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Dear Margaret,
So, now just maybe you have the rest of the
story, as we know it. Please make this material available to all interested
now and in the future. I truly had a ball with this project. A great
learning experience for our growing family (four children) and a wonderful
chance for me to really do great things with this BEST OF ALL DOG BREEDS.
We traveled all over for breeding stock and met great folks. It started
with Henry as you know and he was sired by Jock. This old male was
named Jock, after Jock Gibson, the dairyman that gave Chris and Betty Lindseth
the dog as a puppy. Spunky was also sired by Jock.
A couple of questions Mr. Decker:
1. At what point or what dogs did you start to see offspring being produced that knocked your socks off. Were there particular dogs that specifically produced what you were looking for?
IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF WORDS---TOWSER, STELLA, MISTY and MARCELLA and their offspring from other great large Rat Terriers produced all I could ask for. Some of there offspring were: Misty produced Duke, Prince and their sister Shortcake. We sold both these males when they were small. Stella produced Badger, Cougar, Jolly and Tuffy. Marcella produced Perky, Calico Kate and Tess. And of course Towser produced our Wragler and many more.
2. What dogs, of the 50 plus dogs we have listed from you would you consider to be your foundation dogs?
PROBABLY HENRY, BRANDY, ZACK, WILLIS's PETE, & JOSH influenced our down lines the most.
Deckers Josh was an exception.
Great dog, and nice to be around, but nearly sterile. His breeder
Mr. Gentry, in Searcy Arkansas (he was a pretty big volume breeder) had
him sperm tested twice and sold him without mentioning this fact.
Very nice to visit and via phone. I was really amazed that he would
sell me (he knew very well that Josh was for breeding) a near sterile dog.
I never had a dog sperm tested and can see no reason he would have had
Josh tested twice. Joke was on him, as in the end after a few years
this near sterile dog was very instrumental in the evolution of Deckers
Giant Rat Terriers. We only got one litter from him, but as luck
would have it, we later got Deckers Wragler from his only breeding daughter.
This Deckers Wragler had it all. Classic black and white color, erect
ears, nice disposition, loved to hunt, and produced wonderful babies.
He weighed 36 pounds. He was camera shy. Whenever I brought
out a camera, he looked beaten and so I never got a good photo of Wragler.
By the way, we never named them Deckers Giants, but are thrilled others
did.
This morning I came to the conclusion that
Texas Star (bred by E.C. Allen of Marlin, Texas) was also a very important
Foundation female for us. She was bred to Henry for Twinkie and Pippi
–two of our first and best, large Tri colored females. Then she was
bred to Spunky--a full brother of Henry to produce a male to go as half
of the pair that produced Gillian, (owned by Arlene Fischer) who was Wragler's
mom. So Twinkie produced the only litter we ever got from Josh and
a female to pair with Texas Star's male. This pair was sold as puppies
to Arlene Fischer, who lived about 100 miles north of us. This pair was
bred to each other and produced Gillian. Then most importantly Towser
was bred to Gillian to produce our wonderful big Tri colored DECKERS WRAGLER.
So due to his classic Black and white coloration and all his other great
attributes, we used WRAGLER a lot for stud. So if I have confused you,
please draw a little pedigree diagram and if I have explained all correctly
you will see how Texas Star was so important.
Deckers Echo was a truly wonderful Black and Tan Female from Henry and Brandy. Echo was perfect, but as with most all of our females, we only bred her for three litters, and we did not breed a female under two years old that I can remember. In our travels, we saw females that were used up----it was quite pitiful in some cases. We usually found them a loving home after three litters or so. I do not have her destination in our records. Also, she did have tipped ears and after all other considerations, we did try for erect ears.
We did register Deckers Mr. Big and sold him
to Tim Brown in Pennsylvania. Wills Pete belonged to Mr.Willis, who lived
about ten miles from here. Willis said he got the dog through Kenny's Kennels
of St. John, Kansas. Kenny Keller dealt in Rat Terriers for years.
He would get neighbors of his, a pair of dogs and then market their puppies
for them. Kenny said when I called him, that he did not have the
records of the parents of Willis Pete. We flew back to visit
him, when we only had Henry, and although we never actually bought a dog
from him, we did meet other breeders through him. He introduced us
to other breeders in Kansas and told us how to contact E.C.Allen of Marlin,
Texas. Southern Belle was bred by E.C.Allen. Kenny Keller should have a
prominent spot in Rat Terrier History, for all he did to keep the breed
alive. Thanks again!
Milton
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Shortcake and Duke |