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I want to hear from those who actually use an Airedale in their pack. What does it contribute to your pack? What animals are you pursuing with them? How are they for trailing? How are they for Treeing? Do you problems with them fighting with your other hounds? Are they gritty? Hows there speed? How are their feet?

Just curious about these dogs. I keep seeing videos with them and was wondering what you all use them for.

Thanks

I have owned an airdale for 4 years now. He is Large to extra, large dog. the good about him is he is the smartest dog I have ever been around, so smart that he will fool a guy if you arn't careful, he is tough beyond belief, he is not ill in any way with other dogs but... if another dog gets seriously agressive towards him (not just growley he doesn't mind that) it is over and in quik order so a guy needs to be careful to pay attention to this, he has never started the agression but i garentee he will finish it. He trails ok but is silent, and is a very visual type trailer. He is outstanding at holding game on the ground and is extremly good at not getting hurt while doing so. He trees ok hes not a on the wood type of dog but will hold and bark. He has execeptional speed for his size 85# and 24" at the shoulder. Were he really shines is on the long race he has no quit in him and will go all day as hard as he can and can maintain that out of the box speed for ever. The bad about him is he is very very energetic at times it is hard to get him settled down to were you can handle him the way i like a dog to handle. What I do to remedy this is to let him run awhile every day while i am roading looking for tracks it takes him about ten miles at 15 mph to get the excitement out of him to were he will work good and pay attention. A training collar is a must and he can be very obstanant. He has never had any feet problems and seems to pull through any type of injury faster than any dog I have. If you are looking for a breeder I would recomend Matt Thomb out of AZ. I did not get my airedale from him but I have heard alot of good about his blood lines.

Here's how I use em http://s677.photobucket.com/albums/vv13 ... 6-2010.mp4

I find them much better in the winter than in the heat though because of their coat.

ol man von plott used to keep a few back in the day. i believe the last one was named sally. i would love to find a good hunting stock airedale puppy to raise wiyh my new plott puppies.

Good info colobbcat,
Good looking dog their Stubby,


Thanks for the replies so far.

Great video and good information!!
D

I had one 30 years ago. He was a real gritty dog on bear and a good tree dog. He didn"t trail very good on a cold track. Good natured , not aggresive but would not back up. Not much bark but a LOT of bite

Hunted with some when I was a kid on bear and hogs. They did not seam to have much of a nose and they did not want to tree very well, but man they were gritty and would run hard and did not have much quit in them. The treeing issue eventually turned me off of them well that and the vet bills.

I have a buddy that uses one that is crossed with a cow dog, and he is one of the better bear dogs. He doesnt strike ,but he is always at the tree. The down fall though like said earlier in this thread he gets hotter than the other dogs because of his coat.

why couldnt you just give them a haircut to keep them from overheating?

I run one in my pack ever since a wolf killed on of my hounds. She is great. Like what was said above she would not start a fight but she sure will finish one. Save the wife from the neighbors pit bull. Too smart for there own good, smarter then a few people I know.

HeeHaw; as asked in the other thread, what do you feel an airdale will do for the hounds in a wolf situation?

I have one Airedale I like to use when I hunt coon with a little walker. If they get anything on the ground or it comes out the tree still kicking he will take care of it. The walker does most of the tracking but he is learning to use his nose more. He will kill anything that he thinks is game so now we do not have anymore cats. I do clip mine every couple of months mostly for the burrs. I really like the dog and have hunted him alone on squirrel, coon, birds and bear and he does O.K. on all of them. You add one other dog with a better nose and you have a pack. There's my Airedale two cents!

Them shaggy dogs tree better than most cur dogs I've seen.

I enjoyed the video. I have been looking into getting an Airedale to run with my pack
on bears. I have had a hard time getting some of those big boys a tree and was thinking an Airedale would do the job. Like I said in a few PMs that I sent out. I am looking for a linebacker not another cheerleader. So does anyone have any pups available out of some hunting stock?