DW talks to Hank, the dairy farm Rott; a 140 pound, attention seeking puppy- during the day. After dark, more likely he'll bring what's left of a trespasser's leg bone to his master! Hank's owner, if anyone can be said to own the big boy, has asked us to help him breed the best line of Rotts in our area. We finally agreed after much thought and discussion with our DIL who works in an animal shelter. (She was, possibly is, very much against the idea.)

When we first started visiting the farm, 10 years ago, the place was ruled by some rather nasty dogs; rescues from households with cruel owners, those who deliberately made their dogs vicious to the point they became uncontrollable. The farmer rehabilitated the dogs by gaining their trust, but my family was never comfortable around the dogs in daylight and we NEVER got out of our vehicle after dark until the farmer lit up the yard and came out of the house to call the dogs to heel. Even he'd been bitten in the dark by a dog that didn't recognize his scent before it clamped down on his leg.

Over time the guard dogs changed in nature as the old ones died off and new ones arrived. Where local shelters used to call the farm when they had dogs too nasty to place in homes, they are now killing such animals. The farmer was forced to look elsewhere for dogs. Rottweilers were his first choice, though he had a pair of silver German shepherds that were absolute sweethearts.

He had been breeding, or allowing the dogs to mate randomly, long before we began visiting the farm. In those days there were more farms in the area and more people wanting dogs for guard duty. He made some extra cash selling the occasional litter. Back then his customers understood the dogs they were buying were farm dogs, not pampered pets. The puppies came with no warranty other than the parents were big, strong and probably dangerous if not handled properly.

Getting purebred dogs changed the type of customer he found driving to the farm every time he advertised a litter of Rotts or shepherds. These customers were willing to pay a good deal more for a puppy, but they wanted the farmer to do more too. First shots, worming, tails docked, proof the parents had good hips, papers proving the puppies were pure Rotts or shepherds.

The farmer is one of those people you can't come at all demanding and superior. Well, you can, but you'd likely be cursed and ordered off the farm. Those visitors who've taken a different approach with the man have found an eager listener to their requests. Once he understood his customers wanted pets as much, or more, than farm guard dogs he asked DW and I for help. "How do I dock the Rotties tails? Where do I get Parvo vaccine and wormer? I can't afford the vets coming here and sure can't take the puppies to them. Will you bring your family out to help socialize the puppies? Can you help me with all this? Can you help me produce a line of solid, healthy, sweetheart Rotts?"

Well he had us with that last question. Everyone here still misses the one Rott we had years ago. While all the dogs we've had, and currently have, are parts of the household, none of them are Rotts, or even close to a Rott. They are dogs, but a Rott is family!

So yeah, we're helping the farmer as long as his goals don't stray from ours- solid, healthy, sweetheart Rotts!

The oldest female Rott, Lyn, came into heat recently, was bred to Hank and is due sometime in December. We wanted a female from her litter, but the farmer asked that we take one from his second bitch, Simona, which is coming into season now. He wants to mate her to a different male so there is no blood connection between the litters at all, he'll breed the female we hold (when she's 2 years old) to his current male and keep a male out of that litter to replace his male when he retires. We have yet to see the new stud dog, but know Simona is a what we'd want in a Rott. She was passed through several owners before the farmer got her and he considered giving her back because she was such a nut case. How he dealt with her convinced us to consider joining him in building a good line of Rotts. He took her into his home, treated her with respect, allowed her on the sofa with him, was always gentle no matter how angry he got with her. After a month we couldn't tell her from the older female!

So yeah, we're in. The world may not need another litter of puppies, but as he's going to bring them into the world anyhow. We're going to help ensure they are as good a litter of dogs as they can be.

Well the rains that soaked the East Coast didn't seem to hurt the newly tilled garden beds. The middle bed has 690 cloves of garlic in it and not a one washed out. The far bed has asparagus, sort of, in it. Out of 25 "all male" hybrids I planted this spring I found 6 green tops when we finally weeded the bed yesterday. The other side of the bed was planted with an OP "purple passion" (I think.) Of the 25 roots that went in the ground I counted about 16 up and green. We didn't water the bed all summer so I'm surprised anything but weeds survived the drought!

I was told to wait until next spring to see if any of the roots send up new shoots. I talked to my cousin, who owns the land, and we've decided planting OPs makes more sense considering the way we garden. I have seeds from a stand of "gone wild" asparagus from a farmstead in Oklahoma. I'm thinking "wild" asparagus that survives the OK wild lands should do as well here. Now I got to learn how to grow the roots from seed. I've always bought roots.