Full Cry Column
May 2002

Clint Stubbe (Northern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)

March 19 and it's snowing like January and just as cold. What a spring. The nice weather we had this year has been more than made up for by this cold and prolonged end to winter. Still it's nice to able to get out with the dogs for a few more weeks. Too bad there are few if any lions around. I talked to the C.O. and few cats are coming in and most of them are from South of where I am located. The deer population seems pretty good but there may have been some over harvest of cats over the last couple of years especially of females and now the breeding stock isn't there.
I was out a couple weeks ago with the dogs and had skied about as far in as I wanted to. The dogs were up ahead of me somewhere trying to roust something up so I gave a couple shouts and headed back. I was almost back to the truck and the dogs still hadn't caught up to me, which caused me to wonder if indeed they had scared up a cat. When I got to the truck there was a fellow with Maine license plates putting his sled dogs in harness in readiness to head out on the trail I had just returned on so I asked if I could bum a ride. I was a little worried what might happen if my dogs encountered a full team of sled dogs barreling down on them if they were on the back trail. Lots of potential for a real mess and the fellow agreed so I got on board and away we went. I have always wanted to go for a ride behind a team of dogs to see just what a full team of seven dogs actually has in the way of pulling power. I get out quite often with mine in harness and it is great but as soon as the grade increases slightly the two or three dogs just don't have much to power me up any hills. This team had no problem pulling both of us over most of the grades but I did have to get out on a couple hills. We never encountered my dogs but I did get a signal from up the hill so I took my leave of the sled and was grateful for the ride. If you ever get a chance I encourage anyone who is interested to give dog sledding a try. My dogs eventually hooked up with me again and we headed out.
A week later I went out with Buzz, Bar and Grizz (9 months) to see if I could cut a track. I harnessed up Buzz and Bar and put on the skis and headed down an unplowed road. We went 10 km (6 mi) out and 10 km back in very short order. I was very pleased with the dogs especially Grizz who is just a youngster. He had no problem keeping up and even took a turn in harness. Buzz (Bluetick) is a real powerhouse and really seems to enjoy the pulling and him and Bar make a well-matched team although Bar will slack off sooner. We did cut a lynx track that day and followed it out but the cat had come down off one side of the valley and gone down and crossed the river to the other side. Apparently the rabbit population was getting scarce where he was. The river was just too big for me to cross in mid winter although the dogs would have gone had I let them. The lynx just hopped from icy boulder to icy boulder. I did encounter the same fellow with his sled team again that day and we passed without incident with his dogs doing any of the snarling that was done.
Sometimes my dogs make me proud and then there's times you just can't figure out. Today was one of those days. I hiked up into very steep and narrow valley where mulies and goats both winter to see if a cat was working the game. I only cut three mule deer track after two hours of walking and was just about ready to head back when Buzz and Bar took off. They were leashed together as it is easier to keep track of them and keep them close that way. Usually they hang up in short order and I can get them and check the track to decide if I want to cut them lose, or walk it or just leave it but today they just managed to get through everything. I don't necessarily recommend this practice but I do it when there is snow on the ground as it would be virtually impossible to lose them. There is some risk involved though if one dog gets hung up in a bad spot or in water but as I said usually they hang up in short order. Anyway about this time my ski binding blew up and I kicked out every time I took a step up anything close to steep. Walking without skis was out of the question so my pace slowed considerably having to put my ski back on every ten steps or so. About this time I heard the dogs treeing and made my way towards them with the certainty that something was up a tree. When I got there they were treeing hard and I looked up expecting to see a cat of some description up the tree but nothing. I checked every tree in sight and made a short loop but not a trace of fur. I went to the base of the tree they were treeing on and even I could smell cat. Then I saw a frozen ball of cat feces in the snow the dogs were trampling which kind of explained their confusion but where was the cat. I talked the dogs into looking around some more and eventually Bar and Lulu headed out with Buzz still telling me he thought there was a cat treed. He too soon took off and again I followed as best I could with my gimped ski but luckily they didn't go far before I caught up to them. This time they were in a huge rock fall at the base of a cliff where the large house sized boulders offered many opportunities foe something to hole up. The dogs were working a complex that would have made Osama proud and I expected all heck to break lose at any moment. After they had checked every hole with nothing but whines I felt it was clear to go in. There were three separate rooms with two entrances but again no cat although like the tree there was frozen feces at the entrance. After a sandwich and some time to just soak in the beautiful scenery I headed out. It was on the way out we crossed the lynx track where he had probably come out of a tree and headed into some pretty tough ground where it would be impossible for me to follow with my binding as it was. Even with two good wheels under me where he went was pretty much out of the question. I guess he must have popped up and the dogs located on the tree with all the scent coming from it then left the tree as we went on to the caves. It was hard to leave that track as I haven't seen a treed lynx but the season was closed and if my binding actually broke I was in for a tortuous hike out. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and the scenery and exercise were reward enough although leaving a hot track like that was pretty tough to do.

I got this nice letter a while back from Taylor Johnson of Springbrook Wisconsin. He wrote:
"Clint I just thought I would send you a few hunting pics of Cully from last year. Picture #1 is of Airedale Cully (Cajun/Boss Lady) and my Mtn. Cur Gypsy. They both treed very hard on this one. It was one of those coons that seem to be wearing armor; it just didn't want to come out of the tree. It finally did and Cully got hold of it and the game was over. He is hard on any coon no matter what the size. Picture #2 is of me trying to hold him on the ground. As you can see Cully gets a little excited on the tree. He was two years old on Nov. 2001 and I think he is doing great. I bought him from Mr. Glenn Overstreet. At the time I didn't have a lot of extra money for a dog and didn't plan on buying one until the summer. I was pretty sure I wanted a Cajun pup so I called Glenn just to talk dogs and maybe arrange to buy one in the summer. He told me he had pups ready to go out of Cajun and Boss Laydee. I wanted one but still had the problem of money plus I was about to start a job where I would not be home for over two months. I told him my situation and said I really wanted the pup but would have to see what I could come up and would call back in a couple days. The wood market was slow and loggers like me don't make a lot of money after payments so I just didn't think I could come up with the money but still I really wanted the pup. He was the biggest male and he wasn't slick coated like his dad but had a nice tight coat. That sounded perfect for Northern Wisconsin where 25 to 30 below zero is common in the winter.
I called Glenn and told him I would have to wait until next time but Glenn said "I really think you should have this dog so just send me the money you have and I will ship him to you. I know you will take care of him and hunt him." So I sent the money and the next week my pup was on the plane. I got him on Saturday and on the Monday I went to work at my new job. For two months it was me, Cully and two bulldogs in an ice-fishing house I pulled out into the woods to stay in. That's one sure way to bond with a new dog. Cully goes with me every day and think he has only stayed home two or three days since I got him. It was the best money I ever spent and I sure appreciate Glenn letting me get him and pay him back and I thank him a lot for that.
Cully is now two and he is a 70 lb. Coon killing machine. I haven't put him on bear a lot yet as I am afraid he will try to shake those bear like a coon and that won't work. He trails silent but when he trees it is a loud hard chop. He handles great and I trained him with a whistle to come so if he can hear the whistle he will come running and that makes it nice at 3:30 am when your tired and hungry. He is not dog aggressive towards hounds, Labs, Jack Russells or just about anything except big dogs with perked ears like a German Shepard, Husky, Malamute or that sort of dog. I think he got chased home by a coyote as a pup because if he sees dogs like this or hears a coyote he wants to eat them but a big male hound he won't bother unless he gets mean with him, he just wants to hunt and play. Why he got chased home is another story and maybe I will write again sometime. Take care."
Thanks a lot Taylor I sure enjoyed your letter and hope you do keep some letters and pictures coming our way. From the size of that coon it looks like hunting bear won't be much of a step up and I just hope Cully learns to respect them before he gets too hard a lesson.

I received this email update from Rick Schell who recently got a pup from Lawrence Alexander
"I'd like to update you on my dog Copper. Enclosed are some pictures with him at three months retrieving a Wood Duck. The other is my son Tanner and Copper asleep on the floor and the others are of Reb (Red tail hawk) on a squirrel with a shot of my ugly mug for contrast. Maybe they would be good enough to put in full cry. I have Copper sitting and staying to one blast of the whistle. He will make a good duck dog. He is very smart! He learned to stay in one session. Even stays when I put food down and I call my other dogs by name, one at a time. This is after he knew sit for a while since 12 weeks of age. At almost 4 months of age he will run a drag line over 300 yards and I have been trying to mix up the terrain and fool him. No way! He takes his trailing real serious, all business but he loves the tracking game. He can be quite stubborn though and likes to run circles around me when retrieving dummies. I'll start direction controls at about 6 months old. Oh by the way. His mother's side is all Sandhill blood. After spending most of my life with bird dogs and hounds I can tell you this dog has all that it takes to hunt anything. He is lots of fun and we love him to death. A good buddy is going to give me a plott hound too. I get pick of the pups. I am going to learn to work them together with my buddy's plotts for bear and hogs. Someday hope to take them back home to Idaho and run cougars and bears with my cousins. By then I should have a full team of well-trained Airedales with a plot or two for sound! Ha, I have to work this slow as the wife doesn't know my whole scheme yet. I am home recovering from surgery with some time on my hands and kind of missed the board. So I sure hope I didn't boar (bore) ya'll."
Rick Schell
Alabama

Thanks for the letter and pictures Rick. I hope that pup continues to progress nicely for you and hope you will keep us posted on him. Sounds like he is on track to becoming a good all round dog, which is exactly what the Airedale excels at.

I got this from Jim Price of Michigan he wrote:
"This is an email I received at school yesterday from my wife.
I just had to tell you about my morning! Right after you left, Miss OJP woke up and Killian starts his whining to go outside. So I kennel him and go on to let Belle out (as per usual). I never use a leash (she has lost that privilege though!). So we go out and she darts to the pine tree in the front by the driveway. I trip over myself trying to call her so she doesn't cross the street, then she bolts to the neighbors house and I lose her. That's at 6:15am. So okay, it's dark and I'm freaked about her getting hit. So I go back in, Onny and I get dressed - we go back out with flashlights and look for her for about 20 minutes. No luck. I call work - tell them I'll be late, bitch bitch bitch I'm so mad. Then finally at 7:05 I here barking - She's behind grandpa Peaks, with a HUGE coon. It had to be half her size. Poor girl, she finally dug it out of the tree stump and it clamped on her face for a good 20 seconds - I'm trying to poke it with a stick - I'm screaming "Kill it Belle!" he he he, she shook it hard a couple of times, tore it a bit, but it got up a tree. Belle's lower jaw was bloody, but I think she's okay, so check her out. She's full of mud, she reeks, I hope she hadn't rolled in anything before I let her in, but I gave her lots of treats for trying to kick its ass!
Jim added, "I went home at lunch to see if Belle was ok and to find the coon but it was already dead. The whole incident took place with my wife in dress clothes and rubber boots. I just wish I could have seen it."
I wish I could have seen it too Jim. Boy if that was my wife she probably would have been beating the dog to save the coon and then come after me next but that's another story entirely.
Well in the week it took to put this letter together the weather has warmed, the snow in my yard is mostly gone and when you read this the bears will be out here and hopefully I will be getting in some good races and treeing some and hope you all are as well. I'm going to hopefully be getting a female pup from Al Kranbuhl in New York this spring if everything works out so I am excited about that. It's always nice to have a new pup coming along and the kids do all the work of making sure it is well socialized and bullet proof. Talk to you all in a couple of months.
The quote of the month submitted by Henry S Johnson Jr. is - "The first rule of mankind is Get Up When You Fall Down! It was crucial to the race or we would not have evolved. It is crucial to the child or he will not become an adult. It is crucial to the individual adult or he will not survive." (HSJ)

And as Henry 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.