Obtaining A Hunting Pup

From 1921's The Airedale For Work & Show by A. F. Hochwalt

"I would say to the would be owner of a working Airedale, select a puppy from a reliable utility strain and train him yourself. The average puppy from a working strain is very intellegent. very game and very hardy."

"Some of the bench show strains are lacking all these qualities and gameness. It is not beyond the bounds of truth in saying fully seventy percent of puppies descended from a generation of bench dogs are sadly lacking this most essential quality of the Airedale."

A. F. Hochwalt

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Well there you have it, and sadly some things never change and in fact the situation is probably even worse in today's Airedales. Hochwalt recognized way back in 1921 the effect show dogs were making on the Airedale breed in the working department and I have to agree with what he said.

My own personal experience with show line Airedales has not been good at all when it comes to hunting, they are watered down and just seem to be lacking and weak in all of the important traits that go into the makeup of a number one hunting dog.

Any breeder who thinks they can produce good hunting dogs without getting them in the woods and severely testing them to see if they have what it takes is living in a dream world, and a big reason why you see many of today's Airedales performing so poorly as hunting dogs when they are actually hunted seriously.

If you are not testing your dogs and hunting them, "BOTH MALES &  FEMALES" you are breeding blind! All the good traits that went into the Airedale that caused them earn their stellar hunting reputation was through selection and testing, to keep and retain those traits requires more of the same, it is a process that never ends!

Al Kranbuhl

Pete Bassani's Redline Airedale "Joe Boy" and Den Terriers after a successful hunt.