Artist: Denise Lucas
Media: Cross Stitch

Many of you know Yvonne Michalak, a member of the Airedale List. She always has the craziest stories to tell about her Airedales. She does so much with her dogs, showing in obedience and agility, ect. She is such an inspiration to me. I wish I had half the patience and ambition she has. This one story stuck out in my mind and there is a picture of Miss Georgia during her agility run in this position so I had to make it the theme for my quilt block. Perhaps some of you remember it. Or were there. Thank You Yvonne and Jazzaires....

Before leaving Hamburg N.Y. for Montgomery, I was trying to think up something "special" to put in the treat bag for the end of the Agility runs for Miss Georgia. Anything to speed her up and get her going for the treats! Since she is a counter surfing cake eater extraordinaire, I thought well, why not a nice piece of cake..so I settled on a Twinkie, which I thought had a chance of making the journey to Pa. Just before going into the Ring after our "warm up" exercises I gave her a little taste--BIG MISTAKE!. It was pretty hot and Mr.Twinkie had been in the car a little too long. Georgia's beard became encased in Twinkie crumbs and creme about 2 minutes from Ring Time! I madly brushed the crumbs and creme off her beard with my hands and just made it about 30 seconds from Start time...after the run, she threw her whole head into the lunch bag and never came up for aire until the last Twinkie crumb was gone! She then graciously shared her treat bag with a couple of her Airedale friends who were nearby...
Airewaves! Yvonne and the JazzAires--Branigan & Miss Georgia AKA "Twinkie Beard!"

Based on a photograph by Lesley Mattuchio

Artist's Bio

I share my home with my husband Ray “Kingfish”, my 2 dogs Missy (a Doberman mixed breed), Hannah (a Rescue Dale) and many tropical fish aquariums. We live in Boston, New York (which is about 25 miles south of Buffalo, N.Y. I work as a Radiological Technologist. Ray is an autoworker and on the weekends he travels around the country promoting the tropical fish hobby at fish conventions and workshops. We have 2 grandchildren, one of which I watch at least two days a week.

Missy is 9 years old and is my problem child. She has separation anxiety. But after many years she seems to be getting better when left alone. Now the problem seems to be thunderstorms.

Hannah came to us about 3 ½ years ago after her owner passed away. She was a Conformation Show dog where she earned her Championship, but she was not very obedient. So we started going to obedience classes. I thought someday I might show her in obedience but she does not seem interested and to be honest I do not have the patience. So she makes a good sister to Missy and a loving companion to the family.

I belong to Hamburg All-Breed Obedience Club, which is a local obedience and agility-training club. I have served either as President or Treasurer 4 of the last 5 years.

I belong to Airedale Rescue, fostering Airedales in the Western New York area until we can find forever homes for them. I have also helped in transporting Airedales to their forever homes.

I enjoy gardening and needlework. I was happy to make a square for the quilt again this year. I think this is such a great idea for raising funds to help all these poor Airedales.

Personal Rescue Story

It is a constant source of amazement that a dog who is considered to be a behavior problem, and disposable, can become such a treasure to a new owner.

Recently we fostered a 3 year old female Airedale named Duchess. She was surrendered by her owner because she was "biting" (???). The owner wanted her to be euthanized, but the owner's son, who is a veterinarian, said he couldn't do it. He contacted the local Humane Society, who contacted Airedale Rescue. The woman with the Humane Society felt that Duchess had also been abused. We fostered Duchess for about 2 weeks. We found her to be very sweet, with no biting problems at all.

We found a home locally in the Hamburg, New York area. She has been with her new family about a month now. They just love her, and they feel that she loves them. Duchess follows her new "Mom" around all the time. She gets to go visiting her new "grandparents" and play with their 2 year old male Airedale, "McKibbon". A couple of days ago she went to the veterinarian for her check up and was so good that her new parents took her out for ice cream afterwards.

Duchess's new family includes a 16 year old mentally challenged daughter. During the week this teen lives in a group home. She comes home on weekends. Duchess is constantly following her around also. Apparently the daughter is afraid of the dark. Up until now her mother had to go up to bed with her and stay until she falls asleep. Now Duchess goes to bed with her and sleeps either at the foot of the bed or in the doorway. The daughter feels very secure with her new found friend. Their mother is ecstatic about the bonding the two of them have done. "We just love Duchess to death," she reports.

I am happy to say that this rescued Airedale has found a very loving forever home. The family also want to help Airedale Rescue with fostering, transporting etc.