I share my home with two Airedales - Ziggy and Avro.  Avro came from the Ottawa Humane Society in December of 2001.  He was underweight and underloved, desperate to leave the shelter.  Fortunately the shelter employees know a good dog when they see one, and had tried for 2 months to find Avro the right home.  Finally, a web search turned up my name as a rescue contact; they emailed me and I picked him right away.

After a long dark rainy trip to my home, during which Avro had oozed his way from the back of the car to sit next to me in the passenger seat licking my face I had decided that he was a very lovely dog who needed the very best of homes.  Unfortunately, at the vets the next day, we found out that Avro has chronic liver problems.  He was sent home to eat a good diet and settle in before we could consider neutering him.

And his behaviour!  Avro is named for the Avro Arrow, a Canadian fighter airecraft of stupendous performance that could climb very high, very quickly, just like my Avro!  I have found Avro standing on his hind legs on a chair eating cat food off the windowsill, and he is often found grazing on my houseplants while standing on the dining room table!

I soon realized that the very best home for Avro was MINE!  I wasn't sure that any home I could find for him could deal with a dog with these very special behaviours<g>, as well has his dietary requirements and the vet bills.  He was eventually neutered, and after much work with the veterinarians including a liver biopsy, we have found that while we don't know what is actually wrong with Avro's liver, it is small and he has no tolerance for fat and meats.

Avro is doing very well now on a vegetarian diet of veggie kibble, pasta, beans, lentils and brown rice mixed with cottage cheese, plain yoghurt,eggs and Missing Link powder.  He has gained weight, his liver enzyme levels are coming way down, and his energy level matches that of Ziggy.  They make a great team, wrestling with each other and playing long games of chase through our one acre fenced yard.  They are very happy dogs who love to play.

Stephanie has worked with computers since 1975.  Currently she is a mainframe programmer working for the RCMP.  She started the Airedale Terrier Quilting Bee mailing list in 1998.  As well as making blocks for all the quilts before Annette's House, she has been the group's computer guru,  creating the Quilter's webpages, several virtual quilts and the marketing webpages for several of our quilts. For Annette's House she has acted as project manager.