The Airdale terrier part otterhound

The otterhound donated the size and the love of the water, and 
all the terrier blood made him a terrier in spite 
of his size. From the very beginning the breed 
had the advantage of having an object. The 
Yorkshireman wanted a big, strong, dead game, 
water-loving terrier. That furnished a standard 
to breed to, and they got what they wanted. 

When the fame of this dog first spread from 
the valleys of his birthplace, he was pretty well 
established as to type, and once taken up by the 
dog showing fancy and a standard drawn up 
the type was soon firmly fixed. Since his first 
introduction to the world he has changed, be- 
coming somewhat larger. The seers and wise 
men of English dogdom raised a great hullabal- 
loo when this giant among terriers appeared, say- 
ing that no dog over twenty pounds could be a 
terrier because a terrier must go to earth. The 
dog, however, was mainly terrier in blood and 
so very certainly terrier in characteristics that 
he was classed with the family. Maybe it is out 
of respect to the authorities of the early days 
of the dog fancy that we have gradually dropped 
the terrier in his name, and though it is a part 
of his official title, still the dog is universally 
spoken of as the Airedale. 

This, however, was not his original name, for 
in early days he was called the " waterside ter- 
rier," and his official debut at the English dog 
shows was in classes for " broken-haired working 
terriers." Both titles were felt to be too indefi- 
nite, and " Stonehenge," the sporting authority, 
suggested " Bingley terrier," from the town in 
the heart of the district where the breed origi- 
nated. Local jealousies prevented any one town 
giving its name to the breed, and there was quite 
a war waged till some unrecorded genius sug- 
gested that, as the birthplace of the breed had 
been in the valleys of the Aire River and its little 
tributaries, Airedale was the best name. So Aire- 
dale he became, having an official christening at 
the Otley show in the late seventies. 

Besides adding some ten pounds to his weight 
and getting a distinctive and pleasing name, the 
Airedale has changed in other ways since he took 
his light from under the bushel basket. His 
head has lengthened, following the tendency of 
all terrier breeds. His shoulders, legs, and feet 
are worlds better now than they were years ago, 
but coats have suffered. The wire jacket has 
improved, but the woolly undervest has been sac- 
rificed, though now more and more attention is 
being paid to this by breeders and judges. 
The honor of having brought the first Airedale 
to America is generally ascribed to Mr. C. H.