Airedales {Again}

 

When our last Airedale, Reagan, passed away in 2012 just a couple months shy of 14, we decided no more dogs...  Well!

Along came 2 Schnauzer mixed, rescue pups, courtesy of youngest son and his wife, when the grandsons started coming...they stayed off and on with us for a few years, then after Avery died, we got Cam Dog back a few years ago...he is still with us at about 16 years old.  A kitten came calling about 12 years ago on Christmas Night, she has now been a house cat for those dozen or so years..5 more outdoor kittens were rescued and became Garage/Outdoor cats...2 of them still hang around.

About a month or so ago I got a burr and even though I will be 75 in March, and wife just turned 70, we are in good shape, mostly, despite my {?} Agent Orange related Diabetes II...so I started looking for Farm Bred, non show quality Airedales...yep, crazy I know, what was I thinking?

After looking awhile, and the prices sure have changed since we sold our last litter, back on the farm for around $200 per pup {we started out at $50 per dog up in Northern Wisconsin back in the late 1970s}.  Today's Airedales are fetching anywhere from $900 to $2750 or so, that I could find on the Internet.  I found a farm that raised Large Oorang Airedale pups for $1200 each....and they had a litter born on October 22nd, they would be ready around December 16th...located about 140 miles away near Ashland, Ohio.

I conversed with the couple, the husband's parents and brother had raised Airedales as well...and they were well versed in the non show Airedales.  I ended up putting down the $200 deposit on one of the 7 females in the litter of 10 and was told I had pick #5....that was OK, I know Airedales, wife knows Airedales, and I know most people, unless they have had multiple Airedales, really don't know how to select one, so I was fine with #5...

Last Saturday I headed to just outside the tiny berg of Mifflin in Ashland County...the day was

mostly sunny and nice for mid December and I arrived about a half hour ahead of my scheduled selection time of 11:30am...giving me a chance to check out the parents of my pup as well as the other stud dogs and bitches...including one huge Airedale that was in the 130 pound range.  My original stud dog, Max, was about 100 pounds but this one, name of Boone, makes Max look "average"...Big Dog.  Boone is not our pup's {who wife named "Millie"} dad, Beau is about 90 pounds while momma Jasmine is around 70-75...big Airedales, but reasonable, so Millie won't be to big for the house...unless I miss my guess...at 8 1/2 weeks she is about 14 pounds and growing daily.

Anyway Millie got home Saturday, here it is Wednesday, she is about 80% trained, still pees in the Mud Room, on occasion, by the door instead of letting me know she has to get out that back door...but for the most part she does here business outside and only chewing on things other than her "stuff" is the only other concern, but with less than 100 hours at our place, she is learning quick.

Hopefully she will survive and we will survive over the coming Christmas weekend, with the kids, and grandkids here...after that we should be able to concentrate on getting her trained properly...but after all these years of being sans Airedales, it will still be a challenge.

One other thing, old Cam Dog wants no part of her, he is about totally blind and just wants to eat, sleep, and for her to leave him alone...the indoor cat avoids her, and the outdoor cats despise her and her rambunctious ways of puppyhood...they warn her off, which they need to, because by spring she will be way to large for them to handle.