SOME MORE RESCUE MEMORIES

I remember SCOOBY/BUDDY - Scooby was a 14 mo. old Aireboy, who was given up by his owners for growling and snapping at their 2 toddlers (ages 4 and 2) and going after the husband when he was corrected for counter surfing. He’d been kenneled for a couple of weeks at their trainer’s facility and then for a week at the vet. We were told Scooby had temperament issues – that was a bad rap. He was the sweetest, best-dispositioned dog I’d come across in a very long time. Neither the vet in Glen Cove nor my vet in Ossining had any problems w/him. He was small (21½ - 22” at the shoulder), had a huge patch of white on his chest with a bit on the tip of one paw, and weighed only 35# when first given to Rescue! The poor dog was starving and to add insult to injury, he constantly wore a pinch collar w/a leash all the time. The pinch collar came off when he left the trainer’s facility and it was left there. At the vet’s, Scooby put on 3# in a week and with me he put on a few more pounds. Ideally I wanted to get him up to 45 – 50#. He was a walking skeleton – but a happy one nonetheless. 

He had made friends w/both humans and dogs in my townhouse complex. This was the first Airedale that people actually come over to see personally - he'd sit so nicely and just lean into the old folks! He was a typical Airedale and did the typical things an Airedale does at that age, but he'd calm down and listen for the most part. He seemed to think it was great fun in the morning to grab my slipper or shoe and stand there and look at me and then race around the house upstairs and down and get me to chase him so I could get it back! Thank God for baby gates. On our walks, he'd often break into the Airedale Scoot and zip around and around – that’s a little hard to do on a 6-ft. leash. He'd make me dizzy! Scooby went to his new home w/Jim and Marcia Schultz in Warren, CT. He had 3 yr old Wheaten Rescue, Morgan, and 12 year old Airedale Rescue, Maggie, for company as well as Otis, the big orange cat, Buckwheat the mini-donkey and the 2 rescue horses. Jim and Marcia have fostered and adopted several dogs from Barbara Curtiss over the years and were ready for a young male to give Morgan a run for her money. Marcia said he was the sweetest dog and he was! He was fine w/the cat but instead of biting, he’s going to lick it to death! He and the donkey became the best of pals .  Because he was everyone's friend, they renamed him BUDDY and it was a name that suited him to a "T".

I remember CHESTER - an 8 mo. old, already 23” tall, 64 lbs, BIG paws, unneutered boy, an owner-surrender from Queens, NY. He was bred by a breeder, whose dogs we would see fairly regularly in rescue circles. His advice to the family for training was to put an electronic collar on the puppy but fortunately for Chester, his owner thought that barbaric. Bought as a puppy, Chester’s life wasn’t that great because shortly after he arrived in this lively family of 5 children ranging in age from 4 – 12, his life became pretty isolated. The 4 yr old child was mauled earlier in the summer by a Rottweiler and extremely traumatized by the event, which included 28 stitches and an equal amount of staples on her head. Needless to say, any dog from that point on terrified her. Consequently, Chester was either tied out in the backyard or put in a crate. Being at the age of limitless energy but with no outlet for that energy, he was first given to a dog sitter for a month, then a relative who in turn gave him to a friend and her family who had never had a dog before. Chester was just at that age where he was testing and could be quite obnoxious and frightening to someone who didn’t understand young male Airedales. You know how rough they can play.  Once he came to Airedale Rescue, he stayed at a local vet’s on Long Island where he was neutered and boarded for 8 days until I could pick him up. Then he spent a week with me – a LONG week that almost pushed me over the edge until a rescue cohort recommended lemon juice and a squirt bottle. Three squirts in the mouth and it worked like a charm. Since I didn’t have the little lemon shaped container, I improvised w/a child’s water pistol and that saved my sanity.  Any obnoxious mouthy behavior (he loved to gnaw on my ankles if I was talking on the phone and not paying constant attention to him) or wild zipping and jumping around the room instantly stopped the minute I picked up that water pistol. One of his many exploits was the discovery of the toilet paper in the powder room – he was so proud of himself as he paraded through the foyer, into the kitchen and finally through the living room trailing lengths of toilet paper behind him! Another was the time he zipped around the living room about 3 or 4 times flying over the high backed sectional. I was finally able to catch him by grabbing the short leash I had on him. I caught him in mid-air as he flew over the sofa for the 4th time! He went to Dick and Rosemary Earley on Long Island. They had adopted 6 yr old Jay about 5 years before so we had quite a delightful reunion. Jay just showered me w/kisses and nuzzles – it was very heartwarming and just what I needed that day. Chester settled in well – still a challenge but each day showed improvement. Rosemary called the weekend of the blizzard to tell me how much he enjoyed the snow – something new for him. He was very sweet and very smart and Jay helped to teach him what was acceptable behavior – she forgot she was just as bad at that age!  Chester wasn't a bad dog; he just had a hard start in life and the constantly changing and confining circumstances for a young dog just excaberated trying young Airedale behavior.