![](joey.jpg) |
Ch. Bengal Sabu was the first Airedale I ever
saw. It was in July of 1960. I was twenty and
had answered an ad for kennel help in Dog World
magazine. Hired on the phone, I was in Wilton,
CT the next day to work for Mr. Thomas M. Gately,
one of the top terrier handlers at that time. My
pay was $55 a month and room and board.
Sabu’s “stall” was the first one on the right in
the kennel room. I really had no idea how
privileged I was to be tending this dog (I
called him Sah-be-doo-be!). Every morning about
five he woke the whole place up with his
howling. Out on the road he was often winning
Best in Show. I didn’t even know what a dog show
was.
Also residing there at the time was retired
top-winning bitch Ch. Westhay Fiona of Harham,
who was waiting to be bred to Sabu before going
home. Trixie, as she was called at the kennel,
loved to eat but was always on a diet (according
to her). To help satisfy her appetite, she was
giving her dinner in the big washtub in which
the food (Ajax kibble and cooked tripe) was
mixed. It was a delight to watch her eat... not
much food, but lots of licking!
The Airedale who made me fall in love forever
with the breed, though, was Sabu’s son, Bengal
Bladud of Harham who came over (from England)
the following year. He could be a bit of a grump
and Mrs. Gately, I remember, didn’t like him at
all. He and I, though, were best friends. When
he finished his championship and went home to
Harold Florsheim’s kennel in Illinois, I could
hardly bear it.
In 1962 I bought my first Airedale from Adele
Abe at Birchrun Kennels. I had met Adele [and
Barbara Strebeigh] while working for the Gatelys.
Our friendship has endured over the years and
because of it I was able to glean much from her
and the boundless knowledge of Barbara as well
as many other Airedale breeders and handlers in
Adele’s world. Two things I learned from Barbara
still stand out in my mind: Airedale should
always be capitalized because the breed was
named |
|
after a place... and when an Airedale is properly
groomed you can’t tell he’s been groomed at all... he
just looks like he looks like that naturally.
In 1964 I got “Lena” (Ch. Bengal Leprechaun X Ch.
Benjamin’s Little Devil) from Edna Dobbins, for whom I
later went to work helping manage a miniature schnauzer
“home kennel” and learning to clip (a no-no in Mr.
Gately’s world!) terrier pets so they looked like “show
dogs.” I married Bill in ‘65 and in February of 1967,
we whelped our first litter—by Ch. Bengal Sabu!
Over the next twenty-eight years, sixteen champions came
from our fifteen litters under the kennel name “Schaire.”
In 1995 we decided to stop breeding and devote all of
our “dog” energies to Airedale Rescue.
In 1975 a friend who did all-breed rescue got us
involved with an eight-week old Airedale puppy who had
already had four homes. We placed “Winston” with one of
my grooming customers who owned a miniature schnauzer.
Since then, hundreds of rescue Airedales have passed
through our home. We do stipulate that our foster dogs
must like cats, since we have a few "rescues." Every
foster experience is a little different. Some dogs melt
our hearts and a few we have had a little trouble
getting to know how to reach. We continue to learn from
each one.
In 1990, spurred by a notation in the minutes of an
ATCA meeting which said that there was no need for the
club to become involved with Rescue, I conferred with
known Airedale rescuers and penned a letter to
then-president Trevor Evans. The club agreed to set up
an Adoption Committee if I would chair it, which I did
for the next five years. In these last fourteen years
this committee has come a long way , but the computer
age has changed the world a lot faster than some of us
old fogies can keep up with.
My beloved Bill died suddenly of a heart attack in April
of 2005. Since then, the immediate needs of my own dogs
(not to mention cats, geese and swans) - and the rescue
dogs that have never ceased to knock on my door - have
kept me sane and made life well worth living. The last
of “Schaire Airedales” died early this year, so the
Lonely Cottage is now officially filled with only
Rescued Airedales (along with one crippled hound mix and
an Airedale/Bullmastiff mix who happens to be black)...
and me.
|
|
|