Full Cry Column
January 2002

Clint Stubbe (Northern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)

 Happy New Year everyone!  No big fanfare this year.  No Y2K scare, no new millennium just a brand new year.  Hope you all make the most of it and enjoy it to the fullest.

 It’s been kind of slow for me personally in the hunting department and I am just waiting for the snow to come so I can get after some cats but I have managed to fill the freezer, get all my firewood in and get the place ready for winter while working out of town and only having the weekends to play catch up at home.  The firewood supply is pretty important as that’s the only type of heat we have and if it runs out it would get pretty uncomfortable here real quick.  The freezer has two deer, a dozen turkeys, a half dozen salmon and some bear meat so I should be okay till spring although I’ll bet if I took an entire deer and made jerky the kids would have it gone in a week.  I don’t know if you’ve seen those wildlife shows where a pride of starving lions takes down some game but the idea is the same.  It looks to be a long winter for me and my family as the softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the USA has myself and thirty thousand other workers in the forest industry in this province out of work.  What a pickle to be in.  All the time in the world to hunt and no sheckles to do it with.  I wish my truck was solar powered.

A few updates:

Bob McClellan recently bred his Kelly to a friends gyp and as of mid November had a litter of 11 so if you are in the market give me a call or email and I will forward it to him.  Bob could also be reached on the WATA board at www3.telus.net/wata/

I’d mentioned in a previous column that Gary Strader was looking for a home for his Henryetta that was porcupine free and I got a couple of inquiries.  I have to apologize because I tried to email Gary but his email had been changed and by the time I got a hold of him she was gone.  The good news is she has gone back to Wayne Waggoner in PA.  He bred her and took her back to help out the little terriers on fox, coon and groundhogs.

I got a really nice letter from Glenn Overstreet of North Fork California.

He starts off his letter

“Clint; Stubbe or Stub, Stubby, Stoob, Stooby?  I am not making fun of your name but no one I know knows the correct pronunciation.”

Well Glenn I’ve been called just about all the above and a lot worse but just drop the extraneous E at the end and that should clear it up.  Hey I was born with it what can I say.  I looked up the meaning of my surname once and found out it means “dweller by the tree stumps”.  Go figure.  Actually for a guy that works in forestry and spends most of his free time in the bush it’s probably fairly appropriate.

Anyway regarding comments on coat in the November column Glenn went on to say

   “I think I was one of the first to breed for this low maintenance hunting Airedale.  I got Cajun from  David Noe after he found out I wanted to breed up this shorthaired type.

My reasons were because of a weed we have here that makes Airedales a less then desirable dog to take care of.  Foxtails cripple and kill lots of dogs here in Central California.  This year was the driest in 80 years and the weed dries out just like a barbed needle.  My friend Lewie Peck lost two top hounds this year from foxtails getting in their lungs.  Airedales have webbed feet and the hair grows profusely under their feet.  This is a real trap for the foxtails and the thick coat on the wooly ones gathers them where they keep going into the hide.  I know other places have foxtails too but I doubt they get as dry as here and they are everywhere, huge fields of thousands of acres.

Also we have a small burr that resembles a cockle-burr only it is about 1/8 inch.  We call them stick tights.

I used to take the horst shears and cut off all the body hair as short as I could get it and scissor the feet and legs naked like a poodle.  In order for them to look like an Airedale I would leave the eyebrows and whiskers.

Boss-Laydie shook her head once and her ears velcroed stuck over her head but worse was when I noticed her looking odd and her lips were velcroed shut.  She couldn’t drink water with her mouth glued shut as these small stick tights had her mouth in a grip.

So I bred up these low maintenance type hunting Airedales.  And they do have more hunt than the others I have had in the past.  They are hard tree dogs naturally.

I got my first Airedale in 1968.  Used them and ½ Airedale ½ cow dog for European wild boar in Monteray Ca.  My breeding efforts culminated in my dog Little Girl.  She is slick, no whiskers or leg furnishings at all.  A beautifully built Airedale that was a natural hunter and tree dog from the start.  She is loose here all the time and has NEVER had stick tight or foxtail problems.  Real rich red and solid black with no grizzle”.

Thanks for the letter Glenn.  I sure appreciate the time you took to pen your thoughts and mail them out.  I want to take a moment to encourage more folks to drop a line or picture our way.  It doesn’t have to be a spectacular story or adventure.  Just a simple note if you’ve had some luck on a hunt.  Or if you have some thoughts regarding hunting Airedales.  I wish I could spend hours on the phone talking to Airedalers everywhere and gathering information but I can’t.  You do your part and get me stuff to print and I’ll do my best to see it gets printed.

I don’t want to make this coat discussion an ongoing debate but I got this email from Vladimir Bereg regarding coat and thought I would reprint it here.

Kevin and Clint:

I read your article with great interest. I am involved with the West Siberian Laika.  However, I have owned Airedale Terriers.  My male died last winter, but the female is still here. Despite my devotion to the Laika, I admit that I like the Airedale Terrier very much.  This is a wonderful versatile breed.  From my experience with these dogs I learned that their coat is their worst enemy, if you use your dog for hunting.  Burs, all kinds of seeds and dirt get stuck in their coat.  Besides, they need trimming.  Otherwise they suffer overheating in the summer.  Some dogs limp because of dirt pellets formed between their toes and pads. I collected up to 50-60 ticks from each of my Airedales per week versus 10-12 ticks from each Laika under the same hunting conditions. Laikas can groom themselves removing some nasty burrs.  Airedales try to do the same, but give up soon because of their lousy hair quality.  Among puppies I saw a range of variation from relatively short stiff hair to long soft and curly hair.  My buyers preferred the fluffy ones... I would rather take a shorthair version.  If we would be able to develop a low maintenance Airedale, it would be a great benefit for those who like to hunt with these dogs. 

There are several problems in Oklahoma.  My Airedales loved to kill armadillos and opossums.  When they dig a lot, their furnishing around the mouth becomes terribly dirty, clay and hair form pellets, which are very hard to get rid of.  During hot summer days their water in bowls is always dirty and needs to be replaced.  They do not shed in a normal way by the summer and need to be trimmed. It is a question of who and how would use his dog.  I had buyers who were pleased by my short-coated version of the Airedale. My male Airedale came from show lines and his conformation according to official standard was superb. The female was of so-called Oorang type.  I bought her in Mena, Arkansas.  At that time I saw about 40 dogs, all Airedales of different strains.  Some show dogs from German lines, but some old imported to America almost original type dogs.  This is where some of my pups got their short and stiff coats.  I liked those better and some of my buyers did also.      I had one accidental breeding of my Laika gyp with my Airedale male.  She crawled under the fence and escaped for a few minutes out of her pen, when she was in heat.  . Well, I did not plan it, but she gave me a litter of six Airedale/Laika mixes.  When born, and later on they looked a lot more like pure Airedales then like Laikas. Their coat was just perfect to my taste.  It was not straight but slightly wavy, close to the body and with undercoat.  Heads were rather like in the Airedale, with V-shaped semi-erect small ears. One female pup was very peculiar.  The coat color was just like in the Airedale, but the head and ears were like in the Laika, high set and pricked.  Three of these pups were unusually dog aggressive.  I saw this watching how they fought each other. When only 5 weeks of age they were nearly killing each other.  I had to stop those fights.  Not all of them got in hands of hunters, but one of them was treeing naturally like a Laika does and looked simply like an Airedale.

Just got off the phone with Matt Thom and we chatted for quite a while on his dime.  One of the things that came up was puppy fights.  It’s truly amazing how serious these battles can be.  My wife about had a fit the first time she had to break up a fight when I wasn’t around.  She found that hitting or pulling on the pups had no affect and finally resorted to turning the hose on them which did the trick once they were half drowned.  Worse then a one on one fight is a gang and you had better get them split up cause those little milk teeth can sure draw blood and if one fellow is getting consistently harassed as is often the case the only cure is to get him or her separated before he gets seriously hurt.  Some pups seem to know the language and are able to turn aside threats before anything serious comes of it.  These guys usually are somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy and are content to remain there.  The worst offenders are those vying for the alpha position or at least improve their standing and those at the very bottom.  You would think the ones at the bottom of the pecking order wouldn’t be viewed as a threat and would be safe but crap rolls downhill and if one pup can’t displace another these weaker pups make easy targets to release some aggression on.  Thankfully it doesn’t go on forever and eventually the pups are sold or the pecking order is established and things calm down but it makes for a few tense weeks.

Rick Schell of Somerville, Alabama sent me this.  He has come on the WATA board recently and will soon be getting an Airedale pup from Lawrence Alexander to work with his Jack Russell and red tailed hawk.  He sent me this letter to describe what it is like.

THE TEAM

I work the Jack Russell terrier through the briars and thorns as he intensely picks up on the fresh scent. We both know a bunny will break for it any minute. Within seconds we here the jingle of bells and the whistling of wings as the red tail hawk leaves his high perch in the trees. The dog races in the direction to the sound of the bells for he is eager to participate in the kill. With the most exhilarating teardrop stoop the hawk folds his wings in an 80 MPH dive to slam into the rabbit with his vice like grip that sends fur and feathers rolling! The squeal is unmistakable to the dog. He can’t get there fast enough. If the rabbit is struggling he will help. If it’s already dead he knows his limits and will keep his distance or get footed by the predator. Both hunters are keyed up, I get there as fast as I can and command the dog to sit. I make into the hawk to dispatch the rabbit quickly. As I pick up the hawk and his quarry I allow the dog a nose full of bunny to satisfy his excitement.

The team consists of a Jack Russell terrier named Patch and a red tail hawk named Reb. There have been many teams in the past with different species of hawks and hunting dogs. They all work depending on the game. Since I have moved to the south from the N.W. the terriers make the most all round hunters for rabbits and squirrels.... I soon will add an Airedale to the team. He will also be a trained gun dog for fur and feather and keep the little terrier out of trouble.

This is how it works. Each situation can be different depending on where you live and what kind of game is available. Whether its fur or feather there are some similarities. The dog’s job is to use his nose and find and flush game. The hawk learns that if he follows the dog something is bound to move. So, the hawk follows me and the dogs and usually sites game moving before us.

The dog also understands the hawks job is to catch the game. They both provide a service to each other and work as a team for the ultimate goal. Game in the bag.  The team works an average of 4 days a week and we try for 7. Both needs to be in peak fitness as all game hunted is wild and conditioned from escaping  wild predators. It is a different way to hunt while being very rewarding. There is a real joy to watch the dogs work and do what they love and were bred for, while witnessing natures apex predator tamed and hunting in a very efficient hunting team. “

Well there’s one more thing to add to the list of things I’ve just got to try if I can.  That sounds like a blast and would love to watch the hawk and dog work as a team.  I’m sure the action must be fast and furious at times.

I pulled this off the board because it is just too funny.  It was submitted by Al Kranbuhl Jr. of Camden NY

“Well this is not exactly a hunting story but it was exciting to me. This all took place back in the late sixties; the Airedale that’s involved in this escapade was the very first one that I owned. He was a pure Mooreland dog, he weighed about seventy-five pounds and had straight fur that was fairly short, he was not much to look at but he was the best pure hunting dog that I have ever owned or ever seen for that matter, his name was Rex. One of my best friends lived down the road from me on a small farm, his name is Doug, and Doug's mom every year would buy a couple of hundred baby chicks to raise up for meat and eggs. Well Doug's mom started to notice that some of the chicks were coming up missing and discovered that some wild barn cats were the culprits as they were caught in the act red handed. I suggested that we just shoot them but Ma wouldn’t have any of that and said if we could catch them that we could take them to her brother's farm a few miles away and that he would gladly take them as he liked to have them around to keep down the rodent population. The cats lived up in the loft of the barn in some old hay bails and other junk that was piled up there, and as hard as we tried we couldn’t catch them. I told Doug that I was going home to get Rex and a long handled fishing net to see if we could do any better. When I got back it didn’t take long for Rex to figure out that the cats were what we wanted and began to locate them under all that junk. When one was found I would tie Rex up and Doug would peel back enough junk so I could get them in the net, next was the hard part of getting them into a good sized cardboard box without getting scratched or bit. In all we found five cats and caught three, one female and two toms one a huge white one with a black tail and brother they were nasty. Once we got them in the box we folded the flaps and wrapped some tape around it so they couldn’t get out. We loaded them into the back seat of my car, a sixty-seven Volkswagen Beetle and started off to Doug's uncle's farm with Rex in the back seat with the cats. About half way there all hell broke loose, Rex had pushed his head through the box flaps to get at those cats and consequently got his head caught inside, man the !@#$ hit the fan. Now just try to imagine in this small car a seventy-pound Airedale going at it nose to nose with three cats with the box stuck on his head with two guys screaming like women. I just got the car stopped and he piled into the front seats with Doug and I and we jumped out. With the doors open it wasn’t long before Rex fell out with the box still stuck on his head the fighting was ferocious. Finally I got hold of the box and ripped open the flaps, Rex pulled his head out with one cat in his mouth shaking the heck out of it, the big white cat got out and ran into a corn field and the other one was dead in the box. Poor Rex looked like he stuck his face in a Mixmaster, blood all over his face but surprisingly no serious wounds and he absolutely loved the whole ordeal, he was something to see in action. Well Doug's mom wasn’t too happy about what happened, but she got over it, we still get a laugh out it to this day. A footnote to this story, four months after this episode took place my Black and Tan Smokey, and Rex treed that white cat coon hunting one night not a mile from where he made his escape, he didn’t get away this time.”

Finally I have recently made a transition to picking up a rifle after many years of being strictly a bowhunter and viewing hunting as primarily a challenging form of recreation.  Now for me it is more than recreation.  It is first and foremost a way to provide myself and my family with inexpensive, healthy meat we can feel good about eating.  The following was sent to me and says much more elegantly than I could express some of the reasons we should be proud to be able to take game from the wild and bring it to our table.  It was written by Dr. Lee Foote, a biologist and associate professor at the University of Alberta.  He recently invited students to his backyard for a class on how to gut a deer. Among them were vegetarians and anti-hunters who prefer ramen noodles to venison.  Afterwards at a potluck dinner with fellow academics and vegetarian students, he placed the following disclaimer next to his steaming dish:

"This animal, like its ancestors and progeny, was produced locally. The meat herein was produced as a result of free genetic exchange (no artificial insemination). The animal was not castrated, or forced onto a synchronized breeding schedule. She lived to maturity (4 1/2 years) and reproduced at least once, but most likely had three sets of twins. The meat contains no antibiotics, synthetic steroids, artificial growth hormones or insecticide residues. Its production required no land clearing, fencing, fertilizing or feedlots. Her life did not contribute to the destruction of associated fauna and flora. No manure was collected or spread on erosion-prone pastures to produce (or as a result of) its growth. This animal was not confined, transported or kept in crowded conditions at any point in its life. The lean, unmarbled meat was not wrapped in plastic and Styrofoam packaging. No nitrates or sulfites were applied to prevent discolouration. No fossil fuels were used for specialized refrigerator transport or cold-storage ageing. Associated inedible parts were not reconstituted into cattle meal or dog food. Inedible parts were fed to indigenous fauna (most likely coyotes, magpies and ravens). Her bones provided calcium to the aspen grove where she was feeding. Substantial calories were metabolized by the hunter over several days to secure this meat. She died quickly, and honourably. Before, as well as after, her death she was treated with reverence and respect. Allowing my participation in a natural cycle was this animal's gift to me.

The energy that flowed from sun to plant to deer now also flows through me. This meal does offer reflection, natural continuity, appreciation, health, hope, and tangible renewal of life. Let us prey."

The quote of the month is – “Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols. “  Thomas Mann

Well that’s it and 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 the moustaches and talk to them. They are people dogs and family members.

Respectfully submitted, Clint Stubbe, Northern Corresponding Secretary for the Working Airedale Terrier Association. No rules, regulations, officers, dues or formal affiliations. It’s more a state of mind.