Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snow and airedales



I was walking the 9 acres that I purchased, and the dogs were having a great time.

This is my fifth generation of airedales. All of them, without exception, are thrilled by snow. It smells good, it is fun to run in, you can dig in it easily... what's not to love? That's monster with the snow on his nose. he's the dad.


Cat, the mom, is on the right. Her three pups are growing fast. They weigh about 30lbs now. they'll mature at 55lbs or so.

Airedales are a large, active breed. They like to run. They are terriers, and love to hunt. Rats, mice, shrews -- grizzly bears that time in Bella Coola... just about anything. My life with the airedales got easier when I trained them all to run on a treadmill. 6 miles of good running once a week, and they're good.

Woosh! they're by me, in search of something good to chase, or smell, or investigate, or pee on.


These three are littermates, but they're not identical. Tiny is the runt of the litter, and he's a little tentative, still. he's coming back to me. The other two are thinking about coming back, but they're torn between coming back, or continuing on to see what dad is digging up (in the distance on the top left of the photo)

having fully investigated, they return at a gallop

This is the greatest dog adventure EVER! THANK YOU MASTER!

2 comments:

Christian Strachan said...

Hi, thanks for your post. I'm thinking about this breed. I do a lot of backcountry skiing in the winter, how do their paws do in long days in the snow? Do their paws get packed easily?

Bruce King said...

We only get snow for 2-3 weeks out of each year, but I haven't noticed any problems with compaction or paw damage. They're pretty capable, durable dogs overall.