The Airedales of Service that You've Never Heard Of!

As you can tell, as an Airedale mom, I'm obsessed with the breed. It's also because they've had such a positive impact on my life over the past fifty years.

But let's get into the real topic of this newsletter 😉

In March 1918, in the last year of World War I, an Airedale named Jack slipped out of a trench with a message tucked into the pouch on his collar.

His battalion, the Sherwood Foresters, was trapped at an advanced post four miles from headquarters. Every line of communication had been cut. Without reinforcements, the men were done, and Jack was the only way to get word out.

He ran through half a mile of open fire. Shrapnel shattered his jaw. A shell tore down his back, but he kept going for another mile and a half, reached headquarters, delivered the message, and died soon after. As a result of his bravery, the reinforcements came and the battalion was saved.

Jack was an exceptional Airedale and that is exactly what this breed was built to do.

A little more background on their history…

Airedales were the most common dog the British used in World War I. They ran messages between the trenches, stood sentry on the front lines, and worked alongside the Red Cross to find wounded men on the battlefield.

They were even trained to wear gas masks so they could serve where the fighting was worst.

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Richardson, who ran the British War Dog School, reached for Airedales repeatedly.

Here is the part most people do not know.

Morale was an actual job. This was the first war where Britain used dogs across so many roles, and keeping the soldiers steady was one of them.

A dog in the trench was not just a set of working paws. He was a reason to hold it together on a very bad day.

The reason one breed could carry all of that comes down to how they are built. Big enough to do real work, with a coat that shrugs off weather and a temperament steady enough to handle noise and pressure without falling apart.

That combination is why people started calling them the breed that could do just about anything.

Which brings me to my own five Airedales, who I am fairly certain believe they are already running a military operation.

If my pack were assigned to a wartime unit, the roles would sort themselves out in about four minutes, because they have already assigned themselves these jobs at home.

Erwitt would run strategy and perimeter security, a post he took on years ago without being asked. He patrols the fence line with the seriousness of a man who has read the reports you have not, and he would like a word about the state of things.

Hudson would handle morale, and honestly, he would be exceptional at it. Nothing rattles him. He is content simply being a dog, and there is real value in the one who keeps everyone else calm when the day goes sideways.

Fleetwood would be the messenger, because he is fast, he is driven, and if you do not give him a job, he will invent one you did not want. The messenger dogs ran through gunfire because they were too determined to quit, which tracks.

Prayerie would command from a dry location. She commands any room she enters and flatly refuses to go out in the rain, so she would review the troops from under cover and delegate anything involving mud.

And Daisy, at two, would be the recruit. Still learning, composed beyond her age, earning her stripes. She is the future of this unit and she knows it.

More than a hundred years ago, this same breed carried messages through fire. Now, mine carry an eight-pound dumbbell to the couch and stand guard against Amazon deliveries.

Same instincts, lower stakes, and I would not trade a minute of it.

Now back to the history 🤣

We have spent the last few weeks together in the company of the Historical Airedales who lived in the White House.

Laddie Boy with his own chair at the cabinet table.

Paul Pry, the lovable troublemaker who was so uncontrollable the Coolidges shipped him off to a Marine detachment for training, and even the Marines gave him back.

And Davie, who simply guarded the house and did his job quietly.

Different work than Jack, on friendlier ground, but the same breed showing up and doing what needed doing.

That is the thread. Through wars and White Houses and my own living room couch, these dogs keep showing up ready to serve.

And more than a century after Jack, I still sleep better at night knowing there is an Airedale on duty in my home!

-Kim Opdyke💗