Charlie's Story
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to read the background on the rescue of 19 Airedales from a puppymill.
5/23/03
Kathie McIndoe owns a kennel in Phoenix and has frequently helped Melissa in the past. She took in eight of the Arizona 19.
Kathy says:
I have one male that will not come out of his run because the others, dog and bitches both, beat the crap out of him every time they see him.
6/11/03
I don't know what should be done with this red dog.
Someone else other than me should probably take some
time to evaluate him. For him to have any hope, he
has to be an only dog. The reason he doesn't come
out of his run is because the other dogs beat him up
and he is afraid of them.
Kathy
6/16/03
Audrey, who adopted Maggie, reports: Poor Charlie, he's the one that wouldn't come out of his run, but
he jumped up to the gate to get petted and talked to.
6/18/03
Rose McAuliff and I transported Charlie, along with Ernestine, Buddy (Sam),
Nina, Leslie and Grace from Kathie McIndoe's kennel in Phoenix to a kennel in Tucson. Many volunteers in Tucson
then went to the kennel whenever they had time to help socialize the dogs. I especially want to than Catherine and John Dittmar;
Cathy Matt & her boyfriend, Phil; Vicki Richards and Karen Burhenn. I know that others helped without even letting me know and
I truly appreciate it.
Sidney
6/21/03
Charlie's a little nervous, but good with people. He responds to you when you
call him, enjoys being petted and isn't too hard to get to walk on a leash. He knows "sit" with a lure and
almost went into a down with a lure and I was even heeling with him a little bit as he watched the string cheese.
I didn't get to observe what would happen if he were with the pack, but when he saw another dog in the
training yard, it looked like he wanted to go play with him. He's a very pretty red boy. I think he is
probably calm enough to groom, so I hope to get that done this week and some pictures. Once he is neutered,
it is going to be impossible to tell him from Grace and Leslie except by behavior. I'm going to have to color
code them somehow. I think the three red dogs are probably littermates and probably about 2-3 years old.
Sidney
7/7/03
On Sunday I forced Grace and Charlie to come out to the training yard. I then just had them stand for
half an hour while I stroked them and let them listen to all the new sounds. Rick, the owner of the
kennel, came by and stroked them all over too.
Today, instead of having to crawl through the dog door to trap them in the inner room, they stood in
their kennel runs while I put on their collars and leashes ... trembling and nervous ... but standing
instead of trying to hide.
Gracie lead me all the way down the run to the gate to the outside, wagging her tail and visiting
with the other dogs in their runs. Once we got to the gate leading to the outside world, she wasn't
so sure, but did walk with me out to the field where we again just absorbed the sights and sounds
while I stroked her all over.
Charlie actually had his tail up and wagging the whole time and was bumping his head under my hand
for pets. However, he was also panting heavily and drooling quite a bit. I think he is just
naturally a pretty high-strung dog. Of course, he is also still unneutered ... he and Nina have
their appointments this week ... so that might have something to do with it.
A great Monday so far!
Sidney
7/10/03
Nina, gets more and more confident. She is still shy when she meets a new person, but with me
she is a happy, bouncy, playful, normal dog.
So, I had the thought ... use Nina to help the others. It worked like a charm. One at a time, Nina helped me
lead the others out to the yard, where every time they started to get a little nervous, they would look to Nina
and see that she was running around and sniffing and they would relax. This morning, I let each one off leash
in the yard.
Charlie
ran around a little, but felt safer standing by me and observing the world.
Sidney
7/11/03
Charlie was neutered today. He bled quite a bit and looks pretty shocky, so I will keep him overnight.
Sidney
7/12/03
I have Charlie over here with me for a couple of days because he was bleeding quite a bit
after his neuter surgery. He is now comfortable with me and mostly will come up to me, but
every once in a while he looks at me like he doesn't recognize me and will run! He was doing
so well with me that I was surprised when he was afraid of my mother when she came to visit.
Sidney
7/13/03
I've had Charlie here with me over the weekend. He bled quite a bit when he
was being neutered, so I wanted to keep an eye on him. He seems to be fine
and is enjoying life in a house. He finds his crate a safe haven. The
crate is open in a babygated portion of my kitchen and he is happy to watch
the world go by while he gets used to all the strange sights and sounds of a
household. I still have Ernestine with me. Her new mom will fly over on
Thursday night and drive back to San Francisco on Friday morning. Five
Airedales in a small house is quite a few, but we are managing fine. Once I
can get Charlie to move (he wants to stay in his crate), he walks along
pretty well with us. He has gotten comfortable with me and wags his tail
and leans against me for pats & scratches, but every once in a while looks
at me like he has no idea who I am. He met my parents and apparently thought
they were space aliens!
Part of his good behavior, I'm sure, is because he is so emaciated and
debilitated. Even in this condition, when Rose & Jack & he were out in the
front yard, he thought he wanted to do a little sparring with both of them.
I get the feeling that when he is at full weight (about 20 lbs. from now),
he might be pretty obnoxious and will need a laid-back doggie companion.
Sidney
7/14/03
His biggest problem was figuring out that he really could go through the dog door.
At the kennel they have the flaps pinned back to avoid scaring the dogs.
I can't do that to mine (to say nothing of not wanting to try to air(e) condition
the outdoors when it is 110), so it took a day and a half before Charlie decided
he really could go through the dog door on his own.
When we are walking, his tail is still tucked and he is still looking around
nervously and starting at the least sound, but subtle changes in his body
posture show definite improvement.
Sidney
7/18/03
Leslie's foster family had an emergency come up where they have to leave town for
the weekend. We discussed having a neighbor come in or taking Leslie to a kennel
and finally decided that the best thing for her would be to bring her to my house
and let her bunk with her brother.
When I got her home Leslie was delighted to see her brother and my dogs and was
wiggle-wiggle-wiggle all over the place. Charlie was very happy to see her, as well,
although I'm not sure his delight was purely brotherly. I didn't have time to let
them do too much socializing, but it will be fun to see how they all do this evening.
Sidney
7/19/03
Charlie prefers to retreat to his bedroom at the end of the kitchen.
I did the Tellington Touch Leopard all over both of them this morning and they both stood
and let me do it without trying to escape, even when I gave them the opportunity.
I let everyone run around the big yard off leash and they all enjoyed that, even Charlie.
I thought Charlie might hide in a corner somewhere, but he stayed close by and came right
back in the house. Once was enough, however. On the next walk he decided to stay behind in his bedroom.
Cooking for the Dogs: Usually the only time I cook IS for the dogs (a chicken stew
every couple of weeks, which I freeze in 1/2 cup portions). But, every once in a while,
I do actually do something for myself beyond grilling a steak. Tonight I am going to
have Mexican Grilled Chicken Thighs with Pasilla Barbecue Sauce. Charlie & Leslie are
snoozing in their open crates at the stove end of the kitchen. They quickly learned
that just because I was approaching the stove didn't mean I was going to be so
forward as to try to pet them, so they stopped leaping out of their sleep at my approach.
Then they learned that chopping onions didn't mean that the world was coming to an end
and they could go ahead and relax. By the time I used the food processor to grind
everything up, they didn't even crack an eyelid. Cooking as dog socialization.
Sidney
7/22/03
Charlie is doing great and has finally moved out into the living room and is
lying on the floor next to the homedales. When we are out in the yard, he
is very, very fast and sort of uncoordinated and has no respect for other
dogs' space, which is probably what got him in trouble with the pack. He is
so extremely thin that I still worry there might be something physically
wrong with him, but nothing has shown up so far and it may be that he was
just driven away from the food by the rest of the pack. Little Leslie, who
has also been staying with me while her foster family was out of town, is
able to push him right away from the food bowl. I had to finally feed him
in his crate so he would get something to eat.
Sidney
7/27/03
Charlie gets groomed.
7/28/03
Charlie & I will be going to visit with a potential new family on Saturday.
There are two female Airedales, one 18 months old and the other one year old.
They have a female Collie playmate who comes out once a week, so are still in
the "I love to play with everyone" stage. Dee says: "Our dogs are both from
hunting lines, so aren't exactly dainty girls - Molly weighs 93 pounds & Bridget
70 pounds. Molly is rather laid back, so probably wouldn't be pushy toward a male
who wasn't as large. We live on 4.5 fenced acres out in the country and so have
plenty of room to dig and roam!"
Sidney
More about Southwest Airedale Terrier Rescue
