AiredaleTerriers.org Airedale Terrier Information & Referral Resource

I got Astro in 1992 from an animal shelter.

I had recently (6 months prior) lost another dog, Rocky, a yellow lab who I was very attached to, & was trying somehow/ someway to find something similar (same breed/ similar lines), to get over that hurt.

I bought 1 puppy who was the closest related to Rocky, but this puppy turned out to have major medical problems soon after. So although I kept him, I searched again for a close relative of Rocky. Bought another puppy from a well-known breeder, but again, major medical problems at a very young 3 months of age.

So, here I was, lost a great buddy & now have two 3 month old puppies with veterinary proved problems on top of it. The breeders would only give me my money back if I showed veterinary proof that I put the puppies down. Needless to say, I couldn’t do it & kept them, but out the today’s equivalent of $2400, & still no dog to play, wrestle, run with, etc…

In desperation, I went to an animal shelter just kind of on a whim (& saying to myself I will NEVER buy a dog from ANY breeder again!).

I saw a tan colored scruffy wiry-haired puppy that the shelter said was approximately a 3 month old lab mix. He had just come in today too, someone had dumped him off in front of the shelter & drove off. I saw this puppy was kind of cute (in a rough sort of way), & at least friendly (& could walk & run!!!). I took him home. My brother named him “Astro” from the Jetsons.

At home, he was quite the terror. He immediately took command of the top dog position in the house, running & playing & nipping the ears & zipping around the other puppies, laughing about it all the while. He started turning the other puppies’ ears into pin cushions with his sharp puppy teeth, OY!

The shelter required an adopter to take a 4 week obedience course that they offered with a trainer they had hired. So, the next week we started. Astro really caught on fast! He was so much fun & a little bit of an actor too! If you had to give him a (mild) correction, he’d yelp & scream & carry on like he was getting scalped or something – the trainer used to say “Oh, go back to acting school”. How true. Astro could really be the actor, because the next second, he is wagging his tail, all smiles, bouncing around some more & looking like he was saying “OK, now what do we do mom?”

I liked that trainer from the shelter so much, that after the first month, I took private lessons with Astro for another 6 months. At the end of 6 months, Astro was doing a 30 foot down stays for over 10 minutes, learned hand signals & could be worked off leash nearly 100% of the time!

Also, by this time, he stopped looking like a Labrador – he had (has) the bushy eyebrows, a beard, the long legs, the wirehair, the smile, the smart aleck sense of humor, the love of water, loves kids, would (on occasion) body-slam (not bite!) a strange dog that would come too close to the horses when we were riding – he was mainly an Airedale! Took me a while to realize this, as I never had one, or saw one more than once in my life…

My friends all loved him too – he’d play Frisbee, tug, run with us when we went horseback riding everyday, they called him “Bengie on Steroids” or “Airhound” – for his love of Frisbee & running as fast it seemed, as a Greyhound. He could really run fast too, & tried often to race me on the horse – it took the horse’s top speed to outrun him on our mile long dirt road!

For a time, I boarded my horse at a ranch where there were many young horses. This ranch also had pet potbellied pigs that kept getting out of their pens. They would come into a young horse’s stall to eat the dropped grain, but in the meantime, they scared the dickens out of the young horses to the point the horses were slamming themselves against the walls to get away from the pigs. The horses could really hurt themselves.

Well, Astro to the rescue! Finally one day (as Astro was so fast & could corner really well), I told Astro to “get” the pigs to stop this & put the pigs back in their pens. I am smiling as I write this… Well, he did!

He cut, ducked, ran, turned, raced, jumped & caught those pigs. If you could have seen this, it really was funny! Astro is having a great time – he is not intense, just “smiling”, the pigs are running oinking/ squealing bloody murder & he catches them one by one – each weighs about 20 pounds! But, he doesn’t break their skin or hurt them, just brings them to me. This was great (& fun to watch too! J )

When Astro was 6 years old, I decided to get another puppy for several reasons: one, I didn’t want to go thru the pain of losing Astro eventually without another dog to really love, & two, to get a playmate for him.

Since a terrier had found his way into my heart, I thought about a terrier again. So, I got a Jack Russell. A male. Now, I know you are thinking Uh oh, theres gonna be fights, but there wasn’t (& hasn’t been ever). Yes, I had to take precautions the first 3 months as Astro was miffed there was another dog at first. But he got over it & they became best buddies.

In fact they came up with a game that they still play now for over 6 years: I throw the horse’s Jolly Ball over the back yard fence so they have to go all the way around the house to get it – about the distance of a city block. Then they come back with it & tug with it by me until one gives up. The Jack hangs onto the handle of the ball, & Astro tugs on the ball part.

Astro is older now, 14 years old I can hardly believe it. He has slowed down & can no longer play Frisbee or go out on trail with the horses. The Jack Russell senses this too & gives him time to catch up to play their tug game. I can’t tell you how much he has meant to me – I thought I’d never find another dog to love so much when I lost Rocky.

So, that’s my Airedale story, & my tribute to a great dog.

Gloria Adams
9/17/05