AiredaleTerriers.org Airedale Terrier Information & Referral Resource

Let me say first that we are no strangers to large dogs. Our first, a Weimaraner named Dune, was chosen on a whim and turned out to be both lovable and totally unmanageable in a household occupied by two working uprights, a small child, two chihuahuas and three cats. When poor Dune was sent over the bridge at the age of three due to a genetic illness, the family was both relieved and heartbroken. That very night, we acquired Charlotte the shepherd from a breeder/trainer we knew. Charlotte was German-bred and the most perfect dog you could ever imagine for our circumstances. She was well-behaved, affectionate, quiet, and an excellent watch dog. Sending her over the bridge at age 16 was devastating. Meanwhile, again on impulse, we had rescued a chow from a pet store. Doubtless a puppy-mill product, Gennie was a delightful, bright, trainable (for a chow), lethargic sweetheart but she was also chronically unhealthy. When it became apparent that Gennie's days were numbered, we began to consider a new large dog, but this time, decided to do some research. After all, we reasoned, to date, we had had one disastrous dog, one perfect dog and one medically unsound animal. Acquiring another dog for whimsical reasons seemed too much like tempting fate!

My husband had been talking Airedale for some time. I had only met one dale previously – an enormous, foul-tempered male that was kept in a heavily fenced yard near our vacation cabin. Approaching the yard resulted in snarls and growls. I was hard to convince that I wanted such a creature in our house. However, my husband, a librarian and prone to researching issues to the nth degree, assured me that all the information indicated the Airedale would be an appropriate pet for us – lively, affectionate, trainable, acceptably behaved in the house, an excellent watch dog and a good traveling animal who would not be adverse to running through wilderness areas. He did, however, worry that a dale might pester the cat and the toy poodle. Then he met Bailey and fell in love. Bailey was an Airedale who often visited a neighbor when her owner traveled. The decision was made: an Airedale it would be.

Just to be sure, we consulted our trusted veterinarian. He agreed enthusiastically with our choice and recommended a local breeder who, he said, seemed to have excellent, healthy dogs. We located the breeder's web page and, with some trepidation, filled out an electronic form requesting a puppy, but indicated we would be more interested in an adult. Within 48 hours, Angie A., a five year old female retired show dog, was ours!

The next week was horrible. Angie attempted to dismember the poodle, terrorized the cat, jumped roughly on every individual unfortunate enough to set foot in our house, attacked anything on four legs encountered on walks, and stole everything that took her fancy. She would not walk on lead and knew absolutely no basic obedience at all. She unraveled my knitting and ate the needles, carried balls of wool outside and buried them in the garden, absconded with everyone's lunch and dinner, upset every wastebasket in the house and ate a box of Kleenex. She leaped up and down on us when we were in bed, terrorized our baby grandson and, finally, capped her splendid performance by lunging through the front door past a guest into the unfenced portion of the yard. She knocked the guest to the ground, and headed for a nearby, very busy arterial street which she ran down, causing many near accidents and much profanity. She was finally captured by the guest who tackled her football-style and sat on her until reinforcements arrived.

By now, we were more than a little concerned. We are both fairly adept at handling large dogs – my husband, in fact, is an excellent obedience trainer – but Angie was rapidly falling into the nightmare category of intractable. So we sat down and had a conference. All of Angie's transgressions were discussed along with the way in which we handled the various situations. We concluded that, for the most part, matters had been handled sensibly, but Angie appeared unwilling or unable to show even the slightest, tiniest, most miniscule signs of improvement. Reluctantly, we decided that Angie was probably not the dog for us, that possibly an Airedale was indeed not suitable as our pet, and sadly, that Angie should be returned to the breeder. Meanwhile, Angie curled up in the smallest ball imaginable and looked miserable. We think she took notes!

The next morning, to our astonishment, a very contrite Airedale tiptoed onto the bed and lay quietly down. When we rose, a chastened Airedale padded along side, waiting patiently to be let out. No one wore Airedale during breakfast which stayed on the humans' plates. The poodle was ignored. The cat emerged from hiding. Angie went to sleep on her rug. Peace reigned. Of course, in view of this amazing change in behavior, Angie was given a reprieve. "We will take her back tomorrow," we said. And "tomorrow" became "never!" Angie has reached her forever home.

Were we wrong to offer Angie a home with us? No. Were we somewhat mislead about Airedale antics? Oh, yes! Nowhere did we encounter information about Airedale lunacy. Since Angie arrived, we have learned a great deal about this trait. Now that we understand Angie's psyche, we are perfectly happy with her. She is a great animal and we love her to pieces.

We wish we had had the foresight to join one of the Airedale lists before adopting Angie, though. That seems to be where the straight information about these lovable, aggravating, adorable creatures seems to reside.

Maureen Scott mmscott@telus.net
Coquitlam, BC
1/31/2001