Is an Airedale Right for You?
Airedale personality
Airedales are very devoted companions, but they fully expect to be an equal partner in your life. They seem to have a sense of humor about themselves and you, so you had better develop the ability to see humor in all situations. Like when they steal your keys just as you are about to leave for work and run around the back yard with them daring you to try and catch them. Airedales do not respond well to being excluded from family life. You cannot expect an Airedale to be happy and well adjusted if he/she is confined to the backyard or to a single room in the house.
Airedales are not for the faint at heart
The very qualities that make Airedales "the only breed" for some of us, make them the most undesirable to others. They are very smart and often extremely stubborn. Possessing a real thought process as well as a sense of humor; Airedales are even capable of pulling practical jokes. Few people appreciate being the objects of gleeful deception, especially by their dog, but that appreciation is one of the basic necessities of owning an Airedale.
Training
While Airedales are very smart, they are not always obedient! They can almost always find something much more important to do than come when called.
Airedales do not respond well to heavy-handed training methods. Training efforts are most successful if they are based on praise rather than punishment.
Your Airedale wants to work with you not for you. Your training methods will have to take this attitude into account. Some breeds will joyfully do the same task repeatedly, not Airedales! Drills and repetitive exercises are met with less than an enthusiastic response.
An Airedale likes to show off and demonstrate how smart they are - once! Their attitude is, "I did it and I did it perfectly! If you were not paying attention, then that is your problem!" However, there are Airedales that excel in fly ball, obedience, agility, hunting, search and rescue, police and therapy work. You as the owner, just have to learn what motivates your dog.
Lovable traits / Common objections
Beards: Many (non-Airedale) people object to an Airedale's drippy beard after a drink of water.
Digging: Airedales are terriers and so are very often avid diggers. They dig not so much outward, as down, so that they can have a comfortable "nest." They love gardens. They especially love lying in the middle of them smelling and eating the flowers. This is just one more reason to give them their own fenced in area.
Paper products: Airedales seem to take special delight in the redistribution of toilet paper and tissues. You learn very quickly not to leave these items out. There is nothing like discovering that your Airedale has just redecorated your living room with remains of a full box of tissues, ten minutes before your guests arrive for dinner.
Trashcans: It may be a trashcan to you, but to an Airedale it is a toy box. You can avoid these fun clean ups by keeping the lids closed or putting the cans out of reach.
Stealing: Airedales are master pickpockets and collectors of human memorabilia. They teach you very quickly to pick things up and put them away. Oh and they will never look more innocent or become more deaf as when you are frantically searching for an item you need immediately.
Chewing: Airedales can be great chewers. Furniture, clothes, shoes, walls - it's all the same to them. One person left their new Airedale in the laundry room when they went to work. Upon their return they found the dog stretched comfortably on the sofa, very happy to see them. How did he get out of the laundry room? Very simple, he just chewed a hole in the wall to the kitchen.
Energy: There are some exceptions, but Airedales tend to be non-stop motion machines. Most breeds calm down a great deal as they get older. Airedales, while they do show the effects of age, tend to stay very energetic their entire lives. We've know 13 year old dogs who have leapt off the top of the stairs to chase intruders, like squirrels, out of their yards.
Tietysti teksti on huumorimielessä kirjoitettua ja jokainen koira on yksilö, mutta kyllä – totta se silti on! :D Airedalenterrieri ei ole jokaisen ihmisen rotu. Säntillinen ja sääntöjen pilkuntarkkaa noudattamista arvostava ihminen todennäköisesti repisi hiukset päästään tämän rodun kanssa. Airedalenterrieri oppii kyllä nopeasti ja tietää usein hyvinkin, mitä siltä vaaditaan – sillä nyt vain sattuu olemaan myös omat ajatuksensa, jotka eivät välttämättä mene yhteen kouluttajan toiveiden kanssa. ;) Miellyttämisenhalu on pienempi kuten terriereillä yleensä, eikä kerran nappiin mennyt suoritus toistukaan välttämättä seuraavan puolen vuoden sisällä, jos koira niin päättää. Syvä huokaus ja koiran arvostaminen juuri tuona veikeänä päkkipäänä auttaa yleensä tässä. :)
Meille airedale merkitsee tasavertaista perheenjäsentä, jonka humoristisia ja itsenäisiä luonteenpiirteitä arvostetaan eikä yritetä kitkeä pois. Koirassa on haastetta kouluttajalleen, harrastettiin sen kanssa sitten tottelevaisuutta tai pelkkää yhteiseloa. Luonnetta siitä löytyy, hyvin persoonallista sellaista, ja tarvitaan oikea mentaliteetti kohtaamaan tämä rotu parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla. Vai onko airedalenterrieri kenties sittenkin kouluttanut meidät koiranomistajina sellaisiksi kuin olemme? "Airedaleistuessamme" osaamme ottaa asiat rennosti, suhtautua positiivisemmin uusiin tilanteisiin, kyseenalaistaa normeja ja elää elämää omalla tavallamme, muiden mielipiteistä piittaamatta. (Tai näin sitä ainakin haluaa itselleen uskotella!) :) Oli miten oli, tämä rotu vaan yksinkertaisesti on ja pysyy meidän rotuna!
