Customer Reviews

The Working Airedale

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Most informative book, not only in relation to Airedales as a breed, but also the history of this lion hearted and highly intelligent member of the canine family. This book covers the breeds working and hunting history, and should be in every law enforcement dog trainers library.I include this book as one of my cherished possessions.

Having read this book more than once, I can not recomend "The Working Airedale" highly enough. Well written in an entertaining, informative style with many rare pictures. To me, this book is a must for all those interested in the world of dogs as well as fans of Airedales and terriers.

Working Airedale Terriers by Brian Cummins is one of those books which have become somewhat popular in the recent past because interest in this breed as a real working dog is growing. Mr.Cummins does a bit of research on the Airedale as a working dog in the past but offers little that is current. The book is full of old stories, primarily from hunters of various types of game. There is limited information on the breeds history
as a war dog from the kennels established in England by Col Richardson and the use of the dogs in Russia up to WWI. He does mention that the Europeans used the breed during this same period
as "sanitary" dogs (dogs trained to locate and alert on wounded soldiers in the aftermath of combat). He does add his personal experiences of his family pets.
There is however a noticeable absence of current information of the Airedale as a working dog. The author does not cover the breed in Germany where it is still used as a working police service dog which is bred in police kennels but he does give limited space to the dogs' use in the sport of Schutzhund.Cummins does not mention the dog being used by game wardens in Georgia or as police patrol and detection dogs in Alabama and Colorado.
The book falls short of it's title in being currently informative
and most of the stories are readily available in the books written by Richardson, Palmer and others; men who actually trained and worked their Airedales.