Hi! My name is Harry
I am also known as ‘chunky pup’, ‘Jaffa Cake’ due to my Orange and
dark choc colouring, puppeeee, 'Harry
poopay' (said with a French accent Oui!), ‘little puppy’,
‘pups' ,'gorgeous boy', I was born
on the 7th October 2002 and Molly has adopted me as her little brother. I
joined her on 13th February 2003 she was very kind to me and made sure I
felt welcome in my new home in The Cotswolds. Linda,
Richard and Molly drove to Lancashire to get me, when I first set eyes on
them I knew I'd be very happy, in fact Molly and I started to play together
right away, it was so great to do this with another Airedale. I settled in
really quickly, Molly spent a considerable amount of time showing me
around the big garden and telling me how much fun we’d have together! We now
live in North Wales with our brother Dylan where we have a
number of acres in the Welsh hillside to charge around in and chase loads of
pheasants!
In February 2003 Richard said
that "1 Airedale + 1 Airedale = 11 Airedales"
My Big Sister, Molly
and my Big brother Dylan
Molly, Dylan and
I get on very well together and enjoy a good deal of wrestling, Molly
is still beating me paws down despite the fact I am bigger and heavier than
her! Dylan is very tall, fast and springy
and I can never catch him so I have to resort to using some Dirty Harry Dale
tactics to bring him down. I also
use a great body slam technique and have winded Dylan and Molly on numerous
occasions. In fact, I even used this
technique on Linda and got her good and proper. I
do recall when I was small I used to think I’ll be a good match for Molly but
now I’m fully grown it’s not looking as though I’ll ever be able to
win. When I was a pup I remember hoping
I will grow so big I will be able to sit on her head! Molly
sat on my head numerous times when I
was an ickle pup. Although she has a wicked sense of humour she has
a heart of gold and really does look after me and
Dylan very well and always comes to my side if I get frightened or if
I’m unsure of something. I am big bloke
and I can make a lot of noise but I'm really not very brave, I leave
that to Molly and Dylan! Molly
is totally fearless and Dylan is .......sorta
fearless, but he is my big brother and I know he will look after me as well
as my big sister Molly. I love having a brother and sister to play with.
They're also great to pounce and chew on!
Career
I have been taught
so much by Molly, she is very knowledgeable about everything! It
has been a busy time, I have been taking charge of the Planet Airedale
Newsletters, it is a very demanding job but great fun and gives me the
opportunity to use my creativity. My
other job is consultancy and modelling for Planet Airedale, I love
doing this type of work and always
appreciate all those wonderful comments about my photos in the forum
- thanks guys, you're great! I am a rugged
sort of Dale, I get brushed and trimmed but I do like the shaggy Hairy Bear
look, it's one of my favourite looks to model. I have appeared on ITV1 in
the Drama 'Afterlife' not me in person but my photos. Molly also appeared in
it too!
Horoscope
I’m a Libran, the
same star sign as Richard, which means I’m diplomatic
(rarely!), romantic, charming, easy going
(sometimes), flirtatious (often,
ladies.....!), indecisive and gullible
( Me, never!). I have yet to truly
recognise all of these traits but Molly tells me I am easy going and
gullible! Linda says I am an outrageous flirt with the ladies (just ask them
all!). Like most blokes, I can be pretty charming and, if I want
something really badly, I make sure I look cute and handsome so I can turn
on the charm and get what I want. That
head resting on their leg and looking up into their eyes while muttering
something sweet or saying wooo woooo woooo always works a treat! Give
a paw for extra points! Amazingly, I think Linda has rumbled my
technique so I have to come up with alternative method. I’m still trying!
Food
I eat well, Molly
used to sample my food for me when I was
little but I had to put a stop to that! I LOVE my food and eat
EVERYTHING. Like Molly, I drink a lot of water and believe it’s essential
to a healthy Airedale body and mind.
Molly advocates sardines once a week in sunflower/Olive oil; I love them now
and I’d eat them everyday given the chance! Me
and Dylan do like ice cubes straight from the freezer, Molly has
shown us the best way to tackle them
by noisily crunching them up. Generally we eat very well with lots of
variety in our diet, we have a good quality
buscuit served with – chicken, Bonios, pasta, Bonios, fresh
vegetables, Bonios, fruit, Bonios, porridge,
Bonios, pig ears, Bonios, Cheese
(I'll do ANYTHING for Cheese, I'm another
CheeseDale Terrier) Bonios and …. errrrr, did I mention I
like Bonios?? I mustn't forget to mention
Dentasticks, I have one every morning before my breakfast. We all do, it's
a good way of keeping our gnashers nice, clean, shiny and sharp!
Socialising and Exercise
I enjoy getting out
and about and meeting others, we’ve met lots of people,
sheep, dogs, sheep, horses, sheep,
pheasants (grrr), sheep,
Squirrels (grrrr) and more sheep (
It is Wales, you know and there's more sheep than anything else!). I
have been going out walking with Molly, Dylan, Linda and Richard who all say
I walk really well on the lead (…..sometimes). I like to get out and walk
as much as possible, we have some fantastic walks here in North
Wales, the scenery is great too. While
Linda & Richard are putting their walking boots on I like to rush them out
the door as quickly as possible by grabbing the leads and stuffing my big,
hairy mush in their face!
I can usually get Molly and Dylan to join in, it is such a laugh.....a
great laugh for us Airedales. I have advanced considerably
with my training, I rarely come when called,
I have the hereditary Airedale deafness down to a tee! Linda and
Richard know how to get my attention
sometimes – Doggie Choccie Drops or Bonios, they work a treat, I’ll
do ANYTHING for them! In fact, if there’s food involved I’d do a triple
back flip if I thought I’d get something to eat.
We have a big hilly field to run around in, it is very steep and took some
getting used to but there are many hidden delights in the field to chase
such as pheasants and I think I saw a Rabbit but it moved very fast so
I couldn't be sure.
Funny Story
I have taken part
in some Airedale Acrobatics – I had to master the staircase in our old house
in The Cotswolds, Linda and Richard were very kind with their encouragement
and assistance but being a bloke I wanted to do it all myself with the
minimum of fuss….and embarrassment! But…I did a handstand at the top of the
stairs, I prayed Linda or Richard couldn’t see me but they did, they saw
everything!…….. my cool image was shattered as both of them witnessed me
doing a handstand with my back legs up in the air! I pretended I knew what
I was doing and slowly lowered my hind legs to the floor and slowly
descended the stairs! They remind me about it from time to time and they
tell people the story...
Motivations
I like to travel in
the car. Of course, my preferred mode of transport is a
Land Rover and I'd love to be able
to drive. I hope to get my driving license within the next year. My
keen Terrier spirit has enabled my to reach my goals
so far, it never lets me down. I am very goal orientated and
competitive, I have a couple of ambitions I’d like to share with you – I’d
love to be able to catch up with Molly &
Dylan as they run, gazelle
like, around our field. They
are taller than me and have longer legs but I do try to keep up with them
but they always seem to be running so fast! I would also like to
learn how to operate door handles; I have one specific one in mind – our Fridge
door handle and perhaps the biscuit
cupboard handle! My long to medium terms goals would be to tackle
the fridge – it’s rather more complex than I originally thought as I will
have to move a chair to stand on to enable me to be at the appropriate
height to open the fridge door. Once I have
mastered this technique perhaps I can have a go at the Land Rover door?
I think I will need the step ladders to get in though. My
ultimate goal is still, hopefully not in the too distant future, in getting
onto Richard and Linda’s bed! It's looks so
warm and comfortable and all that lovely light coloured bedding makes it
look sooooo appealing. I think they are really missing out by not sharing it
with me. I have been practising when they go out but Molly and Dylan
put me off. If Molly & Dylan tell
Linda and Richard I shall tell them they
make themselves very comfortable on
the sofa, surf all the satellite
channels and the WWW!
I am a great howler,
we all howl together (Molly, Dylan, Linda and Richard as well) and it makes
us all feel like a complete family – I really love howling and will happily
demonstrate my natural ability, if you'd
like to experience the Harry Howl please just ask me!
Favourite teeth exercise
My most favourite game!, Let
me share my technique with you all. When I lie down on my side and
pretend to be asleep I can bite the ankles of anyone who walks past. It’s so
easy to lull people/Molly/Dylan into a false sense of security by pretending
you are peacefully asleep and then you
pounce and to add to the effect you wrap your front paws around the leg you
have grabbed. They have sorta rumbled my technique as the wicked glint in my
eyes tend to give away my intentions.
Richard is a great target because he wears shorts all the time and his
ankles are generally bare and so, prime for grabbing! If I get it spot on I
can get my teeth to rattle of Richard's ankle bone, LOL!
Unusual habits!
I like to bark at my
own reflection in the mirror - I think Linda, Richard, Molly and Dylan find
it all a little tedious but I’m convinced there’s another Airedale looking
at me! I just love playing a great game of hide and seek with Richard’s
slippers; I don’t think he understands the rules of the game yet??
Gosh, you'd think by now he get to grips with it but nope, he hasn't!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I have
perfected one Dirty Harry technique, I find the most awkward place in the
house and plonk myself down to have a snooze. It's great entertainment
to watch everyone try to get passed me or step over me especially when they
are carrying something like a cup of tea and then as if by magic I get up
and walk away!
Girlfriends
I don’t have a
girlfriend at the moment but I do fancy cuddling up with Jackie Kabler
(she’s the glamour TV star from GMTV!) Sadly, she is
married to JJ (a great guy)
but if she were to find herself, young, free and single again, I’m the
Airedale for her!
Harry