"Vers-airedale-ity"

 Companion dog

Art work drawn by Patty Eisenbraun

Fiber Artist -  Jeannette Grantner

I am Jeanette Grantner. We relocated to Canon City, Colorado, in early December, 2006, from NJ.  We have three adult children Mike, Annie and Paul all in their twenties!  We are empty nesters except for Maggie, our almost four years old Airedale. I never really cared for animals as a child or until I was in my 40s.  My dad had hunting dogs and they were always outside. These dogs were not mine so I didn’t like cleaning up after them and they had GERMS!  All the nurses I know who have animals don’t care about germs.  The unconditional love and the antics of my friend’s animals won me over, germs and all. Our photo album is full of our smiling children with our first Airedale Princess Daisy!  Daisy died at 10 years of age. I didn’t know how we ever lived without an Airedale! I cried for two years until we received Maggie from two wonderful breeders, Mary and Corally.  Maggie is stronger and more active than Daisy. She has an air of royalty except when she eats.  She loves to play ball. Maggie has been our “therapy dog” both mentally and physically since the day we picked her up in Virginia. 

From our front windows we can see Pikes Peak in the distance.  In our backyard the Greenhorn Mountains seem like they are in our yard.  The fence hasn’t been installed yet so Maggie plays ball on the back porch patio. Maggie was always quiet in NJ.  Suddenly she has become very vocal.  She has seen a buck and three deer in our backyard.  She has a ferocious bark!

This is the second ADT quilt in which I have participated.  I used to sew and machine embroidered the children’s clothing.  I made quilted pillows by hand.  All of a sudden I’m finding out I don’t know much about quilting.  Maggie, my wonder dog is helping me!  My grown children are jealous of all the attention Maggie gets.  She is fed a raw diet so I often hear that she eats better than we do!  At least she doesn’t complain!  She loves to walk the hills in our neighborhood.  I on the other hand am having a bit of a problem keeping up with her and Len.  Thank goodness she is strong so she can keep me moving.  Maggie has not adjusted to the two hour difference in the time zones.  She was crying one evening and I couldn’t figure out her problem. I then noticed she was trying get into her room.  She now goes to bed at 6pm or after she eats in the evening.  I’d call her a drama queen (like my daughter) but she’s quiet unless we are going for a walk or its meal time.  She’s very social with people and other dogs.  I have never seen any raised hair on her but there sure is on the Labs we meet!  I hope this is a good reflection of a happy puppy.