Full Cry Column
May 2001

Clint Stubbe (Northern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)

I can still remember how happy I was when I got my very first Full Cry and opened it up and discovered Henry Johnson’s column.  I had purchased Full Cryjust looking for articles on hunting with dogs in general and here was an entire column dedicated to the breed that I had grown to love.  Well I devoured that article and every one I could get my hands on thereafter.  Up until two months ago.  Henry has decided he has had enough of meeting deadlines and has pretty much appointed Kevin and I to carry on this column.  Things will pretty much be business as usual except Henry will now have the luxury of submitting when he feels like it not because he has to.

I was lucky enough to have had two good Airedales who shared many an adventure with me for a lot of years.  They were bear dogs to the core and seemed to live charmed lives but time and bad luck finally caught up to them and me as well as I also lost a really nice walker and a redbone in a fairly short period of time leaving me dog less for the first time in many

years.  I questioned myself and wondered if it was really worth it and even considered giving up running dogs altogether.  I may have too but Henry wouldn’t let me.  I can’t remember his exact words but it amounted to “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back in the saddle”.  In no time at all Henry had two Airedales on the way and for that I owe him a great deal.  I also owe him for all the enjoyment, knowledge and general joy of owning dogs he has shared with me and anyone else who cared to read his column over the years.

Harry Welch said it well when he wrote.

“Henry Johnson's knowledge of the Airedale Terrier is legendary, but he never pushes an idea or an opinion on anyone.  He will, when asked make suggestions or try to educate based on his own experiences or those of others that he respects.

Many kind words can be spoken of this fine gentleman.  I honestly believe all that know him, talk to him or even correspond via the net are fond of him.  I am grateful to call him, friend. “ 

 I couldn’t have said it any better.

 And now Airedale business.

 Jim Price of Grand Ledge Michigan who has Airedales Belle (Grit/Pippa) and Killian (Henryetta/Mccain) writes

 It is wrestling season here so I do not get out with the dogs as much as I would like, but my wife is a great woman and has been picking up the slack. She told me that the dogs had found a dead tree in the swamp yesterday and that Belle was going crazy trying to get inside. I figured it must be a den tree so I took the axe, both dogs, and my wife back to investigate. Turns out the dead tree is a double trunker and the hollow part starts about 4 feet off the ground. Both trunks are approximately 2 feet in diameter. There was an opening where the trunks split so I enlarged it enough to get my head inside and look around. I pulled my head back to tell my wife that I could not see anything, and that we were going to have to get the chain saw if we wanted to get the coons out, when Belle, my female decides to climb up the tree and disappear inside the trunk. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I just stood there dumbfounded not knowing what to do. I didn’t know how we were going to get her out of the tree. I reached my hand inside to grab her tail and pull her out but she was already climbing up the trunk. All of a sudden we heard a commotion and out of the hole comes Belle and one very awake and upset coon. Killian, my male was waiting on the ground to assist, and as both dog and coon hit, he sprang into action and grabbed the coon by the stomach. The two dogs quickly dispatched the animal and Belle went back to the tree and started to climb in again. I grabbed her and gave her to my wife to hold as I enlarged the hole just in case Belle would need my help this time. My wife then let her go and she climbed back in, climbed up the trunk and grabbed onto the second coon and drug it back to the ground. My wife had never witnessed the dogs in action and was in awe that they could be so fierce. Both dogs are house dogs and are very gentle with our daughter and her friends. They do seem to take on a different personality when it comes time to hunt. I am very pleased with both dogs and I would love to have the opportunity to try them on larger game, but for now I am happy just hunting coon.

I advised Jim that I think coonskin hats are no longer in fashion especially when the skin is still wrapped around an irate coon.

I know that Jim has also put Killian in harness and let his daughter Onahlea be taken for a ride in her sled and I am sure they found it very exciting.  Although it is too late this year you folks that have never done this really should give it a try if you get snow where you live.  It is called skijoring when done by a person on skis and really can be an effective way of covering ground if you don’t have the luxury of owning a snow machine.  A harness is a simple affair to make and needn’t be anything fancy as long as it doesn’t restrict the dogs breathing as he runs.  On a flat grade two dogs can pull you along at a high rate of speed and can get you out there in no time flat.  I carry three harnesses with me in my pack when hunting which I often do with short mountain skis and climbing skins.  I prefer skis to snowshoes because even if they are a little more cumbersome in the bush I usually will come back out onto a road at some point and from there on out it can be a free ride if the grade is favorable.  The real fun comes though if you can get a youngster on a GT racer or sled of some description.  Like Jim I recently took my five-year-old son out to a back road that had been freshly graded but was still snow covered with nice berms on either side. I put him on his GT, hooked up Grip and Bar and told him to hang on.  I then jumped in my truck and took off with the dogs in hot pursuit.  They were going full out and that boy was laughing so hard my side ached just watching him in the mirror.  It was a glorious sunny winter day so we went for about six kilometers.  I am sure the boy and dogs were up for more I just didn’t want to get taken out by a logging truck.  We had fun and the dogs got some good exercise.             

 An email update just in from Paul Deckard, Austin, Minnesota, who hunts his Airedale Jewels (Tucker/Lady, 12/2/98) and Airedale x Walker cross Wooky on coyotes, running them together with specially bred coyote hounds.  Paul said, "The season is not over but I thought I would let you know how my dogs are doing.  Jewels is having trouble in this deep snow, but when I get her to a fight she fights with all her might.  She has been in on four kills, two in a culvert and two on top of the ground.  She also put two pheasant roosters up for me this fall.  I think she and I will do more bird hunting from now on.  She is such a good house pet and bird dog that I hate it when she gets all torn up by coyotes. 

   "I'll keep taking Jewels coyote hunting, but she is the last resort.  If my hound is in trouble or Wooky is not around to help, then Jewels and I will go in.  She will fight any coyote I put her up against, but she takes on damage.  She never lost or gave up or backed down.  Pound for pound she is one cool little dog (about 45 pounds).  I guard her.  I have lost enough Airedales.  She is my little buddy. 

    "Jewels does something else.  If I leave the room and my daughter is in that room and there is another man in that room, Jewels will put herself between my daughter and the man.  And even if she knows the man, she will show her teeth.  She will lay right by my kid and give that friend of mine a look that would send any smart person on the run.  I do not know why Jewels started doing that, but it is the only time she does it.  I am ok with it.  The dog must feel like if I am not there she needs to let all other males know to back off.

   "Now Wooky has come into being some kind of dog.  He barks on track if it is good scenting, but he will run a cold track.  Wooky runs to catch.  If he is in a race he is up front.  Wooky will be two years old in March and he already hunts like a four year old.  He has scars all over him from hunting and fighting.  Wooky has jumped coyotes, tracked them, and killed them.  Wooky has 14 catches that he has been in on.  Some he jumped and some I spiked him in on, all with the same result.  If Wooky is in the race and you (the coyote) stop, he will kill you.  Wooky is not only living up to his father V-Max (Airedale), he has surpassed him.  What I have is a high speed Airedale.  I have had some hound guys that will not drop in with him, for whatever reason, mostly because they do not want to be beaten by a non hound. 

    "Wooky does not know he is not a hound or an Airedale.  He just thinks he is a coyote-killing machine and he is right.  Most of my running friends like him, and that is good, but all he needs is for me to like him.  More people should breed half and half if Wooky is what you get.  Wooky is a high speed, cold nosed, catch dog that has made this coyote hunter very happy.  Thank you, Lord, V-Max lives on.  We won the state hunt again and Wooky was a big part of the win.  Three different men saw an Airedale that was not there running with our hounds and once with Wooky.  Could it have been V-Max?  We'll never know, but it gave the whole group a smile.  They saw him on the first day and the last.  It brought a smile to my face."

Thanks for that update Paul.

By the time you read this bear season will be in full swing and I am pretty excited because I have two young male Airedales here that are just rarin’ to go.  Airedales are good at a lot of different things but in my mind they really shine when it comes to running bear and there is nothing like a big old bear just out of reach to get a young dog treeing well or a walking bear to keep them fired up and teach them a little respect. 

We have lost our Grizzly bear season up here in British Columbia for three years while they determine if there are sufficient numbers to support hunting.  This even though the governments own biologists estimate provincial numbers at 13,000.  With approximately 240 Grizzlies being taken by hunters each year it would seem pretty obvious that hunters aren’t impacting the population adversely and those that aren’t taken by hunters now will just be killed as problem bears by the conservation officers who are sick of killing bears already.  When our premiere was asked “why now” even though Grizzly populations have been studied fairly intensely for the last few years he said "It is an issue now, because you have big billboards on the streets of London telling tourists not to come to B.C."  Just what I want people in London dictating how I live.   Can’t really blame them though, it’s the politicians that make policy and they are so out of touch with the lifestyle of rural people that they may as well live in another world.  At any rate it could be Black bears next folks so enjoy yourselves while you can.

Richard Dwyer of Rockton Illinois just got an Airedale pup (Buford) from Billy Harkins in Owltown Georgia.  He is out of yahoo mud slide slim x owltowns alley cat and he plans on using Buford on Coyote and as a draw dog with his Patterdale Terriers.  Richard says,  “I hunt a lot of area's with real heavy cover and if I don't make a clean kill the coyote are almost impossible to find. I plan on teaming Buford up with Dixie for this job.  Dixie was not always available this last year because I can’t seem to keep the pads on her feet. Buford will give me another option.”  Good luck with Buford Rich and keep us posted on how he develops.

 A couple of sad notes to pass on:

Another good dog gone.

Mo Breaks Buster (Mr. Chips of Blueberry Bay/Jodyka Lucille Hewitt, 4/3/89), owned by Odon Corr, Wessington Springs, South Dakota. In a letter dated February 27, 2001, Odon said, "It is with a sad heart that I pass on the following. Buster died today. I thought he would make the winter but he had an altercation that brought on his demise. It is very hard for me to lose this hunting companion. He would have been twelve in April. He was a true hunting type Airedale. He lived to hunt and especially coyotes. He had been in on hundreds of coyote kills and could follow a track like very few hounds. He had fear of nothing and loved people. There was more grit and energy packed into those fifty pounds than any Airedale I ever owned. I used him under the ADC airplane for years. I just told them, 'Get us downwind from where you last saw the coyote and Buster will take over from there.' He loved this type of work. Over the years Buster had sired several litters. I want everyone that has one of these dogs to know they came from one hell of a dog. Buster will be buried next to his old hunting partner Toby on a hill here on the ranch. /Odon

Also In Memoriam
Hilltop's Robaire Macbeth (Mac)
(June 12, 1993 -- December 10, 2000)

"Our hearts were broken by the death of our Mac. He had a fast growing, incurable cancer that he could not overcome. A void has been left in our lives since his death. Polly, Annette, Joe and I loved him so much. Mac was so beautiful, inside and out. He was a true representative of the Airedale. He was a tough fellow but loved everyone and was so friendly to all. Mac was a family member and I cherish the time we had together. This has been a very hard time for me. He will never know how much I miss him. Or, I loved him so." (Lawrence C. Alexander, Feb. 26, 2001)
"...Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you... I loved you so---'twas Heaven here with you."
(Isla Paschal Richardson)

Well that’s it for this month. I would  like to take this opportunity to thank the people at Full Cry for putting out such a great magazine.  There are a lot of breed or game specific message boards springing up on the internet lately but one thing they lack that Full Cry has is the ability to take stories from people hunting all kinds of game with all kinds of dogs and bring them together in one place.  A lot of the enjoyment I get from the magazine is reading about folks doing different things and hunting different game than I may be able to and it is this broad base of knowledge and experiences that makes Full Cry such a great magazine.

 Henry’s column was always a joy to read because he had a lot of help from Airedale owners from all over so lets hear from you folks.  If you have an Airedale get or keep those field reports coming in and if you don’t what are you waiting for.  Find someone with some working dogs, get a pup and put him on some game alone or with your pack.  You will be surprised I think at how much hunt these dogs have and given a chance they can and will do the job.  If you have the capability scan in your pictures at about 250 dpi and email them to Kevin or I along with a story or adventure otherwise just toss something in an envelope and mail it out.  We will do our best to see it gets printed.

The quote of the month is:

"You need to treat them like children. You don't want to get too rough with them, and you don't want to overmatch them before they are ready. You bring them along slow and easy and you let them progress at their own pace, some faster than others, some slower. You try to get inside their heads and help them gain confidence, not break it down. And then one day it all comes together and they make you proud." (HSJ)

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.