His coat grows slowly, Juanita, so it is at least 4 inches shorter than a unshorn St Bernard.

We had German Shepherds and they would herd whatever was available – cows, kids, cats, it was all the same to a Shepherd. You had to be careful with them because they would nip whatever they were herding if it didn’t go in the dog’s preferred direction. We had 22 acres, and it wasn’t enough to them happy.

The hunter in question is a Mennonite neighbor. He and his wife have five children, and they stock the venison in their freezer for winter. By the time they’ve given me the legs, pretty much everything except the head has been used!

And, yep, they’re a lot of work even if you have a big tract. Between our land and our neighbor that backs up to us (they’re animal people, too), the dogs have over 100 very hilly acres to run. Digging holes was the job of the day, and they were very earnest about it, too.

Two dogs are a lot of work if you don’t have a lot of space for them to roam in. As for hunting, people out your way mostly do it for food, not for sport. We have family friends in West Virginia and venison is their meat in the winter. They would have a hard time without it in the rural area where they live. Food is cheap in the cities, but it comes dear in rural America if you can’t grow your own.

I hope to get a good picture of him one day, Jams, but he isn’t making it easy.

All I have is a couple of dogs, but they’re happy today. A kind hunter (oxymoron?) shared some deer legs with them this morning. Oh boy! Their attention was riveted for about an hour.