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My very first Airedale was Ch. Tryton’s Tagajhute, a dog bred by Charlotte Moffatt (long since retired). The Moffatts lived across the street from us when I was a child and we were “allowed” to go see puppies when she had litters. My elder sister was very frightened of dogs, having been bitten when she was a baby. She overcame her fear of dogs with these visits and all the contact with the neighbour’s Airedales, and our father bought one for us when I was about 14 or so. Brick was a wonderful dog but unfortunately had PRA and was euthanized at age 4. I bought my first two Airedales while I lived in Ontario from Karsten Kaemling of Narration Kennels. They were littermates out of the True Grit bitch he imported from the US. Karsten Kaemling finished both of them and then for the next 10 years, I exhibited in conformation, bred several litters and was Secretary of the ATCC for a term. My kennel affix, Phaireborn, takes the PH from my first name, the AIRE for Airedale. I love Airedales because of their wonderful sense of humour and their tenacity. Back in British Columbia since 1994, I now have Wiley, Ironcroft Live Wire Phaireborn, a six-year-old male bred by Ginny Higdon Bate, and Merry, a Standard Poodle. Wiley is a retired St. John Ambulance Therapy dog and I’m the former Provincial Evaluator for the program. Merry will begin formal obedience training soon. I’m a founding member of the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog program here in BC. It first started in Peterborough, Ontario in 1992 and came to BC in 1997. Trubble (Cuvaison’s Ms. Demeanor), who was my only dog at the time, was evaluated and we started visiting at a local extended care facility. Shortly after, I became an evaluator for the program, conducting assessments similar to the Canine Good Neighbour test. A year later, the Provincial Evaluator moved up to the position of Provincial Coordinator, and I replaced her. Over the next several years, I trained many evaluators and evaluated many dogs. It came as a pleasant surprise that most of the “family dogs” presented for evaluation were successful! My fondest memory of therapy visiting was several years ago when the Provincial Coordinator and I were doing a “trial visit” at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. We had taken our dogs (my Airedale Trubble and her Labrador Retriever Tucker) around several of the waiting rooms and saw a truly dramatic change in the people waiting for treatment. It was like a switch had been turned and we made many, many people smile. The most moving thing that happened that day was when Trubble and I were out on the sundeck at the top of the building. Trubble took me over to a young couple who were sitting on a bench and were clinging to each other. She stopped in front of the woman who was crying. The woman threw her arms around Trubble’s neck and held her for several minutes. Trubble didn’t move. After a few minutes, the woman let her go and seemed more calm. We moved on without saying a single word. Trubble knew this young woman needed her at that moment and I was so very proud of her. Since returning to BC, I’ve bred just one litter of Airedales. Out of that litter, I kept one bitch and finished her. She’s a very small Airedale and lives with my mother. I’ve trained and competed in obedience, ring stewarded in obedience, done some tracking, a couple of years of in Agility and dabbled in Schutzhund. Most recently, I’ve been doing some conformation ring stewarding. As well, I’m a volunteer with AireCanada Airedale Rescue (www.airecanada.com), an Internet-based group of individuals from coast to coast to coast. AireCanada accepts applications from prospective adopters online, screens applicants and matches them with Airedales that have come into our possession from various sources. We work with breeders and animal shelters wherever possible. We also work with rescue groups in the US. Several members of AireCanada are members of the Airedale Terrier Club of Canada and are very active contributors.
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