Patch soon started to sniff the ground to see if his theory was correct and where his theory was correct as he caught the scent of two farms and where one of them had the scent of his dog family. Roger and Anita appeared to be on the porch and Anita's stomach looked slightly bigger than usual.
Patch smiled as he came onto the farm and squeezed between his hundreds of brothers and sisters as Nanny was giving their chow. "Hi, guys."
The puppies looked over and instantly smiled. "PATCH!"
Patch smiled, but then his eyes widened as they all piled on top of him.
"What are you doing here, Patch?" Cadpig smiled.
"Yeah, usually you call before you show up." Lucky added.
"Oh, I just thought I'd come visit my favorite brothers and sisters..." Patch smiled as he got out of the dog pile.
Dipstick walked by with a rose in his teeth.
"Where you going, Dipstick?" Patch noticed his rather dumb brother.
"Uh, nowhere?" Dipstick blushed.
"That's not true." Tripod smirked.
Dipstick then extended his paws and zipped off, panting with the rose.
"Dipstick!" Patch went after his brother. "Where are you going?!"
Dipstick then accidentally tripped, tumbled down a hill and ended up in the mud.
"Dipstick...?" a female dalmatian puppy with several spots asked.
"Uh, hi, Dottie..." Dipstick smiled nervously.
"Are you okay?" Dottie asked.
"Uh, I'm okay..." Dipstick smiled shyly and picked up the rose. "This is for you."
"Oh, Dipstick~..." Dottie smiled.
Patch saw this and smirked. "Dipstick's got a girlfriend~"
"He sure does." Tripod smirked.
"I always knew Dipstick would get a girlfriend soon." Cadpig smiled.
Dipstick and Dottie then smiled as they walked beside each other, Dottie then had the rose in her mouth.
Colette came on top of the hill. "There you guys are!"
"This sure is some farm." Maisy said as she came out.
Cadpig, Tripod, Patch, and Colette came back up at the top.
"Uh, did Anita eat too much?" Patch asked. "Her stomach looks big."
"Patch!" Colette gasped, then looked to see he was right. "It's not polite to--Whoa..."
Atticus came over to his pet and the others to see what they were talking about before he saw why Patch and the others were curious of what was with Anita. Roger was massaging his wife's feet.
"Atticus, why does Anita look like she's gained weight?" Patch asked.
"Shh..." Atticus shushed, then smiled to the Dearly couple. "Erm, hello."
"Oh!" Roger looked over. "Atticus, this is a surprise."
"Yes, so it is..." Anita smiled as she then held her stomach.
"I see that you two are going to be having a baby soon." Atticus smiled.
"Oh, how'd you guess?" Anita giggled.
"Congratulations," Atticus sent his blessing. "Do you know if it'll be a boy or a girl?"
"The doctor says a girl, we're trying to think of names." Anita smiled.
"Well whatever name you pick will be a fitting name for her." Atticus smiled.
"We know, but we're rather stuck..." Roger said. "There are just too many to choose from that we like."
"What do you have so far?" Atticus asked.
Roger took out his notebook with a list of possible names for their future daughter. "Jolene, Lisa, Jodie..."
Atticus started to think of a good name and then he got an idea perfect for a little girl.
"Those are all so lovely, but I'm just unsure." Anita said.
"I know what you mean." Roger agreed.
"Well why not Kate?" Atticus asked.
"Kate?" Roger and Anita asked in response.
"Kate Dearly, has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Atticus smiled.
"Hmm, that name does sound like a perfect name for a little girl." Roger smiled.
"Especially our own." Anita agreed.
"Kate it is then." Atticus smiled to the couple.
"That's why she's so big!" Patch came back to his siblings. "Anita is going to have a baby!"
This caused the rest of the Dalmatian pups to cheer. Patch and Colette smiled to this.
"Um, do you happen to have a guest room?" Atticus asked the Dearly couple. "I'd like to stay with a friend while I'm here with Patch."
"Well, of course we do, Amber sleeps in it all the time, but don't worry, there's plenty of room for you two to share." Roger replied.
"Thank you, sir." Atticus smiled before he looked and saw that there was another farm a few blocks away.
"Ooh..." he noticed.
"Oh, those are our neighbors, that's where Maisy came from," Roger informed, remembering that the last time they had company over, Darla adopted one of the kittens as her own pet. "Farmer Hill."
"By any chance, do they have a dog that herds sheep?" Atticus asked.
"Yeah, that's their dog Raffles, the Hills have a lot of dogs." Roger nodded.
"Why do you ask?" Anita asked.
"Just wanted to know." Atticus said.
Atlas then decided to get to know Roger and Anita.
"We'll be right back, we gotta check on a friend of ours." Patch said to his siblings as he walked with Colette.
"Take your time." Lucky smiled.
Patch and Colette nodded as they went to check in with Rover. Maisy and Ellie May did the same.
"Who's your older friend, Atticus?" Anita asked as she noticed Atlas.
"His name's Atlas," Atticus smiled. "He's like a big brother mentor for me."
"Hello, it's nice to meet you both." Atlas greeted.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Atlas," Anita smiled. "How do you two know each other?"
"We kinda worked together in the circus." Atlas smiled shyly.
"The circus?" the couple asked.
"Oh, I believe Amber told us about a story about you guys being in the circus and meeting the cutest baby elephant." Anita then said.
"Oh, you must mean Dumbo the Flying Elephant." Atlas smiled.
"That was the one." Roger then nodded to the name.
"Now, um, who's Amber?" Atlas asked.
"She's my niece." Anita smiled.
"Darla's best friend." Atticus added.
"Ah, I see..." Atlas then smiled in understanding.
Tripod came over to Atlas, finding the strong man trust worthy.
"Hey there, buddy." Atlas smiled to the three-legged puppy.
Tripod smiled up to him before looking like he was going to tackle Atlas playfully.
"Oh,..." Atlas smirked and bent down slightly.
Tripod then grinned and tackled on top of Atlas.
"Tripod!" Roger and Anita called.
Atlas laughed as he was pinned down by the puppy as he was then licked by the puppy.
"Tripod was always the affectionate one." Cadpig giggled shyly.
"Yep and looks like he still has that gift that Patch gave him." Rolly said.
"I think Tripod likes this guy." Lucky smiled.
"Hey, guys..." a familiar chicken came over. "What's goin' on?"
"Oh, hey, Spot. Patch is visiting and he brought some friends." Lucky replied.
"Cool." Spot smiled.
Meanwhile...
Rover stumbled out onto the Hill farm, exploring with the others.
"Stick around, Rover, don't wander off!" Danny called.
Rover began to hum a song while looking around the farm. A trio of blue birds flew over top of him and he passed a fence with noisy and hungry hogs.
"Hey, slow down, will ya?" Rover looked to them. "You're eating like pigs!"
"Don't be a wise guy," one pig glared to the hound dog. "We are pigs!"
Rover soon was startled by a cow as it mooed.
"Yeah, how do ya do?" he then greeted.
The cow mooed even louder and batted her eyes to the hound dog.
"What a vocabulary." Rover shook his head with a laugh as he kept walking along the barnyard. He then started to get curious about where he was.
"Rover, this is a farm." Maisy told the hound dog.
"Whoa, I always saw them on TV." Rover said.
"I bet you have..." Maisy hid an eye roll.
"This is too much!" Rover beamed. "Me on a farm! Hey ,you think it'll rain on the rhubarb? Maybe I'll change my name to Jethro. I'm on a farm, that's all I want, on a nice piece of pot of a land."
A familiar sheepdog then wandered around and spotted the strangers from before and decided to go see them.
Patch went to the Hill farm and saw the familiar sheepdog and decided to greet him. "Hey, there!"
"Huh?" Rover noticed the sheepdog. "Heh... So, what's your name, Speedy?"
"They call me 'Raffles'," the sheepdog smiled to his company. "I'm a sheepdog."
"Hey, what was going on?" Rover asked him about earlier. "You were running around like a psycho. What's your story?"
"I was working," Raffles smiled. "Everybody works on a farm."
"Yeah, we know." Maisy said.
"What're ya working so hard for?" Rover asked the sheepdog. "It don't mean nuthin'. Lemme tell you something, it's who you know."
"Rover, everyone on the farm needs to do their part of the work on the farm." Patch said.
"Right, I'm on a farm," Rover picked up a hay needle. "Green grass, sunshine, fresh air!" he then took a deep breath. "I gotta get out of here..."
"Hey, gang, say hello to Rover and the others," Raffles said to the farm animals. "They're new around here."
The farm animals soon greeted the new comers.
"Moo moo, oink oink, okay okay," Rover walked away from them. "Good to see you too."
There was then a ringing sound heard. Rover's ears danced and his eyes lit up as Danny then rushed to the house to tell his mother the news.
"Uh-oh..." Colette said as she came over and saw what Rover was doing. "Patch, you better stop him."
The farmer came to join his wife and son inside.
"Rover, stop!" Patch stood in front of the hound dog.
"I need to go where the food is, kid," Rover walked away from him and climbed up the house steps. "I'm starvin'!"
"But, you don't understand; farm dogs are supposed to eat outside!" Patch told him.
Rover shut the door behind him.
Patch sighed. "Three... Two... One."
Rover was then kicked out of the house and crashed into the tree and the farmer told him the rules of being a dog on the farm. He then gestured for Patch to come over and so the puppy did. "You should've told me what you were gonna tell me."
"Come on, let's go." Raffles led Rover off somewhere else.
Rover then followed Raffles. Along the way, Rover sang 'Old McDonald', but had trouble with his vowels.
"You okay?" Maisy asked Rover.
"He must be homesick." Ellie May frowned. "I know I get that way."
"No, he's just a bit dizzy." Patch said.
"He'll adjust," Colette added. "I hope."
"Same here." Patch said.
"Hey, Patch, you gonna stay for supper?" Rolly smiled to his brother.
"Of course, well, in fact I'm going to be staying for as long as Rover is at the Hill Farm." Patch said.
"Great!" Rolly chuckled. "It hasn't been the same without you."
"Ah, I'm sure you have lots of fun with Lucky, Cadpig, and Spot while I've been away." Patch smiled to his chubby brother.
"It just has been crazy." Rolly said.
Patch chuckled. "I bet! I promise to visit during the summer."
Rolly smiled back to him. Patch nodded and went with Raffles and Rover to meet the other dogs