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He is undoubtedly the product of the Otterhound and the old Black and Tan wire-haired terrier referred to in the chapters on the wire-hair Fox and the Welsh Terriers.
The Otterhound is a descendant of the old Southern Hound, and there is reason to believe that all hounds hunting their quarry by nose had a similar source.
It is more than probable that the rough-coated terrier is identical with the now recognised Otterhound as an offshoot of the Southern Hound; but be that as it may, there has been a special breed of Otterhound for the last eighty years, very carefully bred and gradually much improved in point of appearance.
There are various theories as to its original parentage, but the one which holds that he was the result of a cross between the Otterhound and the Dandie Dinmont suggests itself to me as the most probable one. His characteristics strongly resemble in many points both these breeds, and there can be but little doubt of his near relationship at some time or other to the Dandie.
In every part of a run it is the same; the otter dodges up stream and down, lands for a moment, returns to his holt; but his adversaries are always with him, and as one sees their steady work the impression becomes stronger and stronger that for the real sport of otter-hunting there is nothing as good as the pure-bred Otterhound.
These hounds were no doubt in some instances a nondescript lot, as, indeed, are several of the packs hunting the otter to-day, but there was unquestionably a good deal of Otterhound blood in them, and some pure bred hounds were also to be found. Yorkshire also has always been the great home of the terrier. Fox-terriers, as we now know them, had at this time hardly been seen.
When one considers the magnificent nobleness, the great sagacity, courage, and stateliness of the Otterhound, the great gameness, cheek, and pertinacity of the old Black and Tan wire-hair, such a cross must surely produce an animal of excellent type and character. Yorkshire, more especially that part of it round and about the town of Otley, is responsible for the birth of the Airedale.
H. P. Wardell, the kennels being at Ludlow race-course, Bromfield. The leading pack in the Kingdom for the last sixty years, at any rate, has been the Carlisle when in the hands of Mr. J. C. Carrick, who was famous both for the sport he showed and for his breed of Otterhound, so well represented at all the important shows.
To be equal to such prey, the hound must have a Bulldog's courage, a Newfoundland's strength in water, a Pointer's nose, a Retriever's sagacity, the stamina of the Foxhound, the patience of a Beagle, the intelligence of a Collie. THE PERFECT OTTERHOUND: HEAD The head, which has been described as something between that of a Bloodhound and that of a Foxhound, is more hard and rugged than either.
It is quite possible, therefore, that the Beagle was crossed with the Welsh, Southern or Otterhound, to get more size and power, as there certainly was a Welsh rough-coated Beagle of good 18 inches, and an almost identical contemporary that was called the Essex Beagle.
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