November 5th, 2010
Hello from Gary Pearse in Fairbanks, Alaska, home of Vanna (Luke x Foggy 1/08). A couple of updates and stories. She’s doing very well, is fit and trim, and really likes to exercise. We spent a month at the woods lake cabin this spring, and every day she’d do at least five miles of trotting next to my snowmachine or ATV, but most days she did up to 15 miles without tiring. I ride slow 5-10 mph and she keeps up, or more likely sprints ahead. We take frequent breaks. At the end of the run she’d get a drink and go back to more play around the cabin property.
She is really an excellent hunter with a remarkable nose for scent. She can locate several days old moose tracks, and any other source down to the smallest fly. I’ve had her track moose on bare pavement even in the summer. The moose were long gone but she knew they were there before. Amazing. We hunt small game to great success, especially squirrels and grouse. When in town we walk three times a day but not the mileage she loves out in the woods. Kathleen takes her for the evening trot in all weather. Temps she’s experienced are +90 to -50F, the latter with fleece foot booties on of course. I also don’t run her in extreme cold.
Yesterday I had a new revelation into her learning abilities. We went to a local pond to play with a friend’s recently rescued English Lab. The lab named “Chief” likes to chase tennis balls, and especially if thrown into the water. I’ve only ever thrown tennis balls for Vanna on dry ground as she’s not into swimming yet and just likes to wade in water. Anyhow Chief retrieved the tennis ball three times with Vanna “helping” and observing safely from dry ground. On the third retrieve Chief dropped the ball at his master’s side. After assessing the prior events she seized the opportunity and stole the ball. She then ran to the pond, walked out in the water as far as she could, and dropped the ball apparently for Chief to retrieve. He jumped in like labs do at full power and retrieved the ball. Upon returning and dropping the ball, Vanna stole it yet again and repeated the whole “ball’s in the water…fetch Chief” scenario. The owner was shaken by her comic behavior and decided to go home rather than have Vanna run the show (and his prized dog). She’s quite some gal to make a joke whenever she can.
Gary Pearse and Vanna
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November 5th, 2010
So, it happened again last week. Cheers and Jazz chased another bunny into the pool. This time it was warmer, 50 degrees. Cheers reached in too far and fell into the pool. She never goes in and is not very savvy on the exit plan. I had to go in and give her a shove to the shelf and then the walk out stairs. Bunny was still swimming for his life, so I shoved wet Cheers and a stunned Jazz into the house. They don’t wear collars so it is hard to grab them. I found a large dust pan and managed to scope the bunny out to safety. Airedales banging on the door and wondering why they were not involved in the plan. The bunny stayed in the dust pan and eventually left. Dales now think bunnies are swimming in the pool every night. The next night Cheers was more cautious and did not get close to the pool.
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October 20th, 2009
Having two generations of Airedales (both from Texter Terriers) provides an enjoyable challenge in that there is seven years (7-human years) between their ages. Both are females, and the oldest, the alpha-female, is 84 in human years (12 in dog years). The youngest is now 35 (5 in dog years).
Imagine for a minute an 85-year-old and a 35-something going out into the yard to play ball. No contest. Not with these Airedales. Our two Airedales play twice a day. It is intense play. Full contact, play. When the older Airedale (Cheers) lets the younger Airedale know she is ready to play she will signal by “telling her” (telling the younger dog) with a series of sharp barks, while dipping her head under the younger dog’s belly. When that happens, playtime has begun, wherever, and whenever it occurs.
An active chase usually ensues, invariably inside the house, and it goes room-to-room, and turns into a game of hide-n-seek. As the dogs get worked up, they cackle loudly and run at full speed around the pillars in one of the rooms of the house. You would never know there was an 85-year-old versus a 35-year-old playing together, having this much fun.
The younger dog is not an easy play mate. She is a bull. And she can play pretty rough. She (Jazz) uses full contact, body-slamming moves. We adult (humans) know enough to get out of her way. But we enjoy watching the action as it is so much fun to watch how serious they are about their play-action, as they enjoy playing. Of course, if the “play” begins to crescendo out-of-control to what might be a bit tougher than we think is “safe” for an older dog we “blow the whistle” as any competent WWE referee would do in any sanctioned, sportsman-like, sparring.
These are great dogs. We enjoy living with the every day, and we thank God we have them.
Tom & Jaye Holiday
(owners of Cheers and Jazz)
11930 Wexford Club Drive
Roswell, GA. 30075
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April 22nd, 2009
I highly recommend reading Cesar’s Way by Cesar Milan. Cesar writes about establishing leadership with your dog and describes how dogs perceive their world. We humans try to humanize our pets and while this is a bonding feature for us, it can miss the point with the pet and can lead to behavioral problems in our pets that make living with them difficult or impossible.
For Airedale owners, new and those still scratching their heads over certain ADT antics, please get the book and pay special attention to the part about how to establish leadership with your dog. From walking the dog to changing your body language with your pet - Cesar’s tips will give dramatic results with your dog if you’ll follow them (consistently I might add). I’ve seen examples of what he suggests as long as twenty years ago and can’t agree more with his suggestions.
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April 22nd, 2009
Writing this on 4-22-09 - amazed as I write the date that the year is rolling along like it is. At any rate, I’m still in the process of updating the web site. I’d like to give a shout-out to April Hoyle of www.aprilhoylephotography.com for her generous supply of pictures (taken of our last litter). April and her family have Penelope, a girl from the litter. She came to visit one day and took many photos of our family and dogs. So credit to April on her fine photography skills. Take a gander at her site when you can -
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April 11th, 2009
Rescue is a great thing - we try to do as much as we can with Airedale rescue. Every once in a while, with Dave’s occupation as a vet, we see wonderful dogs come through the clinic that have been found running the streets, abandoned for a short time or for far too long. We see dogs that never got a fair shot at having any kind of home from the start and these dogs are very hard to rehab, especially after years of abuse and/or neglect. It is absolutely heart-shattering to see these animals.
Then, every once in a while, we see amazing cases of rescue adoption with happily ever after results. We’re often successful in finding homes for rescued Airedales and other breeds. In a couple of cases, we’ve been the recipients of rescued animals. Currently, we have Abbie, short for Abandoned. She was a parvo Dachshund dumped at the clinic as a 4 month old in the throes of parvo - she was a brown bag of skin with ribs showing, white gums, not certain to pull through. My daughter fell in love with her and now she’s Abbie short for Abercrombie Spoiled. The Airedales love her and lie down on the floor, belly up, and let her jump on them. They seem to delight in her short legs.
The second rescue we have is Sandy the Boxer. She was found roaming the streets of Houston and a client picked her up and brought her to the clinic. Like Abbie, she was in bad shape physically, but she was older, about a year and a half. She spent some time with Dave at the clinic and was found to have a sweet temperament. Like most vets, Dave is fond of a number of breeds (Airedales at the top of course) and Boxers are one on the list. And more importantly, our son had been begging for a Boxer. Short story - Sandy came to live with us and has been a joy. She and our son do agility and obedience. She also hikes in the woods with me. Neat, neat dog. She usually has her guard-dog face on. She gets overcome with joie de vivre on occasion and I finally caught her on camera smiling. Here’s a picture of our rescue Boxer and son: Sandy
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April 11th, 2009
Thank you for doing such a great web site!! We are on our second Airedale and are thinking about getting a second Airedale. I am a physician and my husband is a PHD in Entomology so I read your web site like a kindred spirit… You two are also a “Paradocs”. I have also always wanted to have an “Airedale farm”. And you have done it!!! I know nothing about having a litter of puppies but it is one of my life goals. Our last Airdale we had an agreement to breed her once, but had trouble finding an agreeable breeder to use a stud male.
Anyway… sorry for the rambling. What I really appreciate about your web site is the thorough discussion of Airedales and congenital medical problems.
Our current female has seasonal rag weed allergies that end up with about 3 mos of dermatitis and scratching treated w/ oral steroids and antihistamines. I am debating giving her shots. Sounds like this is common in Airedales. Our dogs litter mate recently died of cancer, which sounds like it was a lymphoma at age 4 yo. From your web site it sounds like that isn’t too terribly common.
Thanks for doing a marvelous web site. If we lived closer, I would be driving down just for a tour. You sound like wonderful breeders.
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April 11th, 2009
Dear Texas Texters,
I am bleary eyed looking on the internet - reading up on Weimeraners and
Airedales. I just lost my 14 yo Old English Sheepdog and have decided to end a
30 plus year love affair with same. That’s not to say that I won’t forever have
much love for the breed, I just plan on making a change and end with the most
special dog of all. I couldn’t possibly be as lucky with another OES and so I
have decided to change things up.
We have also had German Shepherds for 20 plus years and my old boy outlived 2 of
them. The Airedale just always looked like a combination of OES and German
Shepherd - in a loose sort of way. At this particular time I find the Airedales
smile and black nose, coat and color, most appealing.
At any rate, your site is chock full of info and award winning writing style.
You folks certainly have tremendous experience and insight.
Our daughter is a Micro Biology student and is taking a very tough
Genetics course this semester. Please help. haha Too bad she isn’t advanced
enough to clone. My dog or me.
Cheers,
Lisa
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April 11th, 2009
Let’s hear it for “Camp Kane”!!
Kane is a great dog. He’s a wonderful balance of loyalty and stubbornness. He swims with the labs, tracks with the hounds, spars with any dog and outsmarts them all. He is extremely friendly and a little over-exuberant, but absolutely wonderful with kids (since they always drop food). He’s ferocious when defending our house against other dogs in the neighborhood but would welcome a burglar like he’s one of the family!
Every year, for the last 20 years, a group of us (about 50 people) and their dogs go camping in the Sierra, here in California. It’s as much a vacation for the dogs as it is for us. Since we take 2 weeks of food, our ice chests are over 100 lbs and too inconvenient to carry to our cars at night. We tie a zip line between two trees 75 feet apart and attach “Kane” with a tether so he can patrol the area. This last year, we had a bear, on 6 different nights, try to get to our food and Kane defended it with all his might. He was amazing! Absolutely fearless–. Every night the bear tested him and he went on the offense and kept him out of our camp. The bear went to our friend’s site…….”Camp Wiener dog” and ate all their marshmallows and hot cocoa mix. Everyone who had food in the “safe zone” thanked, petted, and hugged Kane for the great job of being our “night watchman”. The other dogs - Labs, Shepherds, beagle, and wiener dogs who didn’t make a peep, had to live with their cowardice!”
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