Introduction-Dear+Reader

Dear Reader,

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Growing up with parents who never really grew up around dogs, I was not a fan of them growing up. In fact, you could even say that I terribly afraid of them. The families that lived around us preferred larger dogs and being a small child, that was not something I got accustomed to for awhile. I started loving dogs when I was around 7 and I begged my parents to get a dog until they allowed me to have one. I think that moment when I heard the word yes come out of my father’s mouth was the deciding time that helped me know that I want to know more about Airedale Terriers.

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I have learned so much about Airedale Terriers that my head could explode any second with all this knowledge. I have an Airedale Terrier of my own but I had no clue about all the history behind the breed, or even what the breed needs. For instance, I had no idea that airedales were used all over the world! This experience opened my eyes about my dog and made me realize that sometimes I do everything wrong, but I am glad to now know what to do right.

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Over my studies, I learned so many things that my dog needs. At first, I was dumbfounded that for almost 5 years, I had been doing some routines all wrong. One of those routines was to groom him once every two weeks so they don’t shed and I was shocked. Here I was washing him every 3 weeks and wondering why he shed so much. If I hadn’t decided to research Airedale Terriers, I would have just thought my dog Ike had chronic shedding. His weight had always been a little higher than others but we thought it was because he was the largest pup in his litter. Through our search, we found out that he in fact is an Airedale Terrier but he is a variation of the same breed and is not recognized by the American Kennel Club. The variation is called Oorang Airedale or Mountain Airedale. Through my search, I learned that my dog’s variation is just in size.

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He has always had skin, hip, and eye problems over his life and when we found out that he was a variation, we assumed that all his problems were because he was a variation or a normal Airedale. I am so glad that with my research, I learned that all Airedales usually suffer from these same problems. I was so relieved because it is terrible to see him go through that and when I told my parents about it, they were overjoyed because they didn’t want him to be the only Airedale to suffer from this.

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I never knew how many different learning fields could be involved with one dog breed. There is chemistry, biology, and many more that would take me forever to name. All of those fields do make an Airedale Terrier what it is. History for example dates back to when English huntsmen wanted a better dog to catch prey for sport. Biology played a major role in the creation of this breed by breeding several different breeds with each other until they found the best combination of size, speed, and courage.

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Between the five genres that I created, I have shown the way that Airedales have lived and grown on this planet since they were bred in England some couple hundred years ago. But even with all the knowledge that I acquired, I was at a loss for words when it was time to write our narrative because there were so many different ideas running through my head and they wouldn’t slow down. Half of the ideas I thought of were lost by new ones that I had imagined. Finally I found the right mix and as soon as we started working on our different genres, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I knew how I wanted them done.

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To show love for my little puppy and for my topic, I used a paw for a dog. He used to have big feet when he was a puppy but now that he is 5 years old and much larger, he has really grown into his paws so they don’t seem that large anymore. I put the paw everywhere to remind me that this is truly a special breed and it deserves to be loved just like any other dog.

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I hope that anyone who reads this and looks through my project will see how much dedication and hard work I put into it. I hope everyone enjoys.

Author, Cam Ouellette