walkies

At last I've got Mum to pull her finger out and sort out the photos from the Airedale Club walk. That was two weeks ago!! So it is kind of old news, but thought you might like to see some of them.

This was another outing with WESWATC (West of England and South Wales Airedale Terrier Club). A lovely lady called Jackie sorted out a route along the River Parrett in the Somerset Levels, from Langport to Muchelney Abbey. There were probably about 20 Airedales there, plus a few other dogs too. Heaven!

The fun begins in the car park



The guy steaming in from the left there is called Dylan (or is it Dillon). I've never met him before but he seemed to end up in nearly every photo Mum took that day. He was fixated on me and Poppy, a girly a little younger than me. Likes the little fillies, methinks. Mum says he's like that boy you meet at the school disco who is really nice but won't let you chat to anyone else all night and you end up trying to hide from him.

It was so funny looking at the expressions of people walking towards us down the path. They really couldn't believe their eyes to see so many Hairydales in one place.



Once we got to the fields, a lot of us were let off the lead. You won't be surprised to learn that I am one of the frontrunning pack leaders.



See the smile on my face? Oh look, there's Dylan again.



Did someone mention river?



And Willow (front left) was groomed to perfection ready for a show. Here she has a quick snack of cow poo to brighten her teeth before going for the mud therapy.

The cows on the other riverbank got in the swing and kept pace.



I suppose we were quite an arresting cavalcade.



Mummy cleans up after me. Oh, and there's Dylan supervising.



We paused by the second bridge, and Dylan was, shall we say, omnipresent. So I thought I'd show him a wrestling move or two. It takes a while to figure this picture out, but I have my jaws upside down with his left ear held in a killer grip.



Thing is, he just didn't mind. I suppose he thought it was the way to my heart. Doesn't he realise that teenage girls can be terribly cruel to nice but clingy boys?

Once at Muchelney Abbey we made ourselves comfortable in the lovely grassy courtyard.





I got to play my special trick on a few grown Dales. You know, the one where you lie down in a submissive posture, get 'em to all come in and look closely at you... then snap grab 'em.



Afterwards I apologised, of course. The smaller pup on the left of this picture is Poppy. You may remember her from the Airedale Fun Day pics I posted a while back - she was the puppy completely wrapped in toilet paper.



Poppy is a cutie, and along with my best mate Ruby, we're the youngest pupsters here. For some reason I haven't got pics of Ruby from this walk though. Very annoying, as she is looking so great. She has a great jaunty bossy walk that makes her completely adorable. Ah well, it'll have to wait till our next gathering.

So there you go. Airedale overload. What always amazes my parents is how so many feisty Airedales can be in one place without trouble. Sure, the males sometimes make a big noise at each other, but it is all showing off. I've got more pics on my Flickr account if you want.




One last thing. You may remember this pic of the lovely Nigel that I met at the Fun Day back in September:



I learnt that he has since passed away. I've only heard the details through others, but I believe he had a tumour that suddenly caused him to be desperately ill. He was such a lovely boy that I feel very sad, especially for his family. He is currently on the Wikipedia page for Airedales, so has a little posthumous fame.