Lori and her husband, Ron Swisher, live with Scarlett, their 3-yr-old Airedale; Claire, their 2-yr-old Airedale; and Bandit, their 6-yr-old, field-bred English Setter.

Ron and Scarlett

Ron and Scarlett enjoy retriever and upland bird training. In the summer/fall of 2013, Scarlett earned her UKC HRC Started Retriever title. During that period, she also passed 3 of her 4 legs for the AKC Spaniel Flushing Junior title, and passed her HWA junior flushing and retrieving tests and received the award for high score (any level) in the HWA flushing test at the HWA Nationals in Ohio. This year, Scarlett and Ron are testing at the Seasoned level in the HRC Retriever tests, will be completing her AKC Flushing Junior title and starting the Senior tests, as well as entering the senior level HWA flushing and retriever tests at the 2014 HWA Nationals.

Claire and Scarlett

Claire and Lori passed their Therapy Dog International (TDI) certification exam in November 2013 and are now enjoying their pet therapy visits to two nursing homes each month. Lori and Claire also take agility classes and IMPROV obedience classes every week. Ron occasionally takes Claire and Bandit with Scarlett when he does bird training. Due to a spinal injury and resultant surgery when he was 2 years old, Bandit can no longer hunt but he loves short training drills and pointing birds in the field. He is awesome!

Bandit

For this year’s quilt, Lori chose to make the Christmas Elf hat block. Lori loves Christmas and in fact, each year, one of her Christmas trees is completely Airedale-themed. Her 89-year-old Mom has an extensive Christmas elf collection which she displays every year on her fireplace mantel. Therefore, Lori jumped at the chance to make a block depicting an Airedale Christmas elf!