and hunting dog,
they are a double-coated breed.
They have a soft undercoat which helps repel water,
and then the harsh top coat helps protect the dog's skin
from being scratched by brambles and stuff
as they're hunting for vermin and things.
The Airedale is a very versatile breed.
They excel at hunting.
They're qualified to hunt in the field spaniel hunt test,
which is flushing birds.
They do well with training, obedience, rally,
field tracking, work horsing, anything that makes their mind
work and think and has a purpose to it,
I think the dogs do really well.
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Barn hunt is a great activity for Airedales,
more of a natural instinct with them,
because they don't get to actually attack the rat,
but they get to scent out the rat
that's hidden in the hay bales and stuff.
And the dogs just really seem to love it.
The Airedale is typically a pretty high-energy dog,
a high to moderate-energy dog, I would say, overall.
From puppyhood on to adult, you want to feed them
a high-quality food.
Here at Windancer Airedales, we feed a raw diet,
consisting of meat, bone, and organs,
and we feed, typically, our adults get fed
3/4 to a pound of food twice daily.
And it depends on their activity level and their age.
As they get older and they're not as active,
the food level drops.
For a puppy, you need to feed them
a very good quality dog food, be it a commercial dog food
or raw, and you feed several meals per day as a puppy,
and then that backs off.
I prefer to feed twice a day.
Some people feed once a day,
but my preference is twice a day.
The healthy Airedale should be outgoing,
have a very even temperament, not be overly aggressive.
They are protective, when need be.
It's often said that an Airedale doesn't start a fight
but can very well end a fight.
They're usually very good
and very comfortable around children.
That is to say that children and the dog
should be supervised to make sure that,
especially small children and puppies,
that they know their boundaries and how to get along.
But the Airedale is very family-oriented,
very people-oriented, and they want to be with you
and enjoy your company.
That being said, though, they are a hunting breed,
and they do think independently.
So you have to consistently train the dog
with a positive training method,
and give them different varied activities
so that they don't become bored and destructive.
Socialization is very important for all breeds,
but especially an Airedale, I believe.
Take the dogs to socialization puppy classes,
obedience classes, take them to busy parks, supermarkets.
We take our dogs to Home Depot and we go through there,
to give them a variety of experiences.
Socialization is...
The Airedale terrier is a very healthy breed overall.
A good reputable breeder
will do some various health testing.
Hip dysplasia and allergies are probably the most common
abnormalities that occur in the breed.
Other than that, the breed is pretty healthy overall.
Overall, the life expectancy of an Airedale
is between 10 and 13 years.
The Airedale terrier should be brushed thoroughly
two to three times a week.
Professional grooming is probably the most common way
to keep the coat in shape.
So if you take your dog to a good groomer
every three or four months, you should be okay.
Right now with us, we have Pearl,
who is our oldest one, she'll be 10 in two months.
Lincoln, who is eight, and Madison, who is five.
Having three Airedales in the house is a lot of activity,
but in a good way.
Definitely keeps us busy, taking the dogs out
and doing things with them.
Somebody knocks on the door,
and definitely you know that there are dogs in the house,
'cause they bark bark bark.
Another thing with an Airedale is that lovely beard.
When they go and drink some water,
then they drip water all over,
and they typically have to drink water
and come over to you and drip all over your clothes,
and it's just one of those endearing things
that you get used to.
I typically am chasing them around the house
with a towel to wipe their beard off.
We got our first Airedale in 1995,
and since then, all our dogs, the remaining four
adult dogs that we've had, have all got confirmation titles.
Moving forward, Bill and I enjoy the Airedale breed
as family companions.
We tend to keep a dog, a puppy,
show it as a puppy at confirmation,
but we also, we keep it as a pet,
so we're very limited on how many dogs
that we can continue to have at our home.
So I think right now, we are planning
another breeding next year.
We would like possibly to keep a puppy from that breeding,
but we'll see how things are going at that time.
We will continue, we plan our litters out.
We'll continue to breed dogs, but we also continue
to do activities with our dogs, AKC,
different performance events, and training.
I enjoy it, I enjoy the camaraderie of
the people that we meet at various events,
be it confirmation or be it performance events.
Really the camaraderie and the friendships
that we've made over the years
have really enriched our lives,
and probably responsible for us continuing
doing what we're doing.
We enjoy this breed immensely.
They're playful, they're comical.
They are also a handful, and they keep you on your toes.