I use straight airedales. When we are bear hunting, we use my friends hounds if we are hunting together. If they want to hog hunt, we use the airedales. My friends are thumbs down on mixing our dogs.....unless mine are muzzled.....and I am not going that route because I have been around a few to many hounds that are tree fighters. Particularily the ones that stand on the tree. I hunt withn one friend that has some great English bear dogs but he just says, "t doesn't matter whose dogs start the fight, his will lose". The problem is, hunting here< close to Yosemite Natl Park, it is rough ground and it may take 4 hrs to get to the tree. Hogs are usually caught a lot closer and it doesn't take long to get to them normally.....but no one around here will let their hounds run hogs. It is cool and we have it worked out....it is my dogs or theirs depending on the game. If I didn't have the dales, the first dogs I would look at would be Ladner's BMC's. I have talked to Randy Wright a number of years ago and he has some good dogs but I think they are mainly stock dogs. What do you think. Just curious because at this point I am not switching from the dales. I have them ground tracking, baying and catching so a couple of dogs get the job done.