Baby Sunshade (1-5 weeks)

Even though I am 6.5 years old now, mom thought it would be a good idea to show some of my puppy pictures. Mom says I am the cutest pup EVER!!! Of course, she is a bit biased........ The quality of these photos aren't the best since we didn't have a digital camera back then and mom has had to scan all these pictures. ENJOY!!!

I was born in Port Angeles, WA. My Airedale mom, Tasha gave birth on November 25th 1999 to 8 beautiful babies. There were 5 girls and 3 boys in the litter. Here are pictures of my handsome dad, Comet, and my Aire mom with me and my brothers and sisters from week 1-5. My wonderful breeder, Jan Mell of Loc Aire Kennel, had put together these pictures with some information about us "Terrorists" in a folder for each human family to take home.

Daddy Comet - Loc Aire's Magic Maker

5 weeks old

Since my human grandpa and human mom (who was only 16 years old at the time) had never had a dog before, my responsible breeder was a little concerned about letting them have one of her Airedales. Airedales like me are stubborn, tenacious, determined, stoic, extremely SMART and MANIPULATIVE little humans in black and tan suits, so we are not considered beginners dogs. However, my breeder saw how sincere mom and grandpa were about getting one of her babies, she decided she would take a chance with them and mailed them a few books to read. One of the books she sent was called "How to Raise a Puppy you can live with", by Rutherford and Neil. Mom studied the book religiously, and swears by it because she says I'm the living proof. I never chewed on anything I wasn't suppose to, I was house trained by 4 months of age, and have always been a comical, pleasurable little character to live with.

My breeder also asked my mom and grandpa to go visit me and my siblings at least once a week from when we were 5 weeks old until we were ready to go home. She wanted to make sure they were committed to one of her babies and she could also have the chance to educated mom and grandpa more about the Amazing Airedales. So mom and grandpa took the Black Ball ferry from downtown Victoria B.C to Port Angeles WA every week, where my very nice breeder and her hubby, Rick would go pick them up at the ferry terminal and drive them to the house to meet the babies. Here are some photos from mom and grandpa's visit when we were 5.5 weeks old.

Mom feeding me and my brothers and sisters

All of us tried to climb on mom!!!

My breeder painted us with white paint on different parts of our bodies to distinguish one from the other. I was painted on the nose, so I was called "Point on the nose".

5 week old Sunshade aka "Point on the nose"

Jan told my mom and grandpa that she will do "puppy testing" when the pups are 7 weeks old to determine which pup is best suited for which home. This meant my siblings and I were "placed" in appropriate homes by my breeder instead of having people come and "pick" their own pups. For example: if there is a sound sensitive pup, he or she will not be placed with a family with infants or young children. Here is the puppy testing result for my siblings and I.

Note: scale 1 to 6, one being most confident/aggressive and six being most relaxed/shy depending on the test category. Three being the average, most willing to please, not overly confident nor shy. Mom did let my breeder know that "Point on the nose" was her favourite, and since I scored mostly 3's on my testing, breeder said it was ok for mom to have me!!!

Puppy testing result for Sunshade (highlighted) and siblings