@@ -449,10 +449,59 @@
       )
     )
 
   0)
 
+(define (make-and-init-remote)
+  (make-remote hh-dat:      (common:get-homehost)
+	       server-info:  (if *toppath* (server:check-if-running *toppath*) #f)
+	       server-timeout: (server:expiration-timeout)))
+
+;; TODO: for multiple areas, we will have multiple watchdogs; and multiple threads to manage
+(set! *watchdog* (make-thread
+		    (lambda ()
+		      (handle-exceptions
+			  exn
+			  (begin
+			    (print-call-chain)
+			    (print " message: " ((condition-property-accessor 'exn 'message) exn) ", exn=" exn))
+			(common:watchdog)))
+		    "Watchdog thread"))
+
+     ;;(if (not (args:get-arg "-server"))
+     ;;    (thread-start! *watchdog*)) ;; if starting a server; wait till we get to running state before kicking off watchdog
+     (let* ((no-watchdog-args
+            '("-list-runs"
+              "-testdata-csv"
+              "-list-servers"
+              "-server"
+     	 "-adjutant"
+              "-list-disks"
+              "-list-targets"
+              "-show-runconfig"
+              ;;"-list-db-targets"
+              "-show-runconfig"
+              "-show-config"
+              "-show-cmdinfo"
+     	 "-cleanup-db"
+                 ))
+            (no-watchdog-argvals (list '("-archive" . "replicate-db")))
+            (start-watchdog-specail-arg-val (let loop ((hed  (car no-watchdog-argvals))
+                                                       (tail (cdr   no-watchdog-argvals)))
+                                                  ;; (print "hed" hed " arg " (args:get-arg (car hed)) " val:" (cdr hed)  " eql" (equal? (args:get-arg (car hed)) (cdr hed)))  
+                                                  (if (equal? (args:get-arg (car hed)) (cdr hed))
+                                                    #f
+                                                    (if (null? tail)
+                                                      #t
+                                                      (loop (car tail) (cdr tail))))))      
+            (no-watchdog-args-vals (filter (lambda (x) x)
+                                           (map args:get-arg no-watchdog-args)))
+            (start-watchdog (and (null? no-watchdog-args-vals) start-watchdog-specail-arg-val)))
+            ;(print  "no-watchdog-args="no-watchdog-args "no-watchdog-args-vals="no-watchdog-args-vals " start-watchdog-specail-arg-val:" start-watchdog-specail-arg-val " start-watchdog:" start-watchdog) 
+       (if start-watchdog
+           (thread-start! *watchdog*)))
+     
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; TODO: for multiple areas, we will have multiple watchdogs; and multiple threads to manage
 (define (common:watchdog)
   (debug:print-info 13 *default-log-port* "common:watchdog entered.")
   (if (launch:setup)
@@ -477,14 +526,11 @@
                 ;;(debug:print 1 *default-log-port* "INFO: ["(common:human-time)"] Syncer started (method="syncer")")
                 )))
 	    (debug:print-info 13 *default-log-port* "watchdog done."))
 	  (debug:print-info 13 *default-log-port* "no need for watchdog on non-homehost"))))
 
-(define (make-and-init-remote)
-  (make-remote hh-dat:      (common:get-homehost)
-	       server-info:  (if *toppath* (server:check-if-running *toppath*) #f)
-	       server-timeout: (server:expiration-timeout)))
+
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; currently the primary job of the watchdog is to run the sync back to megatest.db from the db in /tmp
 ;; if we are on the homehost and we are a server (by definition we are on the homehost if we are a server)
 ;;
 (define (common:readonly-watchdog dbstruct)