Ben, Chris and Madison.

I live in Ortonville, Michigan, with my husband Mike and 2 ATRA Airedales, Ben (8) and Madison (about 11).

Madison came to our house at age of 2. She has a great personality with people but very aggressive to other dogs. We worked with an animal behaviorist to manage her special needs.
Ben arrived here from ATRA at the age of 5 months. We were able to integrate the two with careful guidance from the behaviorist.

Both our Airedales have been through plenty of obedience training. With the issues at hand, I soon recognized the value in having order in the house. Ben and Madison consider obedience training their play time! 
I have also enjoyed agility with Ben. If you want to get into shape, take your Airedale to agility. I've not found a better personal trainer.

I've worked with a few other ATRA dales on their obedience skills hoping to make them into better canine citizens for their perspective homes. As a result, I now work part time at the training center assisting in novice obedience classes.

I have been lucky enough to experience 2 totally different careers so far in life. I worked for 25 years as a licensed hairdresser in the state of Michigan.
Currently, in my sewing career, I wear many different hats. I do some teaching at sewing stores and for sewing guilds. I vend my hand dyed fabrics at sewing and quilting shows.
My primary focus is free form machine quilting/ embroidery. I accept quilts and garments to stitch for customers. I also do freelance (sewing) for the consumer division of American and Efird, Inc. The company imports Mettler and produces/imports Signature brand thread.
I have worked on many of the past Airedale Quilting Bee quilts. Guess where I got all the wonderful thread?