In May 2021, on a bright spring day in rural Pennsylvania, a young woman visited a family friend and noticed an Airedale tethered to a doghouse. She asked about the dog and was told that “Sam” was purchased a few years earlier to accompany the friend on his road-trips as a trucker, but bringing Sam along was more trouble than he thought.
So the dog was left behind, tied outside, fed and watered by his elderly father while he was gone. Sam had spent the last two years tethered to this doghouse.

As a dog lover, this situation disturbed the young woman and she asked her friend if she could please try to find a better situation for Sam; thankfully he agreed and she posted Sam’s picture on a local town page on Facebook. As fate would have it, a friend of one of our adopters saw the post immediately and contacted ARADV right away. Posts like this “grow legs” and quickly become viral so timing is always crucial in order to get the dog into rescue.

The need was immediate and we wanted Sam to be in a home the very next day – luckily we had recently recieved an adoption application that we found to be exceptional, and we realized that this potential adopter was a mere 30 minutes from this dog. We reached out to him and asked if he could he possibly go and pick up the dog the next day? A huge ask, and he said YES!

The previous owners had named him, but they paid so little attention to the dog that the name meant nothing to him. Our adopter named him Gifford, after Gifford Pinchot, a two term Governor of Pennsylvania in the 1920’s – 1930’s, the first head of the U.S. Forest Service, a friend and colleague of Teddy Roosevelt, a personal hero. And we all know that Roosevelt was a big fan of Airedales!

Despite his life of isolation and neglect, Gifford is a very loving and affectionate dog who loves meeting new people. He is intelligent, cooperative, and he picks up on patterns quickly. Gifford regularly receives compliments on this looks and his manners. Our hero adopter says, “I am very thankful to the Rescue for bringing Gifford into my life, and for all the support they have given me since Gifford arrived.”

If you are interested in adopting an Airedale, have a fenced yard, and live in PA, DE, or NJ, please complete an application.