Dear Friends,
     First of all, thank you many times over. What a boost to my ego! Your articles on Deckers Giant Rat Terriers have been great. The quality of your publication and the quality of the fine Rat Terriers shown seem fantastic to me. In 1975 I knew of one breeder in the world and they quit breeding not long thereafter. Your accounts from our phone conversations are pretty darn accurate, although I can't imagine you coming up with anything from our rambling phone conversations.

     I will try to fill in a few gaps. Mary and I really didn't plan this as a family project. Not at first anyway. Raising Rat Terriers was far from our mind. We have four children, three girls and a boy in that order and nearly four years separated each child. We got Henry from Chris and Betty Lindseth, who lived on a farm near Monroe, Oregon. Their son first told me of their dogs but after getting very excited, I decided he probably didn't know about the kind of Terrier I was interested in. I had been disappointed so many times. I was completely convinced none were in Oregon anymore. When I went to see young Lindseth, a year or so later regarding his nursery stock, was when I first saw any of their dogs and first met Chris and Betty. They were raising these super large terriers. They had the father, a large rat terrier, who they had raised. They had the mother, a purebred smooth Fox Terrier. They also had four grown offspring. I think they were their pick of four litters. At any rate, the young dogs were different ages. Henry was my choice as his quiet disposition was wonderful. The others were a little more high strung like their mother.

     Henry was three, the same age as Ellis, our son and youngest child. Ellis struggled for years, at my urging to get big enough to pick Henry up. Both he and Henry seem to so thoroughly enjoy this game, that I couldn't resist encouraging it.

A couple of wonderful years went by, and once in a while I would drop by Lindseths to let Henry play with his family. They would run, chase, mock fight and frolic until exhausted. We became good friends with these fine folks. However, on one visit they said they lost Henry's mother. His sister had been spayed, so no more source of these fine animals existed.

     One day a visitor stated that a fellow in Kansas had some. I found this man, Kenny Keller, near St. John, Kansas, did have some. We finally visited him and after viewing quite a few dogs at small breeders thereabouts, we were able to get Deckers Brandy and Deckers Lady. Both were large, 18-20 lbs., and very nice. Lady was perfect, black and white but did not contribute heavily to our breeding in the years to come. Brandy was perfect, black and tan and contributed as much or nearly as much as Henry did. She was owned by Lorena Jones, who knew terriers and their quality very well. Mrs. Jones needed some money badly at that time or we would have never been able to purchase Deckers Brandy.

     Kenny Keller, a very fine young man, showed us around, made phone calls to others, and told us of E.C,. Allen of Marlin, Texas. A year or so later, we visited Mr. Allen. Now this very friendly preacher man really had some dogs. Maybe about forty or maybe more. Most were pretty good dogs and some were the size and quality we wanted. We bought some females, he sent a female or two to be bred to Henry. We sent a female or two to be bred to his finest and so on. Preacher Allen had a lot going on. He also told us of a breeder in Arkansas who told us of breeder, Trilby and Carolyn McPhail near Calhoun City Mississippi. So, another trip to Arkansas and Allens in Texas. Then later a trip to Mississippi. What fun and what wonderful, friendly people we met.
     Now to the most important part of all our dog breeding years. The credit should really go to, or at least be shared equally by my wife, Mary. The whole thing started as a family project. Mary and I would pay the bills and oversee the kennels. Donna, Molly, Jill and Ellis would do their chores and share  equally the income from the puppy sales. As there are three to four years separating each child, this wasn't exactly fair. However, by the time we quit breeding, each child had several thousand dollars in savings. They had learned better how to get along with each other. They also had learned aspects of responsibility, compassion for their animals, veterinarian skills, and some aspects of business. Many, many evenings were spent by the whole family playing with al litter of puppies in the back yard or in the living room.

     Now all of these children are grown, married adults. All four have married very fine people. All are good citizens who work hard, have their mother's strong religious outlook on life and all have wonderful families who live near. My goals now are being a good as possible Dad and I love being Grandpa. We all now raise, breed, and love purebred Appaloosa horses. We have a few Rat Terriers as much loved family pets.
Sincerely,   Milton G. Decker

Deckers Texas Star	Deckers Lady	Deckers Liza
Decker Suzie Q and Puffer		Deckers Brandy