Full Cry Column
December 2002

Kevin G. Kelly - Southern Pacific Coast Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent

Hello all. It's late October and the evening air is just beginning to chill off pretty good. There is still no rain but the fog has begun to show up occasionally leaving some moisture in the Redwoods, dripping slowly in the mornings. I enjoy the arrival of the overcast feeling in the mornings. There is, a peacefulness in it that goes directly to my soul. It must be my Irish heritage. There is also a drop in temperature and that is always welcome, for myself and for the dogs. We have returned to what I call "sweater weather". Shirt sleeves during the day but it cools off enough in the evening or early morning for a sweater or better yet a hunting jacket.
November 9th is the opening of Pheasant season here and I am very much looking forward to that. My son and I go and take three or four dogs. We hunt two at a time and rotate them so they all get some exposure. Personally I really like tromping around in the weeds knowing that at any time the ground can explode before you in a flurry of cackles and feathers. I like watching the dogs come to life in a way that is unique to this situation alone. O'Sheen and Nitro will be 5mos. old. It's a really fun age to watch with birds. They are as startled as can be when the first flight occurs but it doesn't take long before the game is figured out and they're all for it. I wasn't able to work the dogs as much as I would have liked last year. I hope to make up for it this year.

I got an email from Bob McClellan in Callifornia with a good story of predator calling with a call of his own invention:
"Hunting seasons are opening up. The calendar says it is fall, but we still have very summer like conditions here. Mornings are cool, but daytime temperatures still get up to 85 - 90 degrees.
I do a lot of predator calling. My 3 Airedales are trained for it, and know what the game is all about. I keep from 1 to all 3 of them with me on every calling stand I make. I use both mouth blown calls and electronic calls, depending on the circumstances; but my old electronic game caller has seen better days. I've been toying with the idea of buying one of the new digital callers, but lately I've been experimenting with a home brewed call.
For my particular use, I demand that a call be lightweight and small. My old call was neither, and I wouldn't pack the thing very far from the truck. Much of my calling is either walk in, or horseback, and some of the new callers are ideal in the weight/size department. Some of them are also very expensive. Anyway, I put together a very simple rig, that weighs practically nothing, and isn't much bigger; and I've been playing around with it.
My main concern was that it wouldn't have enough volume to be practical. The first time I tried it, I just took it out in my back yard and turned it on. To my surprise, it had more volume than I normally use on 90% of my stands. Within minutes, I had a yard full of blue jays and magpies. So far, so good!
The next morning I took Kelly with me, and drove over to a little hill that sticks up in the middle of our valley; a local landmark with a CDF lookout on top. I slipped on my backpack, which contains a still camera, a video camera, and other odds and ends; and now the little game caller. I leashed Kelly and hiked in to one of my calling spots.
It was already warming up, so I tied Kelly in the shade; then walked over across a little gully and stuck the home brewed caller down in a bush. I turned it on, set the volume about where I thought it should be, and walked back. I sat down in the shade next to Kelly, and looked back where I had just come from. There was a gray fox standing about 20 feet from the bush that hid my caller!
The little guy trotted right up to the bush, looking for the rabbit, and of course Kelly saw it. Hot and dry as it is, I knew the chance of catching or treeing a fox was slim to none, but I turned Kelly loose anyway. Had a pretty good sight race for a couple of hundred yards! Kelly soon lost his fox, and after looking for it for a few minutes he was soon back to me.
This morning's weather was much the same as it has been, and I loaded Casey in the truck and headed out. Casey was wound up like an 8 day clock, so I put him out in front of the truck and roaded him for awhile to take the edge off. I soon met a couple of truckloads of lucky deer hunters coming down from higher up the mountain. They had 2 bucks in the back of one of the pickups.
I had a particular spot in mind that I wanted to call, so I continued to road Casey until we came to a fork in the road. The timber company had closed the gate to the right hand fork, naturally the way I wanted to go! I stopped and gave Casey a drink of water from the camper, then loaded him and headed back down the mountain. I had another place in mind, but by now it was getting pretty warm.
I parked the truck, put on the backpack, leashed Casey, and hiked up a ridge. It intersects with an abandoned logging road, and I walked along this a couple hundred yards to my calling stand. There was game sign of all kinds in the dust of the old road. Deer, bear, fox, ground squirrel, and birds had all left their tracks there. There was even an elk track there, but I already knew that it was over a week old. I'd seen it before.
I tied Casey to a tree, and this time I got the video camera out of the pack and set it up on a tripod. I set it pointing down an old skid trail in the direction that most game approach from, at this particular stand. I hid the game caller in a cluster of downed limbs under a pine tree a few yards down the skid trail, and then sat down in the shade behind the camera.
When the fox came, it came from my right; took a quick look at the setup, and beat feet out of there! I didn't even have time to swivel the camera around and hit the GO button! Casey hadn't seen the fox, so I quickly led him over where it had been and turned him loose. He disappeared around the side of the hill, but I never heard a bark, and he was soon back to me. Same old story. Too hot and dry!
By the time we got back to the truck it was past warm, and bordering on hot; but I had one more place I wanted to try. This called for a walk of about 1/2 mile along an old logging road, and I was disappointed in the amount of game sign there. I set up the camera again, as I knew there was a possibility of territorial coyotes at this spot, but I drew a blank here. Not so much as a blue jay answered the call. We hiked back to the truck and ate lunch next to a creek where Casey could lay in the water and cool off.
So far, I'm pretty happy with my little calling rig, and I doubt now that I will even bother with one of the new digital jobs. The main thing we need is a change in the weather. I'll rest those two spots where the fox answered the call until it rains and cools off. Next time might be a different story!"
I don't know of anybody who spends more time out in the wild than Bob McClellan. He seems to have a pretty good handle on life and he takes some fine photographs and video of his encounters. Email me and I can send you to his "Back Country" message board and photo center on the web.

Thanks Bob for all the communication and for telling the stories that take us all along with you into the "Back Country".
I got my first correspondence from Jack Hartzel from Pennsylvania on October 19th. He just got a new Airedale pup and from what he had to say, he got it for a few very good reasons. "My name is Jack Hartzel. I recently bought a male Airedale puppy from Al Kanbuhl out of California Tucker. On the way home from Camden NY we stopped to get something to eat. I took Rand to a field across the road from the Burger King and I threw a stick and Rand retrieved it straight back to me at least ten times. I petted him up and told him what a good dog he was. I was amazed and knew that I had bought a great dog.
This is my first Airedale and I'm planning on using him to hunt Grouse and some pheasant. I would like to maybe check into SAR too. I just retired to Warren Center PA in the mountains and have seen five different Black Bear since I've moved here including a 600 lber. My neighbor had seen this bear before, and said I'd know him when I saw him because his stomach would be close to the ground.
I took my pup for a walk in our woods last week and he was having a ball including eating deer crap. LOL! He was walking along fine when his head went up and he started sniffing and he took off in another direction with his head to the ground. My neighbor was with us and said that he thought he had spotted a Black Bear. It could have been a bear he smelled or maybe a deer or any other animal in my woods. It sure looked good to see that puppy with his nose to the ground. I got him to hunt birds and to protect my grandkids from Bears and Coyotes.
I'm enclosing a picture of Rand California Tucker. What is really Ironic is I just lost a Yellow Lab named "Tucker"! Rand is super smart. I'm enclosing a picture of Rand and some of a Bears swimming in my pond and one standing in my yard. The one in the yard I believe to be about 300 Lber. The one swimming I think is less. All of these pictures were taken from my family room windows. Please send me info on ordering Full Cry Magazine. Semper Fi!.........Jack"

Thanks for the letter, Jack. The Puppy picture this month is of Rand. Stay in touch with Rand's development. We are always happy to get field reports on these pups as they grow into adult working Airedales. Rand will be a great defender and should make a fine bird dog for you. It's the versatility of the Airedale that makes it so incredible. I believe they will hunt any variety of game, on any given day and know the difference. Know what it is you're after on that particular day. As far as defending your family, they follow the Marines motto you quoted above; "Always Faithful".

Tami Parrott sent a picture of Basil (Eli/Sal) and had this to say; "Here is the Idaho pup named Basil. He looks great for having fallen into Hell's Canyon once, He crawled all the way back up to his woman' feet bleeding everywhere when he was less than a year old. Fortunately he didn't break any bones (amazingly) and they nursed him back to health. Gave them a real scare though!! He's a gorgeous dog and 100% Airedale!! Tami
When I got the picture I emailed Tami, who owns Sal, and ask for more information. This is what she had to say: " Sal is an Alabama pup from Lawrence & Polly Alexander's Hilltop Kennel in Florence. The sire was their Hilltop's Robaire Macbeth and the bitch was Droffats TVATA O'Susanna. She was whelped 03/23/98.
She has the sweetest disposition and her name suits her to a 'T'. It is Sal-Terra, which means "bouncer of the earth." She is also very maternal and began treating an old tennis ball-on-a-rope like a puppy. We aren't breeders just Airedale lovers but decided that we would let her have one litter before getting her spayed.
Henry gave us guidelines and put us in touch with John Houben who has Eli. She had 8 gorgeous pups exactly 63 days after our first attempt. We got four males and four females. The first one born was the largest from day one and continues to be (he stayed with us and kept his kennel name of Feets...he weighs 90 pounds). The smallest was the last one born and Sal was so exhausted by that time that I had to help stimulate the pup and get it breathing while she rested a little. That little girl became the leader of the pack and ironically, she now rides motorcycles with her humans (she's about 45 pounds). In addition to our older male also from O'Susanna, our house was brimming with activity for nearly 3 months...it was amazing!
The other thing that I found very interesting about this mix was that we also had the gamut of hair types. Our old boy Rounder has extremely fine hair and Sal's is a little more course, though not much. That makes me think that the O'Susanna side gave the litter two of the softest, fluff pups you could ever want.
Of course, Eli has a very hard coat and undoubtedly that is why two of our pups were as sleek as wiener dogs...Basil was one of them. The other four were midrange. Feets was one of the softest but now he is much more course than Sal or Rounder though not quite as much as Eli. Basil is (as you saw) just as course as Eli. Pretty fascinating from a genetic standpoint!!
We live on Vashon Island in the Seattle/Puget Sound area. Feets swims in the sound every day!! He loves to swim!! I introduced all the pups to a baby pool at a very young age...seems to have worked!
I am not sure what other information you may be interested in. I tried to give you the long version this time, as I am back in my graduate program starting tomorrow and emails will likely get shorter again. Please let me know if you need/want any other information. Always happy to talk Airedale! Would love to hear more about Brisk, etc.
Take good care, Tami"

Thanks Tami. I hope graduate school and your dogs are all doing well. That's quite a weight range in one litter. It is a good example of what you can get from out crossing. This breeding is such an experiment. I think that is one of the things I enjoy about it. I believe out crossing is good for genetic vigor but I will do it very carefully and not often. It is too much the crap shoot as far as what you will get. Line breeding is a way to more consistency but as always every dog is different.
This brings me to one of the reasons I encourage Airedale folks around the country and the world for that matter, to get in touch and let us hear about your dogs. It is not, with a few exceptions, the show folk who have kept the working Airedale alive generation after generation. It is the country breeder, who has 'using dogs'. And needs a dog that will perform the required task, or tasks. I know there are Airedale breeders out there that have produced good versatile working Airedales for many generations and yet only the locals in their area know of them. If you are someone like that or know of anyone like that let me know. Out crossing to consistency is the best way to go, if you're going to out cross at all.

The following is an excerpt from an article that was sent to me by Henry Johnson. I think it is important to repeat these facts often so people searching for security won't come to believe that it is in gun control or in the centralized authority in Washington. Gun control and "Homeland Security" will not make you safe.
" Clamor for gun controls"
Larry Elder
More gun control, please! Gun-control proponents, predictably, in the wake of the Beltway sniper, urge still more gun-control laws. So, as news watchers sit through another round of softball interviews with gun-control advocates, we humbly offer Second Amendment-challenged hosts some suggestions for questions:
Why does Switzerland, a country that requires a military-style rifle, plus ammunition, in every home, enjoy a very low homicide rate?
Why does Israel, a country where perhaps 10 percent of citizens possess permits to carry concealed weapons, enjoy a very low murder rate?
Why do gun-control proponents fail to mention countries with homicide rates higher than ours, including Brazil and Russia, with very restrictive gun-control laws?
Why does Washington, a district whose laws make it illegal to buy, possess, transport or acquire a handgun, experience the highest per capita murder rates in the nation?
Why does Canada, a nation of 31 million citizens, with official estimates of 7 million guns - although other experts place the number at 25 million - enjoy a low per capita murder rate?
Why did the United States, a hundred years ago, when citizens could purchase guns anonymously and with few of today's restrictions, enjoy a murder rate of 1.2 per 100,000 vs. the 5.5 rate in 2000?
Why don't gun-control proponents talk about the rising murder rate in severely gun-restricted England? "The American murder rate," writes Reason magazine, "which had fluctuated by about 20 percent between 1974 and 1991, was 'in startling free-fall.' We have had nine consecutive years of sharply declining violent crime. As a result, the English and American murder rates are converging. In 1981 the American rate was 8.7 times the English rate, in 1995 it was 5.7 times the English rate, and the latest study puts it at 3.5 times."
According to Reason, after a few days of crime after crime, "London police are now looking to the New York City police for advice."
Why does the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence's Web site say, "The risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns? They fail to mention that the expert, who came up with that figure, now distances himself from it. According to the Wall Street Journal, he now says, "A gun can be used to scare away an intruder without a shot being fired," although he admits that such events weren't included in his original study. "Simply keeping a gun in the home may deter some criminals who fear confronting an armed homeowner." He also conceded, "It is possible that reverse causation accounted for some of the association we observed between gun ownership and homicide - i.e., in a limited number of cases, people may have acquired a gun in response to a specific threat." In other words, some people obtain guns because they are more likely perpetrators, or they fear becoming victims, of violent crime.
How often do Americans use guns each year for defensive purposes, some of whom - but for their guns - might have been killed? Criminologist Gary Kleck estimates that 2.5 million Americans use guns for defensive purposes each year, and approximately 400,000 of them believe someone would have been dead had they not resorted to their defensive use of firearms. A government study put the figure at 1.5 million.
Why do gun control proponents fail to admit the ineffectiveness of the Brady Act? Following the 1994 Brady Act's imposition of a five-day waiting period for the 32 states previously not subject to such waiting periods, those states should have seen a reduction in crime, compared to the other 18 "control" states. But according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, "Our analyses provide no evidence that implementation of the Brady Act was associated with a reduction in homicide rates. We find no differences in homicide or firearm homicide rates to adult victims in the 32 states directly subject to the Brady Act provisions compared with the remaining control states." The study did find a decrease in gun suicides for men over 55. But the overall suicide rate remained unchanged. Men over 55 simply resorted to other means to kill themselves.
A father recently sent me the following letter: "I had to go to work unexpectedly one night due to an emergency. My 8-year-old daughter was a little worried that I would be leaving her and my wife alone. We live in a very nice and safe neighborhood but nonetheless she was concerned. I jokingly told her that no bad men would come in our house because I put out a sign that read, 'No Bad Men Allowed.' She frowned and immediately responded, 'Daddy, bad men don't do what the signs say. That's why they're bad.'"
Some things are so complicated only a child can figure them out."
Larry Elder is a nationally syndicated columnist. His article appeared October 27, 2002 in the Washington Times.

I've heard from Matt Thom about his Zach/Xena litter. They are all doing well and he is pleased with them. This will probably be Xena's last litter. She's a fine Airedale and I'm glad she has as many pups out in the field as she has.
Odon Corr must have his pups on the ground by now but I haven't heard anything about them.
If you have Airedales you would like to talk about, just get in touch.

Bob McClellan sent this from northern California, from his local newspaper, the Pioneer Press:
"YOUNG MOUNTAIN LION KILLED IN ETNA
Townspeople in Etna were surprised by the sighting of a young mountain lion in Etna Friday night, but were even more surprised Saturday when Etna police were forced to shoot the cat when it refused to flee.
Etna police received the second call on the cat Saturday between 2:00 and 3:00 PM. An officer responded and found the cat in a backyard
area off Main Street. The officer noticed there were children playing
within 25 feet of the cat and it did not seem to be afraid.
Etna police decided that because of the danger imposed by the
mountain lion's proximity to humans and apparent lack of fear, they
would have to shoot the animal.
Their concern bore out when the officer was able to approach within about 10 feet without the cat showing fear.
After the animal was killed, California Fish & Game officers
responded and found the cat to be a male, approximately one and a
half years old.
Fish and Game officer Herb Janney said, "It was a really young male. It looks like it may have actually been too young to be out on his
own."
Janney also added that the mountain lion was in physically poor condition. "Even if we had found it under other circumstances,"
Janney said, "We probably would have been forced to destroy it".

I am working on a house here in Boulder Creek whose back yard opens into the woods. When I got there the other day Lee, one the owners and mother to five year old Alyssa, told me that they had seen a coyote come to within twenty yards of the house. She said; " they were careful not to scare it because it was probably just hungry!" She told me it was hanging around Alyssa's play structure. Their old dog just died a while ago, I think they need an Airedale. I believe these wild animals need to be chased in order to regain their fear of humans and dogs.

And now a visit to an excerpt from the December 1992, Full Cry, Tennessee Valley Airedale Terrier Association column by Henry Johnson.
"In early September, David Noe of Manchester, Tennessee, shipped sixteen month old Southern Aire General Forrest out to Glenn Overstreet of North Fork, California. We are hoping that Nate as we call this young Airedale, will fit in well with Glenn's Mountain Curs and will make a good hog, bear, and lion dog. Glenn has been interested in Airedales for some time; and we are hoping he will now become completely addicted to this versatile breed, as we are. On September 13, Glenn wrote to David saying, "We're bonded." But for the first week I wondered. I kept him on a fifteen-foot lease and he went everywhere I did. He didn't seem to mind riding in the back of the pickup, except it's hot back there. He rode in front from the airport.
"I let him loose with the leash dragging about Wednesday; but the next thing I saw, he was 200 yards down towards the lake, investigating. I called him, and he looked at me then looked away and unconcernedly went about his business. I had to run him down. Luckily I didn't frighten him and he didn't try to get away. I knew then that either he didn't know his name or he didn't care about me. I figured the latter and knew I couldn't turn him loose.
"Saturday morning I went out to the pen. His tail was up and he was glad to see me. I put a tracking collar on him and turned him loose. He followed me up on the hill, smelling everything, and stayed around while I cut a chainsaw tank full of wood and then followed me home. Last night I left him loose and he stayed out by the Curs. He comes to me now when I call and is near me whenever I am out of the house. One of the things that helped was that I live trapped a ground squirrel and he and I had a lot of fun. I want to get him on some game next week. My wife is going to Reno, Nevada, to the annual air races, and I will be alone all week so I can go when I want. Bear season opens in one month.
" The people that paid for most of the shipping have an AKC Airedale female. She is gamy and kills and trees feral cats. She is three years old and weighs about 55 pounds. I will breed Nate to her and get a female pup. They have copied her pedigree for me and I will send you a copy as soon as I get it. I imagine it contains dogs you have heard of. I want to thank you for such a fine young dog - good looking too."
Henry wrote; " I sure hope we will be hearing more about Nate from time to time. He is a Kabar/Imma pup and a half brother to my Alaric and Red Sonja. All the Kabar pups I know anything about have been good ones."
I believe the female Glenn was talking about was Libby and the Nate/Libby cross produced Don Turnipseed's foundation studs Winchester and Remington, also Bob McClellan's, Kelly and Casey. Kelly is the Father of Roger and Brenda Townes, Rocky from the Kelly/Abby cross. Henry Johnson's Kabar is the great grandfather to the Kelly/Abby pups and he puts buckets of brains into is progeny. I would like to breed one of my Airedales to one of the pups from that litter one of these days. The outcross would be Abby, but line breeding through, Kelly. They are both good hunters with smarts and a great temperament. Remember, it's about perpetuating the good working lines.
Also from the 1992 column, the question of how many dogs to hunt on big game came up and the discussion was summed up like this; "The question of how many dogs to use on hogs, bear or lion is always with us. I think Hobie Shute has it right when he says, ' hunt the number of dogs you can control...' With most people it is settled by how many and what quality of dogs they have. All the information and experience available to me indicate that five dogs are about the upper manageable limit and that two or three good ones are better than four or five. One really good dog is better than several inexperienced or incompetent ones.
Wild hogs that will stay bayed up for one or two dogs are more likely to break and run in the face of large numbers. The more dogs on the ground the less control you have and the more likely they are to trash on deer or kill a bunch of piglets. Also too many dogs encourage one another to lose their natural caution so they rush head long at dangerous game and get hurt or killed. Then they are not much help in the hunt and become real liabilities if you have to sew up wounds in the field or rush them to a vet to try and save their lives. Also I like a close personal relationship with my dogs, and it is easier to maintain that with two or three than a larger number."

I sure enjoy going back into the old issues of Full Cry and revisiting with Henry and the folks that wrote in ten years ago. I hope you do too. If your name comes up or you have any thoughts or field reports, send them on in. All are welcome.
Well I wish you all the best this holiday season. May it be filled with family, friends, warmth and spirit.

Quote of the month; "Fight hard, never alibi and don't whine!" Jack Dempsey. And in lieu of all the pups going to new homes, the second quote is: "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. -- Anonymous

As, Henry S. Johnson Jr. says: " Let us hear from you Airedale people. And don't forget to put your arms around those furry black and tan dogs with the beards and the moustaches and talk to them. They are people dogs and family members."
Respectfully submitted, Kevin G. Kelly, Pacific Coast Corresponding Secretary for the Working Airedale Terrier Association. No rules, regulations, officers, dues or formal affiliations, its more a state of mind.