"Airedale Head Games: Biteface and STUBBORN!"	"Rita Plays with Her Food (Grapes and Tangerines!)"

Artist: Gena Welch Booher
Media: Hand appliqué, some hand embroidery

Airedale Head Games: Biteface and STUBBORN!
(block on left)

This drawing attempts to capture the energy of Airedales in one anothers' faces! I think most Airedales play the Biteface Game, though each pair of Airedales has its own style of playing. At our house, the Biteface Game has Airedalesong as an integral part of the game. They moan, grown, yelp, and sometimes emit sounds that defy description as they play. This game reminds me of mock-gladiatorial combat, WCW wrestling, or jousting. No one gets hurt, but to the uninitiated it comes across as absolutely bloodthirsty!

The Stubborn Game is a game of endurance. It has very specific rules, and is played by Rita and Ellie at a professional level, and by Rita and Trudy at a 'recreational' level! To play Stubborn, one grabs the opposite end of whatever toy is in the direct possession of the other. There is no pulling; only eye rolling, growling, and sometimes tooth-baring. Rita and Ellie have been observed playing the Stubborn Game for a full 25 minutes. Trudy is a novice, and will only play for about 5 minutes, max. I don't know why they enjoy it. Perhaps they enjoy it that we are entertained while they play this strange game!

I like the way this block turned out. IT is a bit chaotic, but it conveys action, and the motion of expressive Airedale Eyes!

Rita Plays with Her Food (Grapes and Tangerines!)
(block on right)

This block was inspired by games that the Lovely Rita used to play when she was an Only Dog.

The Grape Game, on the left, was a somewhat hai-alai/hockey type game, with grape as the ball. The game was almost choreographed, and would last up to 30 minutes per grape. The most memorable moment in Grape Game was the time that Rita ate the grape, then pretended she still had it for about 15 minutes before I realized I had not seen the sweet little orb in awhile!

The righthand side of the drawing represents a tale I call 'Tangerine Dreams'. Rita swiped a tangerine from the couch, after pretending to ignore it for some time. She did not puncture the tangerine, or chew it. She used it to taunt all comers, and rolled it around on the floor for her own amusement. She kept it for around two weeks, and would have guarded it for longer, but I feared it would mold.

The Lovely Rita has never been food motivated. She would rather play than eat treats, so it was an added challenge to create games for her that involved NOT eating yummy foods immediately!

Artist Bio:

Gena is a novice at quilting, even though she learned it at a very early age by watching her grandmother, an accomplished quilter. She has been an avid supporter of the Quilt Project for its firt two years, and was pleased to be in a position to participate in a more concrete manner this time around.

Proprietership of the so-called Gallery of Rogues and Found Objects, Gena and her husband Chuck (whom she met as a result of Airedale-L) live surrounded by four Airedales, Trudy, Clara, Rita and Ellie. None of these dogs are involved in any sort of competitions at present, but they do very well sitting and waiting for the 'ok' before diving into their dinners! Trudy was an agility dog in her youth. Clara is the family 'brat'. The Lovely Rita was the inspiration for Airedale-L, and is quite accomplished at Frisbee catching, Stick Fetching, and Nursing her Humans. Ellie is the hugglesnuggle, the sly one who wags not only her tail but her head when she feels happy. She has been involved in a couple of Rescues, fostering Darby and 'Beamothe the Behemoth' (now 'Bear') and adopting Photon, an oldster who was the light of her life for his last 14 months of life. Pho gently crossed the bridge in April, 2000.

Having recently relocated from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gena and Chuck live on an acre-ish plot among the horsefarms of Central Florida. They return to the Southern Appalachians whenever possible, with all four Furkids in tow! Gena is also a 6th grade social studies teacher at West Port Middle School. On 'difficult' days she tries to remember that 6th graders are a lot like puppies that have not been fully housebroken. They don't mean to be bad -- they just forget themselves!