Our AireGirl Has a Name!

After considering more than four dozen names, and trying out more than a dozen for a day or two each, we finally settled on Nona (with a long o) for our girl.  We used it for a day or two, then wondered if she might confuse it with "No" and went back to other possible names.  I realized that we really don't have to use "No" very often and since we hadn't found any other name that seemed right, she became Nona.  Does she like it?  Well, she responds to it, and that's what matters.

On the other hand, Nona has a firm and fixed dislike of cameras--regular or phone.  I have no idea how she knows a phone is a camera, but she seems to.  When she's sitting near me and I call her name, she looks, but when she sees the camera she immediately looks away.

If I call her again, she looks even further away.  Any other least little thing is so much more interesting when someone has a camera pointed in her direction.

What's New?
Nona is learning to play!  Who knew it would be hard to teach an Airedale to play?!  One of the first games was "Where's Nona?"  I put a large handkerchief over her face and said, "Where's Nona?"  At first she just sat there.  I pulled the handkerchief off and excitedly responded with, "There's Nona!"  After a few tries over a few days, she pulled the handkerchief off with her paw, and looked so pleased with herself.  Big praise and hugs for her!  Funnily, she gets excited about this game.

Next, I held the handkerchief up in front of me and asked her where I was.  By then she knew the game, but instead of pulling if down from my face, she went around the side of the handkerchief and stuck her face in front of me.  Smarty pants.  Again, big praise for Nona.

We're working on take it and leave it.  She almost seems offended when I close my hand around a treat when I tell her to leave it, but she's slowly learning.  Of course, "take it" is easy.

And the best fun is that she's actually begun to run after a tennis ball when I throw it in the yard, then she pushes it with her paw or nose to send it rolling again, then runs after it again (and again, sometimes).  It's too hot to play this game for long.

There's one thing I'm trying to teach her not to do.  When she gets excited she gently mouths my arms or hands.  I don't mind it but I don't think it's safe.  If she were to play with grandchildren, it would not be good for her to use her toothy mouth that way.  She's getting better about this.  The thing about teaching a behavior change is that the dog has to perform the unwanted behavior and receive a correction to know it's something not to do.

There's so much for a five-year-old Airedale to learn!

Since Nona won't pose for the camera, I thought I'd share this Airedale. 

It's a cute little book, written to introduce children to the Airedale Terrier breed.  It has a fun layout with lots of photos and is mostly accurate.  (Of course, not every Airedale is the same, so what's true for one might not be accurate for another.) 

I hope you're having fun!
--Nancy.