| WORKING AIREDALE TERRIER ASSOCIATION | |
| Clint Stubbe PO Box 106 Winlaw, British Columbia Canada V0G 2J0 |
Kevin G. Kelly PO Box 228 Boulder Creek, California 95006 |
Full Cry Column
February 2002
Kevin Kelly (Southern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)
Laurie and I took
the dogs out for a long walk yesterday. We sure have fun watching
them move and observing the different personalities. Alberta
Trickum is a people dog all the way and likes to stay close. If
she ventures off on a scent trail with the other dogs, she is
always the first to return and check back in. She likes to walk
along with us mostly and is the first to sound the alarm if we
encounter wildlife or other folks or dogs. She is more vocal,
than the other Airedales, when she spots something unusual.
As we watched
them bound through the forest, up and down the slopes, I said to
Laurie; “Don’t you wish we could move like that?”
Then we realized that if we could move like that it would mean we
were built like that and looked like that. There would be
definite disadvantages to that. One thought I had is that none of
the Airedales, as smart as they are, can play the guitar very
well!
Henry sent me an
article, by Jessica Bujol, out of the “Durango Herald”
about the problem folks in Oregon were having with Cougars
becoming much too familiar and comfortable around humans. “
Salem, Oregon – Driveways are often play areas for children.
But state wildlife biologist Bill Castillo says he’s hearing
an increasing number of reports from people around Oregon who are
finding cougars haunting such areas as well.
“They’re doing things we have
never seen them do before, like lying in people’s driveways
during the day,” he said. “We have cougars that come
into the city limits of Eugene and Springfield, an area that had
no cougars just a few years ago.”
“When people call in cougar
complaints, they expect the agency (Oregon Department of Fish and
Game) to remove or kill the cat, said Castillo, the wildlife
biologist. But that can be difficult because of a 1994 state law
banning the use of dogs to pursue cougars, the most effective way
to catch them.
“We can’t pursue a cougar with
dogs without permission from every property owner the path might
cross,” said Castillo.
By the time permission is granted, he
said, the cougar is usually long gone. Legislators will be
examining whether to allow people to use dogs - not to kill
cougars, but to intimidate them or chase them off.”
This is the point that is important.
Cougars, are not being intimidated, by dogs or humans, as a
result they move closer and closer into suburban type areas.
Around Boulder Creek most of the housing exists on the edge of
forest areas. A couple of years ago a cougar was seen, by a man,
at the back edge of his property, just east of town.. The cat was
drinking out of a stream that ran behind his house. He thought it
was beautiful and watched as it jumped across the stream and
walked between his house and the neighbors. Shortly there after
deer parts started showing up in yards in the neighborhood. The
cat had taken the territory as a feeding ground. The folks with
children who played in the same yards began to wonder whether it
was a good thing to have this predator stalking the neighborhood?
Too often the human is looked at as the intruder. Humans
are as much a part of nature as the cougar or the dog. It is
natural for us not to allow the cougar to move into our
territory, we are inviting the kinds of attacks we have heard
about in other areas of California and Canada, if we do.
In the letter,
that Henry sent along with the article, he said: ” I am
hearing from people in Colorado, too, that the country is overrun
with bear, who, because of it being illegal to run them with
dogs, are becoming very bold and are losing their fear of humans.
They are invading residential areas and becoming dangerous. All
that is needed in my opinion is to allow bear and cougar to be
run and treed by dogs. (You don’t have to kill them.) That
would keep them wary of humans so they act like wild animals and
not like zoo animals. It is far more interesting to see a wild
animal in it’s natural environment than to see a zoo animal
or a supposed wild one that has lost it’s fear of humans and
is acting like a zoo animal.” HSJ
I heard from
Brenda and Roger Towne recently, after I had written them to ask
about their pups from the Kelly/Abby cross. Kelly is owned by Bob
McClellan and is a good hunter and companion. This is what the
Towne’s had to say; ”Hi Kevin, Thanks for inquiring on
the puppies, they’re doing great!! Now, 7 ½ weeks old. Abby
had eleven!! We now have 2 males and 4 females available. Yes,
Roger hunts with her, mainly on black tail deer but she also
thinks she’s a bird dog, she likes to hunt quail. She’d
be a pretty good waterfowl dog also. Roger is very anxious to get
her started on cats as he knows she’d take right to it.
Abby was born on St. Patties Day
hence the name Abigail Irish Luck.
We don’t
know much about her background however we were told they hunted
some of the ancestors. Abby is willing to hunt anything you go
after as long as you take her. You’ll have a heck of a time
leaving the house with a gun without her. Same thing when we head
for the hills with the horses, she’ll be the first to truck
up. We spend a lot of time in the Marble Mountains and Trinity
Alps exploring different places and lakes. We have four boys ages
18 months, 5yrs., 9yrs.,11yrs. who start young in the saddle and
have an appreciation and love for hunting and the mountains.
We’ve
visited your sites you gave us and loved the pictures. Would you
like some pictures of the pups, Abby, or family? Could show you
some of the game or horns Abby helped get. HAPPY NEW YEAR!! The
Townes.
Well it was great
to hear from you folks and yes I would love some pictures if you
care to send them. I could put them on the web page and in future
editions of Full Cry. It sounds like the good life is alive and
well in the Marble Mountains. Keep those field reports coming.
If anyone is
interested in one of those pups please contact me and I will
connect you with Brenda and Roger.
When I hear from
good folks like the Townes’ it reminds me of the fact that
the real America is in familys and locations in the rural USA
just like that. I read a quote from John Hiatt, a musician from
Tennessee, not too long ago that said: “There’s a kind
of Americana there that hasn’t been homogenized all to hell.”
He was talking about stock car races in Florida, but I think it
is appropriate for the net work of dog men and women, and the
activities we share.
After the
December Full Cry came out I heard from Al, (Airedale from New
York) through the WATA message board on the web. (The address is
in the heading at the top of the column) He owned Charlie Girl
(KaBar/Sheena). To complete the story I will let Al tell you in
his own words:” Kevin, just got done reading the December
Full Cry and saw the little piece on Charlie Girl and it brought
back many great memories but also bad news as Charlie passed away
earlier this year. It was kind of a freak thing, she choked to
death on one of those raw hide chews. I had been giving these
things to my dogs all their lives and had never had a problem.
What apparently happened in Charlie’s case was she started
chewing them to a pliable state and was swallowing them whole
instead of biting off pieces and eating them. My wife who is a
nurse heard her choking at the foot of our bed one morning and
did that Heimlach deal or what ever that bear hug thing is
called. About a dozen of those chews in varying states of
digestion were brought up. Then my wife, had to do CPR, that
saved her the first time but she must have had those chews hidden
all over the property. She proceeded to find and eat them the
same way, and of course the same thing happened but this time we
could not bring her back and she passed away. I was devastated
and I am still not over it because of the way it happened.
You asked about
what kind of dog Charlie was the ten years I had her and I will
try to give a brief bio. At the time I got Charlie my kennel was
really starting to click, most of the seventies I could not
acquire even one decent hunting Airedale and believe me I tried
everything out there. The eighties things started to turnaround,
California Pete was the first good hunting Airedale I had in ten
years, I then got California Mack a very good pure Mooreland dog
and right after getting him I bought California Loomis another
great male. At this time Henry was getting the Tennessee Valley
dogs going and writing the Full Cry articles. I contacted him and
started a good friendship that lasts to this day. Over the years
of conversation on trying to get these Airedales back into
working order Henry generously offered me a female of his
breeding to try out and to bring into my lines if she made it, at
the time I needed GOOD females. At that time Henry was still at
Ole Miss and living in Oxford, we decided to meet at Lawrence
Alexander’s place in Florence, Alabama so I could pick up
the pup. I had a great trip meeting Lawrence and Henry in person,
we had great conversation and the best part it was good to know
there was someone besides myself trying to breed hunting
Airedales. (A quick note; if any of you boys remember Henry’s
first articles most of the Airedales discussed were all in the
past tense, my dad’s dog or when I was growing up I knew a
guy who had a Airedale etc. Nobody was talking much about current
dogs because there was no hunting Airedales to speak of at that
time in fact it was hard to find Airedales period. I’ve said
it before and I am going to say it again Henry almost single
handedly created the interest we today see in the working Hunting
Airedale, I was there and I know.)
Anyhow back
to Charlie Girl, when I got her back home I decided to put her in
a training program with two English Coonhound pups Buck and Bone.
I don’t remember exactly how old Charlie was at that time
but I would have to guess around two months old and I know the
Coonhounds were older by a couple of weeks or so. I introduced
the three of them to a caged coon about two days after getting
Charlie home and all three fired up real good, I expected the
Coonhounds to go, it was little Charlie that I was impressed
with, she was ferocious. The next few lessons were on tracking,
then the most important things locating and treeing by scent,
little Charlie hung right in there with the hounds. Right there
and then I knew Charlie was special. With well bred Coonhounds
this is to be expected but when you have a Airedale pup doing
this you know you have breeding, this stuff is not taught. Well,
to make a long story short, Charlie was trained with Buck and
Bone up until she was a couple of years old and she was still
hanging tough with the hounds. She weighed about forty five
pounds and had the speed and stamina to go as long as I wanted to
stay out. I don’t like to go around bragging about my dogs
but my Coonhounds are as about as good as they get, I like to let
them speak for themselves. Just to show how good Charlie got to
be I used her to train Buck and Bone’s younger brothers and
she could stay right with them also. A new coon club opened not
far from me. I know the boys well that started it and they asked
me to attend the first event to get things rolling. It was an
early spring event and I decided to take the young pups that
Charlie just helped me train and the father of these pups who had
been on the chain since fall. I entered every event in the show.
The treeing contest and the field trial and the night hunt. At
the end of the event we took home best male in show, won the
field trial ,first line and first tree, third in the treeing
contest and took second in the night hunt winning our cast that
included the dog that would end up being the New State champion
that year. Point of all this being I had a female Airedale
capable of hunting and staying with top hounds, pretty damned
good I would say.
Well Charlie’s
career as a coon dog was messed up by me in a way, I decided to
promote her to yard boss, job being to help rid the farm of any
varmints that was messing with stock. At the time I had a big
time fox problem, in broad daylight they would come in and get
chickens, things were bad. I spotted one trotting across the
pasture heading for the chicken yard and I took a wack at him
with a 22 hornet and hit him in the front leg, he took off like a
jet into the woods. I went into the house and got Charlie. Now
let me say up to this point she had never seen a fox. I showed
her where the fox went out and when she got the scent, I gave her
my standard command. ” Charlie, Kick some ass” and off
she went, now she wasn’t wide open on track but she would
yip and yap enough for me to follow her. After what I would say
was a three hundred yard chase she caught up to the fox and
finished him off, I was impressed and isn’t it always your
smart dogs that are the best, look for those brains. After this
of course I ruined her for running coon with the hounds as she
would take the first fox track she would hit and I want the
hounds to stay straight. I think I made the right choice making
her yard boss, skunks, opossum, coons and foxes! Lots of fun and
she got to live in the house.
Charlie only had
two litters of pups. She was bred once to Loomis when she was
young and she didn’t have many pups, three females and two
males. I didn’t keep any, I wish I had one, these should
have been excellent hunters. Lawrence Wertan’s Duke is the
only one that I know the location of. The second litter was out
of Texas Pete a couple of years ago and I kept a female, have not
done much with her and am not sure if I am going to use her or
not, this year will tell the story.
That’s about
it on Charlie, she was not only one of my best Airedales, but one
of my best dogs period.
To fill in some
background Henry Johnson submitted this information:” Don’t
know whether you are up on Charlie Girl’s bloodlines or not,
Kevin, but she was KaBar/Sheena (5/23/91) and was a littermate
sister to my Alaric and Red Sonya. Sue Porter, East Haddam,
Connecticut, has a littermate named Sadie. Rick Schroder
(currently starring in “The Lost Battalion”) got a
littermate sister but I think this pup may have been the one he
had that was killed by an adult Jagdterrier when she was about
nine weeks old. The other pups of this litter are dead now or I
have lost track of the owners. “ /HSJ, Fults Cove
Al, sorry to hear
of Charlie Girl's passing. That’s a tough situation.
Thank-you though for the thorough history. She sounds like she
was the perfect all around dog for you. It will be good to
copy and forward your message to Charles in Louisiana. Those
Kabar/Sheena pups have "Buckets of Brains" and are
"Tough as they Come." I would be very interested to
hear how that female turns out from Texas Pete. I believe he was
(Gunny/Augie) which is the same as Xena at Matt Thoms. Good genes
there, on both sides. If you ever get a notion, send me some
picture's I would love to see what these fine Airedales look
like. What is the pups name?
Thanks again,
"Kick some...."
I went to the
February, 1992 Full Cry to add a flash from the past and there in
the first part of the column are a few field reports on the pups
from that same Kabar/Sheena litter. The pups would have been
about 5 ½ or 6 months old.
Al Kranbul, who
had Charlie Girl, wrote in 1992: “She really gets after the
caged coon and is almost vicious toward them. Charlie is a good
companion dog. She keeps me company in the house and sleeps in
side. Also, she is good with the chickens and other domestic
animals on the place and doesn’t try to kill or harm them. I
have some game roosters staked out and the foxes come in and
catch them. I’m hoping Charlie will keep the foxes away from
the roosters when she grows up.”
Well as we know
from above she grew up and did exactly that!
“Jeff Johnson of Meraux, Louisiana, has or had, a
Kabar/Sheena pup he calls Mandy. In late November (of 1992) he
wrote saying; “ I finally found some time to write to you.
You see it is the second day of deer season and I’m sitting
in a shooting house. It’s about 8:30 a.m. of a beautiful
morning, with blue skies and temperature of about 30 degrees.
Airedale Mandy is doing as well as any dog I can expect at 5 ½
months. I told you on the phone how she did the first time in the
woods (Full Cry, January 1992). Well the following Saturday we
made another hunt and my wife Debbie came along. On the way I
told her if we caught a small hog I was thinking of bringing it
home and putting it in a small cage so Mandy could bark at it and
get some experience.
On with the hunt. We met two friends at the hunting spot, Kenny
Armstrong and Mack Davi. For bay dog s we used Charlie , a mixed
cur; Cody, a Blackmouth Cur; and Mandy. Cody found the hog first.
Once he started baying it didn’t take Charlie and Mandy
long to get there. When I got about fifty yards away I
could tell that Charlie had caught the hog.
When I got there, Kenny had a little hog by the back legs. As I
was running up, Kenny yelled, ‘ Hey, Jeff, check your dog
out!’
I was thinking to myself, ‘What does he mean? My dogs are
doing what they are supposed to do.’ But when I got where I
could see, I realized what he meant. In all the excitement I had
forgotten about Mandy. Let me tell you, Henry, she was on that
hog like white on rice. My wife and I were like two proud
parents, with smiles from ear to ear. Mandy did great. Mandy has
the interest. Now it’s just a matter of giving her time in
the woods.”
One more entry from February 1992, from David Noe, He is
writing about Southern Aire Sandhill Grit, (Sandy) whelped May
23, 1991, littermate to Charlie Girl and Mandy. Along with her
was Southern Aire General Forest, (Nate), [Ka-Bar/ Imma], four
days Sandy’s junior. Also in the group was Jack a Bluetick,
approximately the same age.
David wrote; “ While the dogs were in their kennels I
slipped a field lead over the body of the dead coon just below
the elbows. I then animated him along the rows of kennels in
front of the dogs, making a hissing sound and lingering just long
enough in front of each pup to give them a smell and agitate them
into a frenzy. Then I ran into the woods, laying a drag trail
with the coon. I probably made the drag too long, about 200
yards, for the first time for a pup. I went down the hill, across
a small stream, up another hill, around a tree, then up the tree
with the lead looped over a limb to suspend the coon just out of
reach of the dogs.
“ After laying the track, I took another route back to the
kennels and then released Sandy, Nate and Jack. Sandy went right
to work with nose to the ground. Nate was busy trying to dominate
Jack, so I broke the play up and told them to get to work. Jack
struck out on the trail with Nate behind. Momentarily all pups
lost the trail at the stream. Sandy finally crossed over when
she, Nate and Jack ran up and down the stream awhile. Then Sandy
and Jack picked up the trail again on the other side with Nate
bringing up the rear. Jack went on by the tree, but Sandy and
Nate kept circling it. I didn’t think they would ever look
up, so I untied the end of the lead and hoisted the coon up and
down to get their attention. Finally, Sandy and Nate saw it and
barked treed. Nate jumped up on the tree and then Sandy did too.
Beautiful sight and sound, two 5 ½ month old Airedales raising
Cain at a dead coon in a tree.”
Well, awhile ago I thought it might be fun to go back and visit
some of the old Full Cry articles and thought I would check back
on the ones that were exactly ten years ago. What a coincidence,
that, there was so much talk about Charlie Girl and her litter
mates. I included so much of it because it is more than just
nostalgia, it’s blood lines. Nate is the Grandfather to Abby’s
pups above, through Kelly. Kelly was Nate/Libby. Sheena was
grandmother to my Brisk and Clint Stubbe’s Lulu. And Ka-Bar
is the grandfather to my young dogs Guinness, Brigid and Boru,
through Slim ( Ka-Bar/Sugar) owned by Billy Harkins in Georgia,
formerly owned by David Noe.
David Noe, Lawrence Alexander and Henry Johnson were the core
group of the Tennessee Valley Airedale Terrier Association and
all have contributed a great deal to the Versatile Hunting
Airedale around the country.
Rick Schell of
Alabama just picked up a Lawrence Alexander pup and is very happy
with him. Rick hunts with a Jack Russell and a Hawk. “Man do
I like this pup. I got him at 6 weeks. He is 7 weeks old now and
retrieving a puppy dummy in a controlled situation. He sleeps in
his crate without a whimper and so far whines to go out to
relieve himself, also whines to come back in. He likes the smell
of game like squirrels, rabbits and duck wings. Still have no hog
hides YET! Been shooting a training pistol over him when he is
feeding and is not bothered by it. We named him Copper. Has good
bone and a varminty expression and attitude. I like a dog that
looks at my face and he does this already. Look forward to his
training and plan on running him in Ohio at the Airedale hunting
tests.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday and hunting time.
Got another buck and some ducks this last week and have caught a
number of rabbits and squirrels with the Reb the hawk with some
breathtaking flights on rabbits with the terrier in hot pursuit.
I lost the hawk yesterday and had to leave him out all night with
the horned owls and coyotes after he caught a smallish squirrel
about 60 feet up in the trees and sailed way off with the
squirrel before dark. Found him this morning and he came right to
me. He seemed to have missed me in a kind of killer hawk sort of
way.”
Thanks for the
field report Rick. Please keep us posted and send some pictures
if you get a chance. ( Of Copper and the Hawk, OK and the Jack
Russell.)
Back on May 18,
2001, I received this forwarded e-mail from Billy Harkins in
Georgia
Subject: RE: Puppy arrival 
Dear Billy:
The pups were
released from the quarantines yesterday. They are healthy and
look good, every body hopes they will do job we expect. This is
the first time for a long time we try to hunt Airedales for big
games with hound dogs we imported from your country, you will be
informed how they do in the future. I guarantee lots of hunters
here will import Airedales, when these pups show their ability,
thank you"
Well I wrote him
back and ask, what that was about and this was his response;
“The
letter that I sent was to me from a Mr. Nobuo Akegami from Japan.
He was letting me know about the safe arrival of the two puppies
that I had sent to him two weeks ago. He and his hunting club had
pooled together and ordered two Airedale pups from me. The
crosses were Steel/Sass and Slim/Dasie because he wanted a
breeding pair. They hunt bear and boar but mostly boar I think
now. Mr. Akegami tells me that he will keep me informed with the
dogs as they progress and I hope that he does as this will now
make OWLTOWN AIREDALES international!” Billy
Well it turns out
that Nobuo Akegami was impressed enough with the pups that he
made an arrangement to come in person in November and pick up a
few more. Henry Johnson went to Billy’s for the visit and I
guess they all had a fine time. They spent time at Billy’s
and then went to Frank and Judy Queens home for dinner. If it was
half as good as the meal Laurie and I received there last year it
was a feast.
I ask Henry about
Nobuo and he wrote me the following; ”Nobuo is a big bird
dog man. Goes to big field trials all over the States and is on
the advisory board of the main U. S. Field Trial organization. He
had no idea that Airedales can hunt Upland Game. I told him that
they definitely can do this and that he should give them a try. I
am hoping he will do so. He is very intelligent and serious about
the dogs and about hunting. Had no interest at all in the show
Airedale.
Billy has a whole
litter of these pups that will be going to Nobuo together with
their mother, Alley Cat. These dogs will be owned by the hunting
club and assigned to individual members to raise and train. They
are to be the foundation breeding stock for Japanese hunting
strain Airedales. That is the plan. We will see how it turns out
in time.”
There is so much
of this Airedale breeding that feels experimental and unless we
can get the pups into working homes and get lots of feedback on
how they do, we are just shooting in the dark. So all you
Airedale people, from all over the world, stay in touch and send
us your stories and pictures.
We got an
Airedale update from Sean Cully in Bloom field, Pennsylvania,
when he wrote to Henry; “Hi Henry, I hope all is well in the
volunteer state. Thought I would drop you a line about Zoe
(McCain/Lil) that I had gotten from Wayne Waggoner. She is about
55 lbs, small compact type build. Now, she is one year old. She
has no fear of the ground hogs. She will climb as far as she can
reach into a den or opened hole to pull out her prize. She likes
to check out every hole, I am hoping she will become somewhat of
a locator. Other than that she has a great temperament. She
spends her days and nights living on our front porch. She has not
been kenneled since we got her, just runs loose on the farm. Been
taking her out with the fox hounds waiting to cut her in if the
fox would ever get close enough for her to catch.
I only managed to
get 75 gh’s this year, I have been spending too much time
with the hounds lately. Anything new or interesting going on with
you? Have a nice fall/early winter, Sean Cully
Thanks Sean. McCain is
out of Grit. Grit/Red Sonya I believe. I’m sure I’ll
hear different if that is not the case. Let me hear from you
Wayne, I’d love to get some reports and pictures from you.
The last field
report in the column this month comes from Bob Picard, up in
Oregon; “Greetings from the Umpqua River where we are
finally getting the kinds of rain storms we need to recover from
an awful lot of dryness.
Auna, the almost
5 month old bitch I got from Clint, (Stubbe. A Chukar/Lulu cross)
is coming along nicely. Have never owned a pup with so much
positive energy. A delightful dog already. Am seeking someone
closer than either you or Clint who have Airedales they hunt.
This pup shows signs of being able to hunt a variety of things,
and I am anxious to give her proper exposures.
Know anyone in
Oregon? Anyone, closer than you, in Northern California or around
the Reno area?
Hope this finds you doing well. Great web
site. Bob.”
Anyone near the Umpqua on the central coast of Oregon that would
like to get touch with Bob, just get in
touch with me and I will connect you.
Keep us up on Auna’s progress and as you
all, probably, are getting the idea, picture’s are
encouraged and welcome.
“The quote of the month is: "The space separating
defeat and victory is often very small, and the more powerful
assailant does not always prevail. 'The Battle, sir,' said
Patrick Henry, 'is not to the strong alone; it is to the
vigilant, the active, the brave.' Most often, the
ingredients of victory are initiative, resourcefulness,
adroitness, and improvisation." Lt. Gen.Victor Krulak,
USMC (Ret.), "First to Fight"
As Henry S.
Johnson Jr. always said: “ Until next month, let me hear
from you Airedale people and don’t forget to put your arms
around those black and tan dogs with the beards and moustaches
and talk to them. They are people dogs and family members.”
Respectfully
submitted, Kevin G. Kelly, RDR Ranch Corresponding Secretary for
the Working Airedale Terrier Association. No rules, regulations,
officers, dues or formal affiliations. It’s more a state of
mind.