Barbie Q

This is my only photo of Barbie Q resting on our first outing on a warm spring day, otherwise she is always in full motion. She is just a year old and already is showing the great traits of her breed. Called "the Queen of terriers" by fans, the Airedale may really be the smartest of the terriers -- a quality that will make or break her as a family pet, depending on whether or not her owner minds being occasionally outsmarted by a dog. Fortunately she is a gorgeous devil as well as a clever one, and charming enough to compensate for a certain degree of stubbornness. Owners who aren't ready to provide consistent training from a young age, as well as firm but loving guidance as she grows up, are going to discover that the Airedale Terrier is way too much dog to handle.
Airedale fanciers often point proudly to the words of Theodore Roosevelt, who said the Airedale Terrier could "do anything any other dog can do, and then lick the other dog, if she has to." Those words probably describe the Airedale of history better than the dog of today, whose main job now is to be a companion.
Of course, in line with his over-achieving past, the Airedale has even topped the charts in the companionship category. It was an Airedale who inspired author Margaret Marshall Saunders to write the novel "Beautiful Joe," the story of an abused dog, which in turn sparked the creation of the modern humane movement.
The Airedale does everything in a big way. She loves her human family wildly. He plays games with huge enthusiasm. She runs, she plays, she dances, she clowns, and she lives life with reckless exuberance – the exact same dedication and joy he may bring to the task of excavating your garden, tunneling into your sofa and eating the family-room drywall.
Yes, it's true, the Airedale Terrier, left to her own devices, is a perpetual motion machine dedicated to mayhem. Anyone considering bringing an Airedale into the family needs to be ready and able to provide her with consistent, early training, to respect her native intelligence and social nature and to not deprive her of exercise, companionship and affection. In other words, she can't be left in the backyard all day, or she's going to bark non-stop and be extremely unhappy.
But make her a member of the family, give her plenty of activities to exercise her body and stimulate her mind, and you'll understand why her fans feel so passionately that there is no other breed worth having.


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