Making his debut on the WWW - Woof Wide Wag - is Dax, The Unshorn! You can certainly see his Otter Hound heritage! But with Mary & Milt & Dolly's love & attention (and a little help from the groomer), Dax' beauty comes out.

I asked Mary who gave Dax his first grooming, and she told me, "I groomed him both times; I groomed professionally for 12 years. It took about three hours or more and he was a sweetheart, but a little frightened."

On 22 September 1998, Dax crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. He suffered from cancer of the liver. He is sadly missed by his family.

For if the dog be well remembered,
if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life,
eyes kindling, laughing, begging.
it matters not where that dog sleeps.
On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring,
or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood,
or somewhere in the flatness of pastureland
where most exhilarating cattle graze.
It is one to a dog, and all one to you,
and nothing is gained and nothing lost -- if memory lives.
But there is one best place to bury a dog.
If you bury him in this spot,
he will come to you when you call -- come to you
over the grim, dim frontiers of death,
and down the well-remembered path and to your side again.
And though you may call a dozen living dogs to heel,
they shall not growl at him nor resent his coming,
for he belongs there.
People may scoff at you,
who see no lightest blade of grass bent in his footfall,
who hear no whimper, people who have never really had a dog.
Smile at them, for you know
something that is hidden from them.
The one best place to bury a good dog
it is in the heart of his master.

-- Anonymous

In October 1998, Sally Babcock rescued an Airedale she named Oliver. In November, Oliver was renamed CLANCY and joined the Gade Pack. You can read about him at PARADE OF DALES/SPOTLIGHT ON RESCUE.

In August 2000, Mary writes: "In November 1999, Koda was taken from a backyard chain, after the authorities removed the children from the home for neglect. He was turned in to a no-kill shelter and kept there for three months before they heard about Airedale Rescue. When I talked to the shelter manager, she told me he was suffering terribly from kennel stress. He was filthy, matted, tick- and flea-infested & starved. He came to me, to foster, totally shaved and mostly black in color, and we were not sure if he was all Airedale or not. He needed to be fostered & evaluated to determine if he were in fact all Airedale and he badly needed to gain weight and get healthy. Well, we soon fell in love with him in spite of his rakish appearance and could not let him go.

Sadie . . . Dolly . . . Lucy . . . Koda . . . Lucytwo . . . Emma . . . & Reggie

Six months later, in May 2000, another foster entered our lives. His name was Reggie and he was a two-year-old who had been in a wonderful home, but due to health problems was turned over to Rescue. During our foster time, he too wrapped himself around our hearts & soul and we are now a three-Dog-Airedale family. Milt also fell in love with these last two and the pack now consists of two uprights & three furkids.

We had a family wedding this June; the kids came home and we were a family of SEVEN dogs . . . six Airedales & one Beagle. What a hoot that was for two weeks. I am usually up to my ears in Airedale Rescue but I would have it no other way. I hope I can continue to be an ATRA volunteer until my dying day. I get back much more than I give.

Mary & Reggie