Let my Airedale catch a hog (pen)

Hi guys,
My name is Wes. I have been a hunter all my life. I mainly do falconry now, but I have a few Airedales that I like to hunt. We pretty much just go out and hunt and have a good time. No specialty at all. Last hunt my male, Reese, caught something about 700yds out and came back all bloody around the mouth, but I have no idea what it was. I have a female that is about a year and a half and she will get out a distance too, but again no real direction. I have a young female that has a lot of the same breeding in her as my male and her name is Kit.

Reese saw some shoats last year in a bay pen once and went nuts, but I didn't put him in the pen. Kit has seen some small shoats once and the older female Twix has never seen one.

First up was Kit. We put her in the pen and she immediately bayed up on about a 75lb shoat (I guess that is still a shoat?) and did a really good job according to the hog dog guys. She had a blast.

Then they put a 150#sow in there and told me to get my male out and he never slowed down and hit her in the rear and caught. We put that sow in another pen.

Next they put a 170# boar in with blunted teeth. I got my older female out and put her in there and she charged the boar and it just ran right over her. She didn't care for that too much and was overwhelmed. I was pretty disappointed, but I probably did her wrong I think.

Then they told me to get my male back out and let that boar teach him a lesson and see if he would bay after it roughed him up a little. My male hit that boar so hard that is sounded like someone hit it with a baseball bat in the head and was caught. It was absolutely immediate and they told me to come get him off the pig. That was a little intimidating for a first timer to be honest. I had a hard time getting Reese off the hog too. Anyway everyone seemed really proud of him. I sure was but for you guys this is probably lame. Anyway, I will be reading around on here some and trying to learn. Not sure if I will get serious about hogs or let it be an occasional thing as I know this can be a rough sport on dogs and I am pretty fond of them. By the same token was glad to see my male was pretty rough like an Airedale is supposed to be.

Have a good one and God Bless,
Wes

One of the best trail and catch dogs I ever had was a airdale, they are a tough breed.

dotties cutter said:

One of the best trail and catch dogs I ever had was a airdale, they are a tough breed.

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I see you are Brunswick. I am about 2 hours from you in Reidsville. Do you remember where your Airedale came from? Was he silent? My male never made a sound at the bay pen, just caught and I don't ever hear him in the woods. Both females are more mouthy. I used to have a falconry apprentice in Brunswick. He is now a cop there.

I know they always had the reputation of being tough, but their modern reputation isn't as stellar. I bought all 3 of mine from hunting lines from guys(one in Iowa, one in Kentucky, one in Rome, GA that only has one now) that are trying to get them back to the level of proficiency they were once known for. My male won't quite go a thousand yards before he starts coming back. Once the edge is worn off he will usually work inside 200 yds for quite a while and then will suddenly open back up. The young female will go as far as him, but I think most of the time she is still just "following", but sometimes I see them split up on the Garmin. The older female will range out too, but again I don't really know what they are doing

Here is the male when he caught that sow in the but. Sorry for the "angle" of the shot.

Here is a pic of my younger female baying.



Sadly it started raining so I don't have any pictures of the female and the boar (which all you would see is him run over her) or the male catching him by the head/ear.

Wes,
we used to have a male, Riley back in Indiana. What a smart athletic,protective, tough dog. Riley, maybe 75 lbs. came from a female, Rosey who was 120lbs easy. She had one pup who didn't live, that was 3 times bigger that all the others.

Riley disappeared on my watch once. The whole family was really upset as he was the family dog and meant a lot to Mom since Dad had passed recently. I was under my old truck a few days later when Riley and a HUGE Alaskan Malamute came by. They were both cut up as if they had been fighting over a female in heat. The Malamute was way worse off!
I have bloodhounds nowadays but will always miss that dog !!
Good Luck !

Hey Mtn lover,
I bet that really big female is an old Oorang (sp?) bred dog as they had some huge ones from all accounts or maybe a Moreland. My male is 70-75 in shape. That is a neat story about your old Airedale. Did you ever hunt with him? Airedales used to be legendary, but they suffered as a breed with all the specialist dogs, but a few are trying to make a comeback, but it can be hard to find them with real grit. I think my male is a definite keeper and I believe my young female is, but my older female is still a question mark. Trying to make sure I stay objective as to what I have in the yard. I appreciate the reply.

Saw your post on Airedale's---I just acquired one & would like to use him with cattle--just wondering if anyone has ever used one to work cattle.

Airedale

wesleyc6 said:

rebel bruiser said:

Saw your post on Airedale's---I just acquired one & would like to use him with cattle--just wondering if anyone has ever used one to work cattle.[/QUOTE
Do you have a pedigree on your new dog?
they were generalist dogs and one of the most popular breeds back in the 40's and 50's I believe and were often used as working dogs on the farm and hunting dogs at night back then according to many of the older stories. If you want to read more, I would suggest traditional Airedale forum here http://traditionalairedale.proboards.com/

Lots of guys there with a lot more knowledge and experience than me.

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Wesley--Thanks--I am Located in Glennville--I Do Not Have The Pedigree--I Got The Pup From Someone Who couldn't Keep Him--My Wife Is From Reidsville !!

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Really? My wife (DeeDee Collins) and sister teach in Reidsville, and one of the families in my church is from Glenville (Keith and Dusty Durrence). Where did you get the dog? Do you know if he came from a breeder around Rome, GA? I would love to see him! How old is he?

I like all your post about the airedales. Always wanted to own one. Do any one of y'all know where I can find one locally?

Glad you enjoy the posts. I gave my older female away because she wasn't gritty enough. My young female hasn't had her first heat so it will prob be a year for me if neither dog gets killed. I don't know of any litters with both parents from hunting stock. The traditional Airedale forum is a great place to look too.

Haven't gotten the Airedales on a hog yet. Supposed to pick up a vest this week for male. Here is a hog we caught last week locally. We caught 4 and had 3 bayed at one time. It was a great hunt! If weather holds then Thursday a fella is taking me and my two Airedales to a good place.

wesleyc6 said:

Really? My wife (DeeDee Collins) and sister teach in Reidsville, and one of the families in my church is from Glenville (Keith and Dusty Durrence). Where did you get the dog? Do you know if he came from a breeder around Rome, GA? I would love to see him! How old is he?

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My xwife is a Collins from Collins, Reidsville, Lyons, Cobb Town, you said a mouthful . Lots still farm and have yard dogs with whiskers.

Great thread. At one time I was thinking of looking to getting an Airedale, but knowing that the breed has lost it working qualities stopped me. Great to know that there are some good ones still out there.

The Airedale is a valley in Yorkshire and was the birthplace of the breed. It was formed by crossing the old English rough-coated Black and Tan Terrier with the Otterhound. Wikipedia

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