Weeks 5 and 6: The following pictures were all taken between Saturday, October 6 and Friday October 19, 2001:
We gave up on weighing them -- just note that when we went to the vet at 3 days of age, all 9 babies fit into one milk crate -- and the crate was half empty. When we went back with them this week for their 6-week shots, it took 3 milk crates to hold them -- and they were crowded.
Their bits started catching up with their barks this last week -- and I have the scars on my hands and nose to prove it... I sported a 1"-long gash on the bridge of my nose for a couple of days as a result of a close-up encounter with the NEEDLESOFDOOM. Enough said about that, though.
This page was written a couple of weeks late (sorry for the delay -- computer upgrades slowed things down). Shortly after the pictures on this page were taken, all of our babies began escaping to their new homes -- I am very happy to report that they are all now living with their new families, and 7 of the 9 are either in homes where there already is an Airedale or there was another Airedale until recently... And two of the babies (my beloved Grrrr Girls) went to the same home together and now have a wonderful farm to play with while they are settling in.
As my traditional lack of captions was such a popular hit prior to this page (I like it), we shall again forego labels this week to maintain a pointless sense of continuity. Plus, I'm still worn out from taking care of, playing with, soothing, feeding, and watering these little guys.
A few of these pictures turned out rather dark -- however, I was asked by some of the folks looking at the original version of this page asked to have them included, so (despite my own judgement) they are here, too. Enjoy.
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I must again apologize for not not keeping this page up to date -- we took lots of photos (and one of them will be on our Christmas card this year), but it was very hard to keep up with 9 little black-and-tan alligators this time. My favorite set of antics spawned three days.
On Monday morning, I went down to wake the puppies up in their basement playroom, and they had knocked the baby gate down at the door to their room: they were all either standing at the foot of the stairs trying to climb them ... OR they were climbing the stairs. One little guy (the largest male, "Bear") had made it almost to the top. I replaced the gate, and figured they would stay put. I was, of course, wrong.
On Tuesday morning, I started down to wake them up, and when I looked down the stairs, there were 9 little expectant faces staring up at me as if to say, "OK, we're here. Where's the food." Again, I replaced the gate and went in to feed them. They sat huddled together as if holding a discussion and then suddenly -- as if at a signal -- they all rushed the gate and jumped, hitting it together en masse. It went down, of course. So much for wondering how they had done it.
Then on Wednesday morning -- after CAREFULLY securing the gate the night before -- I went down to find the babies. Two were sitting at the bottom of the stairs, and one was starting to climb them. One little guy ("Bear") was sound asleep in the nursery/playroom, and two had escaped to our storage room (where the lights conveniently blew out so I got to look for them in the dark). One little girl had made it to the back door... but one was caught red-footied trying to sneak across the workshop area. So I rounded them all up and put them back in the nursery, replacing the gate and locking the door for good measure. Then I counted and realized that one little guy was still missing. After twenty or thirty minutes of looking I was beginning to wonder whether I had counted wrong ... when the last little guy, who had crawled under the workshop shelf and was napping on the back of it, woke up and barked for me to come find him. I retrieved him, returned him to the pack, and decided that tracking collars might be a good investment ...
Well, I won't try to recount any of the other stories... I just want to say that much to my surprise (and I had learned this as a child when my parents operated a kennel) selling a puppy to someone feels a lot like selling one of your own children. No, it's a little more agonizing than that. But all of the babies have gone to really good families and I am sure that they are all much happier with their new hoomans than they ever would have been had they decided to stay with us.
So the next time you see a young Airedale coming down the street, check to see if he or she has a small white blaze on the chest. If so, run for it! It could be one of Sarah's babies!
Comments or questions? Please write me at