Requiem for an Airedale Queen of Hearts

Today, for the first time in almost 16 years, there is no Airedale in my house.  It's a very odd and sad feeling.  Somehow I just thought this day would never come.  DJ's Highland Dosido Girl was helped to the Bridge today.  She would have been 14 on July 19th.  She had a long, wonderful life -- full of adventures -- and I am thankful to have had her be such a major part of mine.

Dosi is the last of the Dosido Farm Triumvirate:  Walker and Lola were the other two.  All were distinctly different; all completely and absolutely loved.  But Dosi was the hub of the wheel, the heart that pumped Airedaleness throughout our days.  She came to us with a sweet and loving personality (thank you, Lawrence) and she left us in the same way.  Mischievous, fun-loving, smart ... she had all the best Airedale characteristics and very few of the worst ones.  She loved every person she ever met and almost every dog.  And for the ones she didn't "like", she tolerated with Dosi grace.  We often referred to her as the Social Secretary for her charming ways.  She was a superior Airedale Ambassadoress, as every person she met wanted "one just like her".

Dosi and I learned dog showing together.  We dabbled in agility.  We fooled around with a little obedience.  We worked as a therapy dog team.  She helped to raise Lola.  In her older years, she brought up both Scotties to be proper little black Airedales.  She was a wonderful mother and nanny even though she never had a litter of her own.  Dosi was also an Airedale Amazon.  Her hunting instincts made certain that no mole, chipmunk, squirrel or bird was safe while in her immediate vicinity.  (And she even managed to catch a few over the years.)  We enjoyed life together.  She learned a lot; she taught me more.

It is the end of an era.  Dosi will be missed dreadfully but memories of her will live on in my heart till the day I die.  The kennel name we chose was hers; we named our property for her.  There are pictures of her scattered throughout the house.  I asked her to carry many hopes and dreams for me and she did with utter cheerfulness.  In the words of my mother, "Dosi's the best dog you ever had.  She was just a good ole dog."  I don't think you can get any better than that.

Dosi babysits the new weird Airedale puppy:  all black and those short legs!

Donna , Dosi & Blue from 2008

July 2009.......she looks rather put out.  Must have been the fact she had to have a hair cut and "sprucing up".

Out and about greeting her adoring public.  June 2007

The most typical of Dosi pictures.  The girl sure knew how to nap.