The Airedale Terrier is a people-oriented, corageous and protective dog, very gently and affectionate with his family.  It is  also known as a strong-minded, stubborn, very rowdy breed, needing proper obedience training. Remarkably intelligent and independent, the Airedale Terrier often has dominance challenges towards the family members it considers submissive, which frequently leads to disobedience. This breed is easy to train since its high intellligence allows it to perceive quickly what is being required from it. However because the Airedale hates routine tasks,  it may refuse to repeat the same behaviour if asked over and over again.  This breed is suspicious with strangers, but it is very patient with children, especially older children. It tends to be very territorial with other dogs, reason why it needs proper socialization, but generally gets along with the household  cats and other small animals, depending on the training.