Category Archives: Newsletter

5 Easy steps for grooming an Airedale Terrier

March 15, 2011Life with Airedales, NewslettergroomingSteph MacNeil - Ontario

Most of us with pet Airedales (meaning we are not grooming a show dog) like to let our dogs get a little shaggy looking in the wintertime, so that they have more coat to keep them warm with during the winter months. Dale parents will know that weekly brushing helps keep the coat unmatted. Here are top grooming tips from Margaret Glass to keep your airedale’s perm looking perfect:

1) For dogs with softer coats, to keep the legs looking nice and to help prevent bad mats, use a slicker brush each week – pulling the brush up and down the leg, repeating often – try to remove as much undercoat as possible.

When using a slicker, Mars rake, furminator or combs, always remember not to scrape the dog’s skin with the tool, which can hurt and irritate the dog’s skin.

I recommend brushing out the undercoat on a weekly basis. This helps keep the outer wirehair lying flatter, and the dog looking tidier.

2) After removing what undercoat that you can, if you have a dog with a really excellent hard coat, it doesn’t hurt to fluff up the jacket backwards, so that the wirehairs are standing on end, then pluck the highest hairs. This will keep the jacket making new wirehair underneath, and when you come to strip the jacket in the springtime, there will be a new jacket underneath. Keep in mind you are only removing the very longest hairs; the dog will still have a long jacket. You can also do this with the legs just lightly plucking the very longest hairs.

3) Check the pads of the feet, and remove any fur balls between the pads. This should be done about twice a month. Keeping the hair trimmed around the pads helps prevent these fur balls starting. If there are fur balls, trim with curved scissors, or carefully use clippers to remove them. A comb helps to pull the fur ball out a bit if you need to scissor it all away. One wants to be very careful not to cut the pads. Grinding or cutting toenails at the same time helps to keep the nails short.

Trim the hair around the edges of the feet helps prevent mats and makes grinding/cutting toenails easier and safer.

4) I like to keep the hair fairly short behind the front elbows and under the armpits, as the fur tends to mat up there. It is good to keep the tummy area, particularly for the boys, fairly short and free of mats.

5) The muzzle is a place that quickly gets matted with the Airedales’ long beard hairs and their proclivity for sticking their noses into everything, so brushing it regularly is important. Trimming the hair around the dog’s lips regularly helps to prevent some of the worst matting.

A note on Bathing:

Airedales should only be done when absolutely necessary, (some Terrier diehards never bath their dogs). If you do shampoo your dog make really sure that you rinse every vestige of soap out. I personally like to use a conditioner after the soap, such as a mixture of Keri Lotion and water. Some people use a light spray of mineral oil on the jacket. Always towel the jacket going from the head to the tail sort of like a back massage, and repeat often – it feels good for the dog and gets the coat lying flat and shiny. Then towel the furnishings every which way to get them all fluffy-looking. Carefully comb any mats out of the furnishings. If you are dealing with removing burrs, twigs, etc., spraying a little moisturizer on the furnishings first helps with gently brushing/pulling the offending items out of the hair.

In between shampoos, if the coat needs a little cleaning, spray a mixture of Listerine (or witch hazel) and water over the jacket and furnishings. Towel the jacket from head to tail, and then brush the furnishings. I have an all purpose skin and hair moisturizer which I like to spray on the dog just before I have finished brushing; it smells nice and it helps to give the jacket a little extra sheen without being oily at all. Toweling/brushing the jacket repeatedly makes it look nicer.

Voila your dale will look lovely or handsome!!

Margaret Glass, AireCanada

Skeena: a Cautionary Tale of Hardship and Luck

March 15, 2011Life with Airedales, Newsletter, SuccessSkeenaSteph MacNeil - Ontario

Airedale puppy Skeena was born in 2007. A year later, her owner developed an illness and subsequently lost his job. He could barely afford to feed himself. Providing his puppy with food became a nearly impossible task. Dependent on table scraps and dog food provided by his friends, Skeena survived but did not thrive. She became thin and her coat grew dry, her skin flaky and inflamed. Desperate for cash, her owner decided to breed Skeena so he could sell the pups to earn some money. Fortunately, for Skeena’s sake, this plan did not come to fruition. Poor starved Skeena might have died giving birth to puppies; she certainly did not have the physical resources to feed them.

Enter a pensioner with little money herself – a friend of Skeena’s owner. Extremely concerned about Skeena’s condition, she managed to gather together a few dollars and offered to buy Skeena. The owner, luckily, agreed. This Good Samaritan took Skeena to the vet at her own cost and had her bathed and groomed as well. She planned to keep the dog but, in the end, was unable to do so. She offered Skeena to AireCanada.

Skeena turned up at my house to be fostered – an emaciated skin-and-bone skeleton covered in rough, wiry, brittle hair through which infected skin could be glimpsed. We promptly put Skeena on a diet rich in nutrients and protein. We urged her to play with our three Airedales to improve her stamina and develop muscle. She fell in love with our young male and the two bonded like littermates.

Throughout all her hardships, Skeena remained a bouncy, bubbly, happy little girl – one who was ball crazy in the extreme. Skeena chased a ball for as many hours a day as someone could be persuaded to throw it for her! Fostering Skeena was guaranteed to result in a sore arm. Skeena was checked out thoroughly by our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Pawel Cichon at Sunwood Veterinary Hospital. Once she was deemed strong enough, she was spayed.

While Skeena’s medical bills cost AireCanada over $500, we were committed to helping her get ready for a better life. That life became a reality when a wonderful and Airedale-experienced couple adopted Skeena. They dote on her endlessly and care for her as if she were a very precious treasure.

Despite a very rough start to her life, Skeena has found friends who genuinely care about her, who saved her from a painful death by starvation and now are ensuring she lives happily ever after. Truly, Skeena’s story is a cautionary tale of how life takes unexpected turns and knowing when to ask for help is so important to the whole household. When jobs are lost, the family pet can suffer equally along with other family members. Skeena was a victim of tough economic times and possibly one of the luckiest dogs we have ever fostered for AireCanada.

Maureen Scott, AireCanada

Canadian Dales in winter – we’ll miss all that gear

March 15, 2011Life with Airedales, Newsletterboots, coats, winterSteph MacNeil - Ontario

The winter has been long in many parts of Canada – so you may have found that taking your Airedale for a long walk in deep wet snow without boots can lead to this:

With Spring around the corner, I have begun anticipating the warmer days of mud and puddles that will mean I can walk the Airedales without all the winter accoutrements. We live in Eastern Ontario and get our share of snow and cold days. Since walking the dogs isn’t an option but a necessity, finding ways of dealing with our Canadian winters makes these walks manageable. Sure you can just put your dale in the shower for a warm hose down but to create a truly snowball-free terrier; you’ll need some winter gear. Here are my top suggestions:

Coats: When the snow gets deep and or when it is close to -20 I often put coats on the dogs. The coats are occasionally for warmth but most times they wear them to limit the amount of snow coming back into my home. While blanket coats (http://www.chillydogs.ca/index.php/product/index/30) are easy to put on and take off, they do not keep the long furnishings dry. For wet or heavy snow I prefer coats with legs and then I pull the boots up to meet the coat. On a side note, I’ve also found that letting the fur coats grow creates a good insulating layer for those frigid days. I get the dogs groomed in early October and let the fur grow until March. They are wooly and look like fuzzy teddy bears but with weekly combing and brushing they are matt-free.

Boots: I have tried a few different types of boots and have found the Mutt Luks (http://www.muttluks.com/product_home.php?cat=2) to be the best value for the money (I picked up a new pair -size large- for less than forty dollars at Petsmart). They have a long sock top that you can pull right up to cover lots of leg. The common complaint I hear about these boots is that they don’t stay on to which I offer this solution: hockey tape! Not the textured type you would put on a hockey stick but the clear equipment tape used to keep shin guards in place. This tape pulls on and off very easily without damaging the boots yet will not come off during a vigorous run in deep snow. I pull the boots on the dogs then put the stocking part up the legs and do two quick wraps around the ankle area (just above the Velcro) with the hockey tape. We haven’t lost a boot in 10 years!!

The groundhog said spring will be here next week. We still have our doggie coats and boots by the door just in case.

– Steph MacNeill