Airedale Terrier vs Doberman Pinscher — Side by Side

	Airedale Terrier	Doberman Pinscher
Lifespan	10-13 years	10-12 years
Size	Large	Large
Weight	40-65 lb	60-100 lb
Energy	High	Very high
Grooming	Moderate	Low
Shedding	Low	Moderate
With kids	Good with kids	With supervision

What actually separates them

Less hair on the sofa with the Airedale Terrier. More with the Doberman Pinscher.
Less brushing with the Doberman Pinscher. More with the Airedale Terrier.
Calmer of the two is the Airedale Terrier. The one that needs more exercise is the Doberman Pinscher.
Airedale Terrier tends to live longer — 10-13 years against 10-12 years.
With young children, Airedale Terrier is the safer default — Doberman Pinscher is listed as "With supervision".

The honest downside of each

Airedale Terrier

As the largest terrier breed, the Airedale keeps a full terrier prey drive and stubborn streak in a 50-plus-pound body, and breed mortality surveys put cancer as the cause of roughly 4 in 10 Airedale deaths — noticeably higher than most breeds.

Doberman Pinscher

A widely cited European study found that 58% of screened Dobermans had dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart-muscle disease that can cause sudden death with no warning signs — buying from a breeder who actually health-tests parents with a Holter monitor and echocardiogram, rather than one who doesn't, is arguably the single biggest decision a Doberman buyer makes.

Read the full pages

Airedale Terrier · Doberman Pinscher
Health problems, origin and what living with each is actually like.