AiredaleTerriers.org Airedale Terrier Information & Referral Resource

Have you ever wondered how many Airedale puppies are born a year?

Of course, it is impossible to get an accurate count. But, to get an estimate, I decided to order a copy of the Airedale Stud Book from the American Kennel Club (AKC) for the month of December, 2000.

An AKC-registered dog or bitch is listed in the AKC Stud Book the first time it is used to breed an AKC-registered litter. The monthly reports are available from the AKC: http://www.akc.org/store/index.cfm

Forty (40) Airedales are listed in the December, 2000, issue of the AKC Stud Book (25 bitches; 15 dogs)

Airedale litters can range from singletons to 14 or 15 ... I wanted to be conservative and assumed that the average litter was 5 puppies. I then assumed that 5 dogs and 5 bitches out of those 40 were bred to each other, and thus those 10 were jointly responsible for 25 puppies instead of 50. So (30 litters of 5 puppies = 150) + (5 (dog/bitch pairs) x 5 = 25) = 175 puppies from the dogs/bitches listed in the December, 2000 stud book.

Then I thought, perhaps December was just a particularly busy month and, to be accurate, I should check out the previous months.

November, 2000: 45 (28 bitches; 17 dogs) Using the same assumptions, (35 x 5 = 175) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 200

October, 2000: 36 (24 bitches; 12 dogs) (26 x 5 = 125) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 155

September, 2000: 39 (25 bitches; 14 dogs) (29 x 5 = 145) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 170

August, 2000: 63 (36 bitches; 27 dogs) (53 x 5 = 265) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 290

July, 2000: 45 (26 bitches; 19 dogs) (35 x 5 = 175) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 200

June, 2000: 50 (30 bitches; 20 dogs) (40 x 5 = 200) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 225

May, 2000: 38 (26 bitches; 12 dogs) (28 x 5 = 140) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 165

April, 2000: 52 (32 bitches; 20 dogs) (42 x 5 = 210) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 235

March, 2000: 36 (23 bitches; 13 dogs) (26 x 5 = 130) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 155

February, 2000: 32 (25 bitches; 7 dogs) (22 x 5 = 110) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 135

January, 2000: 37 (24 bitches, 13 dogs) (27 x 5 = 135) + (5 x 5 = 25) = 160

So, a conservative estimate of the number of puppies produced by first-time AKC-registered Airedale moms & dads listed in the Stud Registry for the Year 2000 : 2,265

After going through all that, I was told that the AKC publishes the top 50 breeds by number registered every year http://www.akc.org/breeds/top50.cfm

In 1999 , there were 2,950 Airedales registered.

The above numbers don't take into account litters that weren't registered with the AKC.

Here is a math question for you: One female dog has a litter of 4 puppies. She has the same number of pups twice a year for 6 years. If every puppy born from every litter during those six years has four puppies, how many puppies will have been produced during that 6 year period?

(scroll down for the answer)

Answer to the Math Question: If allowed to breed, one female dog can cause the production of 972 puppies within 6 years! PLEASE! Spay and Neuter your pets. You'll be doing a good thing.

12/25/2000 Sidney Hardie