Nona's Recent Doings

Finally, Nona looks at the camera for a photo.  Tight-lipped, not thrilled, but it's a start.

Here she is in all her golden/tan, glorious color.  Interested in something other than the camera, of course.

She is the first Airedale I've known who is not interested in mailing tubes.  When I first pulled it out, I think she thought I was going to hit her and she ran.  I've been desensitizing her by standing it on end and having her watch me drop a biscuit into the tube, then teaching her to nudge the tube to tip it over so she can get the biscuit.  She's doing it consistently now, but has no interest in touching the tube.  I hope she'll eventually find joy in carrying and tossing the tube.

We thought she might like a pool of water, especially in this heat we've been having.  We dragged out a child's pool that was in the garage, then added 3-4 gallons of water, just enough to cover most of the bottom. 

She looked at it disdainfully, sniffed, then turned away.  I lifted her front paws, then her back paws so she was standing in the pool.  No way was she interested   She watched from afar. 

I think her real-life experiences have been limited, so a lot of things are new to her.  I'm glad to be the one to offer her new, but sad that at five years, they are new.

She still delights in playing "Where's Nona" with a handkerchief.  I love it that she pulls off the handkerchief, rolls onto her side for pets and belly rubs, then settles next to me for hugs, all the time with a smile.  The behavior is so puppy-ish.  I hope her Airedale humor blossoms.

She went to the vet today for a pre-spay blood draw and two vaccines.  She did great!  We walked in to find two small dogs on a bench with their owner and a cat in a carrier and its owner.  She ignored the dogs, looked at the cat with curiosity but didn't go near, then sat.  I didn't tell her stay and she was up in a minute.  Then I asked her to sit and stay which she did until the tech came to take her back for the blood draw.  Excellent girl, excellent learner!

I've been looking through a book about the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test.  I know she needs more socialization but it's been so hot to take her out for longer than a few minutes.  Cool weather will be here soon and then I hope she can go along most of the time.  There are other things we can work on for the CGC, then I'll have to learn where she can take it.

Bye for now from Nona and me.
--Nancy and Nona

AireGirl Update, July 22, 2023

A bundle of fur.

Adopting an older Airedale is an interesting experience.  No matter the age, they come with their own personalities, but older 'dales come with everything they've learned, too, both good and less-than-good.  In AireGirl's case, she's comfortable with thunder and lightening but hesitant about the rattle of a pan in the kitchen and the thud of a book falling to the floor.  There are other common, everyday things that she's hesitant about.  It makes me wonder how much she did not experience in her previous situation....

AireGirl completely relaxed.

AireGirl has begun to blossom in the three weeks she's been her.  She no longer feels like she has to stay by my side in our fenced yard.  She has begun exploring and investigating.  She discovered a cat on the other side of the fence and checks the area very time we go out.

She has begun doing tuckbuttruns.  The joy of seeing them!

She playbows to invite a chase.   What fun!

And she has--once--done a twirl or spin.   Does you Airedale do that, too?  She gets excited and then dances or twists in a circle until she's spinning.  She is only the second Airedale we've had who has done that.  Look out if she twirls too close because it could knock a person off balance.

She is not food motivated and turned up her nose at her dog food, ignored treats, and turned her back on food rewards for doing as requested.  All that until we discovered pill pockets/pouches.  They are soft and appealing.  I cut each into 12 or 15 pieces so she gets just a tiny taste, but they are motivating to her when I ask for a sit or a down.  That pleases me a lot because I found it hard to train with praise as the only reward.   She already gets so many pets and hugs, they didn't mean anything to her as praise for doing a job.

What's going on over there?

She continues to be camera shy.  I hope that improves as I take more photos of her, and I hope my photo-taking skills improve, too.

I'm still working on teaching her to tell me she needs or wants to go outside.  We have a bell on the door but she's uncertain about it.  I try to remember to ring it whenever we go out, hoping she'll get the idea.

She does not yet have a new name.  Her previous name ended with the sound "see" and she seems to like and respond to names that end that way.  We've tried out many.  She seems to me like a Pippa, but her human sister has a cat named Pippa, so that name's out.  But maybe Pippin, Pipsy for short.  Other names we've considered are Minna, Jenna, Mia, Myma, Tansy, and Tedda.  Oh, and Lizbet --> Little Bit--> Bitsy.  She is a standard size Airedale but because of her demeanor she seems young. 

There's more -- isn't there always more with an Airedale?  But I'll post another time.

--Nancy.

Airedale Behavior: Snorfle

snorfle, v.
loud and enthusiastic sniffing of the ground by a large dog in the hope of something to eat or something dead to roll on.

There seem to be various definitions of this word, but this is the most accurate one I found as relates to Airedale terriers.  It's the "loud and enthusiastic" part that makes this different from the common sniffing the ground.  Sometimes the 'dales use their noses to move leaves and dirt around to get a deeper snorfle.  Ya gotta love Airedales!

I think every Airedale who's ever lived with us has snorfled.  How about your Airedales?

Hannah at Play in the Leaves

It was such fun to see Hannah play so wholeheartedly!  There's a toy hidden in the leaves, one she tosses, loses in the leaves, digs for, then tosses again, and again, and again....

And the object of her interest?  Can you see it in the photo below?

Here it is. 

A life-like rubber frog!  She loved this frog (as long as it lasted). 

When Hannah felt safe, we saw her youthful exuberance.  These photos were taken when she was 2½, in November, 2008, about six months after she came to live with us.  She'd gained about 6 or 8 pounds (up from about 50 pounds) and was looking good.  She may look overweight but she wasn't.  We learned that her hair grew fast and already needed another clip.

How I love that girl!  Forever missing Hannah.

--Nancy.
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Eleven Years and So Few Good Photos

Hannah was with us more than 11 years, more than 132 months, more than 4,015 days.  How can it be that I have fewer than 700 photographs of her, most of them either out of focus, with her head turned away, her body in motion, or multiples/slight variations of the same image?

February 20, 2009

She came with lots of fears but one of them did not seem to be the camera.  Yet it didn't take her but a few weeks to decide she would not pose for photographs.  She would have the cutest expression or the funniest post, I'd pull out the camera.  She would look straight at the camera then just at the moment when I pushed the button, she would pull her ears back and look away.  These photos show Hannah's camera avoidance techniques.

October 27, 2011

October 27, 2011 - the second try

October 31, 2011

January 2, 2012 - cropped from a larger photo

January 20, 2014

March 17, 2014, first try

March 17, 2014, second try

You may be wondering if I tried using food to get Hannah's attention.  I did!  I was never successful in keeping her attention focused long enough to take a good photo and I often ended up with nose smudges on the camera.

I'm grateful to have a few good photos.

How I miss this darling girl.  I wish I could hold her sweet face in my hands again and give her a kiss on the muzzle, give her an ear rub, and hug the heck out of her.

Missing Hannah.

--Nancy.
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To Get My Attention

My daughter and I were talking about Hannah's big paw slaps the other day and she reminded me of two other things Hannah did to get my attention.

If I were wearing long sleeves and Hannah wanted me to do something different than what I was doing, she would grab a section of my sleeve and pull.  She was so insistent about it, almost as if saying, "You stop what you are doing NOW and do what I want you to do."  It was pretty much impossible to resist.  She held the fabric tightly and if, perchance, I were sitting in a chair with wheels, she would pull me along on the chair.  She usually got her way.

The other thing Hannah did -- when I had short sleeves -- was to pinch the least bit of my skin between her teeth.  Those pinches certainly elicited a reaction from me!  I don't know how she could pinch such a tiny bit of skin with her big teeth but she did, and it hurt.  She was efficient in making known what she didn't want me to be doing.

I wish I had photos of these two behaviors but, sadly, I don't.

I'm missing my Hannah.  I keep hoping it will get easier but no matter where I walk in the house there's something to remind me of her -- some game we played, some place she slept, something particular she did, some food she ate . . . . 

--Nancy.
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"Ouch! That Hurt!"

On occasional evenings I sat at the computer working on family history or writing a blog post or a letter and Hannah would come stand at my side for a minute.   I was focused on what I was doing and was just barely aware of her.

Then suddenly she raised her huge paw and slapped it down across my arm.  My response was usually, "Ouch!  That hurt!  Don't do that again!"  I gave her a pet and a hug, then went back to typing. 

If you love or are loved by an Airedale, you probably know what happened next. 

She gave me a big paw slap again!  My response was the same the second time, except I usually added, "Hannah, if you can give me just five more minutes to finish this, I can spend time with you."  And I went back to typing.

Once again, a big paw slap!  "Okay, Hannah, let's go do something together."  And off we went.  She was happy to have my attention.

What I would give for a big paw slap as I sit here typing this post!  Dear, dear Hannah.

--Nancy.
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Cow Eyes

My mum calls these cow eyes because of the way my eyes look.  She makes me look like this by puttin' food right in front of my face close to my nose so my eyes have to get close together and the whites show on the top and sides.  She says these photos make her laugh every time she sees them.  I don't know what's so funny about them....

I'm getting a clip tomorrow.  I love having that clipper go over my skin and fur.  It feels like a massage to me.  And I will be cooler, too.

Bye for now.
from Hannah.

Rocket Dog's TuckButtRun

My mum thinks this Rocket Dog is an Airedale doing a tuckbuttrun. Do you think so, too?

I think I look like that when I do tuckbuttruns. My ears go back and my tail sticks out. I go super speedy fast. I go so fast that my mum can't take a picture of me. She tried to take a video of me once when I was tuckbuttrunning but all that showed up was bits of me. I'm fast and she's slow.

Do you do tuckbuttruns?

Posted by me, Hannah.