Molly was a young, scatty 1 year old who specialized in pretending she didn’t hear you calling her and keeping just out of reach when you tried to catch her to bring her in from the garden. Unless you wanted to spend all afternoon running around the garden chasing after her the best way of convincing Molly it was time to come in was to bribe her with her little biscuit box which once shaken loudly and accompanied by the loud cry of "Biscuits" usually brought her miraculously into view and into the house to claim her tasty reward.
In contrast Hanna was excellently behaved and always came straight away when called. She was very good out walking off lead and always kept close by. I often had a little chuckle while out walking her if she decided to walk directly in front of me, as with her ample rear end she reminded me of the dogs on wheels which were very common in the 1960s and which used to help children learn how to walk.
The girls were very good house guests and always slept well through the night and ate all their meals without having to be prompted. They also got on well with all other dogs and had an excellent temperament. Molly in particular loved it if another youngster was staying as they would spend all day chasing around the garden playing tag with Genghis. Hanna by contrast was more interested in lying out in the sun and kept herself out of any strenuous garden exercise. Both girls were very good at washing my kitchen floor while drinking water from the bowl. Airedales have a very peculiar and original way of drinking where they actually appear to be eating the water resulting in most of it spilling on to the floor so you need to be pretty nifty with the mop.
The girls still come to stay with me on a regular basis and I have to confess that I have a soft spot for them as they were Dogs at Home’s very first guests.