Mountain Airedale Terrier Hike

First Airedale mountain hike of the new year. About 20 Min. before sunset on Cowles Mountain (City of San Diego), with my Mountain Airedales Annie & Teddy.

Mountain Airedale Hike

Mountain Airedales on Cowles Mountain summit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

During the 1930s, when airedales were farmed like livestock, a few American breeders developed the Oorang Airedale offshoot.

Capt. Walter Lingo, of LaRue, Ohio, developed the Oorang Airedale strain. The name came from a line of bench champions, headed by King Oorang 11, a dog which was said to have been the finest utility dog. King could retrieve waterfowl and upland game, tree raccoons, drive cattle and sheep, and bay mountain lions, bears, and wolves. King even fought one of the best fighting bull terriers, and killed his opponent. He also trained in Red Cross work, and served the American Expeditionary Force at the front in France.

Lingo simply wasn’t satisfied with the average strain of Airedale, and after an incredible series of breedings, for which he brought in great Airedales from all over the world, he created the “King Oorang.” At the time, Field and Stream magazine called it, “the greatest utility dog in the history of the world.” The Oorang Kennel Company continued until Walter Lingo’s death in 1969. To help promote the King Oorang, as well as his kennels, Lingo created the Oorang Indians football team headed up by Jim Thorpe. The team played in National Football League from 1922–1923. Jerry Siebert, an Airedale breeder in Buckeye Lake, Ohio, followed in Lingo’s footsteps, and bred “Jerang Airedales.” There is a kennel in Tennessee that claims to have original Oorang Airedales.

After the First World War, the Airedales’ popularity rapidly increased thanks to stories of their bravery on the battlefield and also because Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren Harding owned Airedales. President Harding’s Airedale, Laddie Boy, was the “first celebrity White House pet”. President Harding had a special chair hand carved for him to sit on at very important Cabinet meetings. In the 1920s, the Airedale became the most popular breed in the USA.

President Roosevelt claimed that “An Airedale can do anything any other dog can do and then lick the other dog, if he has to.”

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