February 25, 2011 Airedales Are So Entertaining !

    
                    
AIREDALES TERRIERS ARE SO ENTERTAINING!
      
        On December 12, 2010, Dick and my life changed 100 percent. 
We brought home our snugly wigglely little Airedale puppy.  We named him Luke Skywalker because his blood line on Luke's mothers side comes from Ch Reydaleterrydale Stone Ridge Star Wars, (the grandfather), and his mother is Jolee Aire Padme Joy.  On his fathers side he has the bloodline of Darbywood's Jolee Aire Jordan father, and CH. Evermay's High Performance and CH Darbywood's Rare Gem O'Mcbeth as grandparents to him.  I



Nike (Harrison)



                                  Above picture, Nike (nick-name) is Luke's father.



LUKE SKYWALKER OUR PUPPY

          

There is endless Joy owning our Airedale Luke





Padme Joy Luke's Mother





Luke and Gilly watching Dick 

  


 

Our older Airedale Gilly and Luke first meeting each other.
Joanne Vohs is the breeder we bought both dogs from.
She has been breeding dogs and showing them since 1960.
She is well known in the United States and Internationally too.
You can speak with her at 920-766-3778 or email Joannesinc@aol.com
Joanne also has developed a wonderful training video for puppies.
It sure made our attempts at introducing Luke into our lives a lot easier!
She has put temperament on top of her list and over the years has developed the most gentle, fun loving, loyal Airedales in the USA.  She
has produces an abundance of champions in the best of dog shows also.

                                  Gilly (nick name for Nigelia which is a name
                                      of a flower) is our 8 yr. old Airedale. 

Dick and Gilly relaxing.Gilly is very sick.  She  has been fighting an infection for the past two weeks.  So getting Luke and having Gilly sick has been a bittersweet experience.  Fear of loosing our precious Gilly who we have loved dearly for the past eight years, has put a shadow on our enjoying our Luke fully.  The past three weeks we have run to the Vet with Gilly a couple times a week for blood tests, and more meds.  Her age is not helping her fight with this illness.  We are doing our best to keep her comfortable and also trying to give Luke as much attention as we can and show him the training he needs at this critical time of his puppyhood.



Luke almost too big for this stool he learnt to get up on.

 Luke is so smart, so loving, and learning so fast.  Airedales being such smart terriers need positive approach to training.  They don't do well with the negative punishment type but thrive and are so willing to do what we want with the positive approach.  Praise and rewards have given Luke a need to please us.  He has such a happy attitude and is so full of energy.  As with our Gilly when she was a puppy,  we are doing our best to keep this positive attitude strong in our Luke who is just shy of four days from being 4 months in age.  He has doubled in size, has lost that waddle of a new puppy, but is so comical and full of surprises that he keeps us in stitches giggling about his antics.  he loves the snow, and will dive his head right into it, then shake it off and again tear around in his outside cyclone fenced in area behind the attached double garage.  He is trained to ring the leather belt with four bells on it which tells us he wants to go outside.  Yes it is suppose to be for his potty time but now he understands that when he rings it we open the door to his outside winter wonderland that he loves to play in.

He is completely potty trained and never has an accident in the house anymore.  We spent his first two weeks always being with him when he was out of his plastic kennel. The kennel is in our family room just off the dinning room so Luke is in the midst of activity.   We are retired so it was easy to keep our eyes on him.  Dick or I constantly took turns being with him when he was with us in the house.  He soon learnt that when he started to sniff his area, out the door we went and being cold and snowy he went potty fast and in the house we would go.
He sleeps in his kennel, which contain his toys and a fresh towel until 6:30 most mornings now.  When we first had him he got us up in the middle of the night to go out side.  We would stand shivering in our night clothes waiting for him to piddle and then in the house we would go.  Luke would be put back in his kennel and we back to our deep sleep.  Ahhh  thank goodness that is behind us.

 But of course with every puppy as they age they have new things to learn.  Now we are working with his jumping up on us, or visitors.  He is getting that down pretty good but with his high energy once in a while he slips to leaping up to give us his greeting.  That too will recede to just a memory in a few months.  He now fetches his chew toys and often will drop it in front of us but does sometimes decide to keep it for himself to chew and shake his head in a clown like fashion.  My what joy has radiated out of our little Luke.


Gilly last fall outside with Dick taking her for a walk.
Dick is very special to her.  They are buddys


Our Gilly is trying so hard to conquer this illness.  She has good days, but mostly has been laying quietly because of the meds she is getting and because right now her energy level is close to none.  The illness is very serious and we are hoping and praying that she will survive a couple more years to be enjoyed along with Luke.



Gilly in her younger years in 2005.


    We cannot imagine being without our Gilly.  She has been such an intricate part of our everyday life.  There will be no replacing her gentle love and loyalty she shows us.
Luke will add to that intricate part each day in his own special way but Gilly's personality is her own, never to be duplicated.  When I look into her sick gaze I want to make her well, I want to see her spark again, I want my Gilly back, but I know we will adjust to the loss we face.  That is what all the talk about belief in our Great God is.  That knowing He faces us, sees us, loves us just the way we are for today and gives us that serenity to make it through our great and little losses, our pains, and also to share the abundant joy that life presents us in our path from baby hood like our little Luke to the ageing Gilly like Dick and I face as we are just a couple years away from being 70 years.  It is awesome to think of how He came down to earth as God, slipped into our likeness of flesh and bones to feel our joy, to feel our pain and then the supreme sacrifice of dying for us and then give us the right to slip out of that flesh and bones and join Him for all eternity when our path leads us to the end of our earthly journey. It makes the rough spots on our path easier to walk when He is by our side, filling us with peace, when stress wants to shake us apart. 

Blessings to you all and may your path be a gentle one for you today.

                                 Kate  with her Gilly