16 Spring 2014 Applegater
Love at any age:
The joys of adopting a
senior animal companion
by bECKy OwSTON
White-muzzled and lumpy, the senior
mutt with the strangely shaped head
arrived at Sanctuary One in spring 2012
after languishing in a shelter in Crescent
City, California. While he was friendly and
mild-mannered, it seemed unlikely that
this older, unusual-looking lab mix stood
much chance of being adopted.
Tom Miller and friend Leo.
Leo, named for his tawny coat and
regal demeanor, was quick to settle into
the routine at the farm. As “granddad” of
the dog pack, he was content to snooze
in the sun, calmly tolerating the antics
of the younger canines—and keeping
them in line when necessary. He was the
consummate gentleman with volunteers
and visiting school kids, and was a much-
loved walking companion. Even the
ground squirrels residing near the trail
knew they had nothing—or at least little—
to fear when the old dog approached.
After ten months, Leo finally
found a loving home with a local
family. Says his guardian Tom Miller,
“We’ve fallen head over heels in love with
Leo. My wife Pat and I have adopted a
number of senior dogs over the years, and
while it’s sad when you know you won’t
have them for 10 or 12 years, the old ones
just seem to understand that someone
finally wants them. Leo has a degenerative
disease that affects his chewing and
swallowing muscles. He’s also covered with
scars from what was obviously a pretty
rough life in the past. But for some reason,
even after the hard life he’s had, he’s patient
and gentle. In short, he’s a great dog and we
really enjoy his company. I hope someone
reading this will consider adopting an older
animal. The rewards are tremendous.”
Sadly, in shelters across the country,
senior animals typically wait much longer
for new homes than their more youthful
counterparts. Of course, adorable kittens
and puppies are hard to resist. But seniors
need love, too—and they’ve got lots to
give in return! They’ve settled into their
personalities (and size) so you know exactly
what you’re getting. They’re usually house-
trained and know basic commands. They’re
much less likely to devour your shoes or
destroy your furniture, and they know
what it takes to get along with others.
Sanctuar y One volunteer
Mardra Hord has felt the senior love ever
since she and her husband Jason adopted
Tito, an older Chihuahua (and Sanctuary
One alum), last winter. “We’ve had to get
real about our limitations when it comes
to dogs,” she explains. “Since we don’t have
the energy levels that a puppy would need,
we were specifically looking for an older
dog. Older animals are calmer, seem to
listen better and have a more centered sense
of ‘self.’ And I think they adapt easier.”
As most guardians of older animals
have experienced, Mardra and Jason were
pleased by how quickly Tito fit into his new
household. “He has blended in effortlessly
and treated our other pets with respect,”
says Mardra. “We haven’t had to expend a
lot of energy to train and work with him—
he was just right there on everything. It
seems like someone else put in the training,
and all we have to do is use it. We haven’t
regretted bringing him home. Not once.”
Because helping senior animals is
one of our primary goals, we’re especially
gratified to know that these adoptions
have enriched the lives of Leo, Tito and
their loving guardians. Knowing that
their time together will be shorter and
vet bills may be higher, it takes a special
person to adopt a senior animal. If you’ve
been considering adopting, we hope you’ll
consider welcoming an older companion
into your life!
For more information, call 541-899-
8627, visit www.SanctuaryOne.org or
email info@sanctuaryone.org.
Becky Owston
Sanctuary One Volunteer
chickmunk@gmail.com
The Top Hat corn story
by JONATHAN SpERO
Nearly all of the improved
varieties of sweet corn in the last
half century or more have been bred
as hybrids. Open-pollinated (OP)
varieties, from which one can save
seed, are way behind. Fortunately,
this should not be too hard to
remedy.
One of the simplest
methods to create a more modern
OP variety is to choose a good
hybrid and “de-hybridize” it. This is
done by growing the seed, then saving
and replanting only the best for several
generations until it is reasonably stable.
In 2002 I planted rows of 16
commercial hybrid sweet corn varieties
just to pick the best one. I chose Tuxedo.
It was the first to germinate and it grew
ears with a long husk cover that provides
some protection from insect damage. It
held up pretty well under weed pressure
and produced a fairly consistent two ears
per plant.
The next year I grew a field of
Tuxedo, saving 300 or more nice ears for
seed. The following year we planted those
seeds. “Top Hat” corn is 2013 seed from
the sixth generation of Tuxedo.
Tuxedo is supposed to uniformly
possess the sugary enhancer (se) gene, so
I did not expect lack of sweetness to be
an issue. I found, however, in the third-
generation hybrid, that many of the
samples weren’t all that sweet. So began
the search for sweetness.
I selected only from plants with two
good ears. I tasted the secondary ears and
marked for keeping only the primary ears
from the sweeter plants, about half of the
population. This should increase sweetness
in subsequent generations, but it could be
a slow process.
Oregon plant breeder Carol Deppe,
PhD, first told me that an individual sweet
corn kernel that has more sugar will begin
to wrinkle more slowly as it starts to dry
sown. Alan Kapuler, PhD, also an Oregon
plant breeder and a former Applegate
Valley resident, said he had made use of
this principle. John Juvik, PhD, professor
of plant genetics at the University of
Illinois, explained why it works: increased
sugar causes greater osmotic potential or
pressure from inside the kernel, causing
it to resist the onset of wrinkling. If some
kernels on the ear are sweeter than others,
would I be able to pick those out and get
more quickly to uniformly sweet corn? I
decided to find out.
I had tasted the secondary ear on each
stalk when the corn was ripe, and flagged
the primary ear of the sweeter ones left
on the stalk. I harvested these chosen and
flagged ears about two weeks past prime
eating stage, before fully mature for seed. I
husked the corn and placed the ears up so
they were exposed to air. After a few hours
or days, kernels would begin to wrinkle.
Some kernels begin to wrinkle, some faster
than others. When some, but not all, had
started to wrinkle, I used a felt marker to
paint those not yet wrinkled. I then put
the entire ear up to dry and picked out the
painted kernels. Only those painted kernels
were used to grow the next generation.
This process was repeated for two
more generations, with sweeter ears chosen
by taste and slowest-to-wrinkle kernels
saved from those ears. In 2013 I grew corn
from these twice-selected kernels, the sixth
generation from the hybrid Tuxedo.
Special thanks is extended to
the Clif Bar Foundation, Seed Matters and
the Organic Farming Research Foundation
for funding the sweetness and kernel
selection in Top Hat corn.
Special thanks also goes to John A.
Juvik, PhD; James Myers, PhD; John
Navazio, PhD; Alan Kapuler, PhD; and
to Jared Zystro for providing advice and
technical assistance on this project.
How well did all this work? How
does Top Hat (OP) compare with today’s
(first-generation hybrid) sweet corn? It is
time to find out.
A limited number of Top Hat corn
samples is available to seed companies for
trials now, and Top Hat corn seed should
be available for sale this coming fall.
Jonathan Spero
spero.jonathan@gmail.com