Our new arrival… Lola the Border Terrier!

It’s been a strange couple of weeks without a dog in the house.  We knew we wanted a pup we just weren’t sure when but over the last week or so I just knew a pup would have to arrive soon.  I’m just the type of man who finds life happier with a dog in his life.

With Barney passing away we decided we would never be a 1 dog family again. It hurt too much and so the plan is now to get two or three dogs who would be a year or two apart in age.

Jane (my wife) wanted a Border Terrier, I wanted an Airedale Terrier and our eldest wanted an Irish Terrier. We also had mutterings around getting another Cairn Terrier at our family meeting. I guess we are just a Terrier family lol. To be fair back 14 years ago I picked and named Barney and so Jane won the toss for the first purchase and today we got our wee Border Terrier “Lola”.  I have to say I’ve fallen head over heals for the breed.

Lola (Glencarraig Marianne Mozart)

We’re based in the North of Ireland but couldn’t find any pups available round these parts. Eventually we found a breeder (Julie Bryan) in Dublin who had a bitch left from a litter of 8 and a 10 month old boy called Finn. Originally we wanted Finn as he’s a fantastic dog with an awesome temperament and personality but couldn’t find the window to travel down. We were hoping to get him this week but a retired couple took him early last week. Although we understood we were disappointed. Julie offered us the bitch but we really wanted a boy. We wanted a boy so that when our Airedale came we would get a girl. A girl Airedale we thought might be lighter, more of a home bird than a boy and generally easier to handle. However I asked Julie had she any pics of the girl pup and when we seen her the rest was history so to speak lol.

I have to say Julie (GlenCarraig Kennels) is the best breeder I have ever come across. Her pups are so well socialised its unbelievable and the support she gives is real and tangible without being interfering. We’ve never shown a dog but at this stage and its early days yet Julie thinks she should make a great girl for the ring if she continues to develop so well. She was last to be bought but actually to Julie’s eye there was very little between her and the bitch Julie kept. I have a good friend who breeds Irish Terriers and has done exceptionally well in the ring. He has seen her photos and has agreed she has all the potential for the ring. However as I say I have never shown and whilst I’m curious I’m undecided and under confident to say the least.

Lola’s Dad & Mum

The story goes now that the Airedale boy pup will arrive in 18 months and will be called Charlie. Have you ever seen the kids TV programme Charlie & Lola lol. Charlie is the big brother and has a good sense of humour – perfect for an Airedale me thinks.

Meet “Rinty” the Airedale & A Family Legend…

So I walk into my dad’s today and he says he’s got a treat for me and places a long lost photo on the table.  It turns out to be not only of one his childhood dogs but his favourite.  It’s was his first Airedale, the infamous “Rinty”.  It was taken in August 1963… How’s this for cool?

My dad went on to share a few stories about him.  Apparently he was an escape artist of the highest quality and would regularly disappear.  It was common for someone to waken in the house in the wee small hours to hear a thumping at the door.  When they went to open the door, Rinty who had been thumping the door with his tail bolted up the stairs and onto my dad’s bed.  He immediately curled up and by the time the person had got to the top of the stairs Rinty was pretending to be a sleep.  Legend!

Having spoken with my dad for the last few days about Airedales I can understand why he has a twinkle in his eye for the breed.  What I don’t understand is why I’ve never had one lol – a situation that I hope to rectify over the next year or two.

Gran & the Airedales

I had a funny conversation with my Dad at the weekend who in his teens owned his first two Airedales, a breed his father had introduced him to.  He’s owned many breeds since but none have matched up to the Airedale. I’ve been talking about getting a new dog for the last year or so and have been considering either an Airedale or an Irish Terrier.

I was asking him if he remembered having trouble with nipping or biting.  Of course all dogs do this as puppies but he didn’t have any particular memory of his doing this to the point that it became problematic.  What he did remember but made me giggle!

My Gran is a woman who’s can only be described as dynamite, she loved her family and would have done anything for them but suffered no fools and had no back doors in her.  If she had something to say she said it straight without filter nor thought.  Nothing got in her way and very few people ever took her on and won. She was a real Belfast woman if ever I met one, small in height, stocky in build and complete with a hell hath no furry attitude.

Dad was laughing about how if you went to touch a bone that one of his Airedale’s owned there was a distinct growl and an ice that descended whether they were chewing it or not.  Then there was a silence and a puzzled looked came over my Dad’s face… then he said “Funny they never did it with anything else and they never did it with your Gran, she could have done anything she wanted with them and they would have done anything for her”  Well we all burst out laughing at even the dogs knowing not to cross her small as she was.

Now I think about it and with all that I have read about Airedales their personalities were well matched!!