Rex

The old farmer down the lane got a new dog and wanted rid of his old dog, Rex. He told us that Rex was ‘no bloody good’ and he was going to shoot him. We said that Rex was a fine, friendly dog. The old farmer insisted Rex was ‘no bloody good’, but said he would give him to us if we wanted him. We thought for a while. Now Rex the farm dog is our dog.

The old farmer kept Rex chained up for most of the day. Sometimes Rex would be loose and would often walk with us when we went down to the bottom of the lane and back. Sometimes he would come all the way up to our house and then stay around in our garden until dusk, when I would walk him back to the farm.

Rex always seemed hungry. We made a point of giving him food whenever we could because we thought that the old farmer wasn’t feeding him properly. This situation got worse when the new dog arrived. Rex was displaced from his spot in the yard and shut away somewhere each evening. He seemed hungrier and thinner; the new dog was being given most of the food.

We bought Rex a large wooden kennel and put it under the bay window at the front of the house. We were told that we would have to keep him chained up for a while before he got used to his new surroundings. I got a long chain, twenty five feet, which was tethered beside the kennel. He could run onto the lawn and go as far as the front door.

The first night Rex refused to go into the kennel and slept on the doormat inside the front porch. He howled during the small hours. The next day I tried to coax him into the kennel with food, but he still refused to enter it. That night he again slept on the doormat and howled. The next morning T stroked him and sang, ‘How much is that Doggie in the Window?’ for him. He enjoyed it.

I quizzed several local dog owners about why he wouldn’t go into the kennel. The first said that he was bound to go in, just give him time. The other said perhaps he was scared of it because he had been locked up in a small dark space. This seemed most likely, and probably happened after he was displaced by the new dog at the farm.

The third night he again slept on the doormat but didn’t howl. Rex seems to have rapidly got used to us and his new home. He is only 18 months old and seems eager to learn. We take him on walks on a lead as, whilst at the farm, he developed a bad habit of chasing cars. When a car comes by we make him sit and when he tries to leap up and chase it we say firmly no and push him back down to sitting. After the car has gone and he remains sitting we give him a treat.

Yesterday, I let him off the chain and he happily ran around our large garden and didn’t try to run back to the farm. He went into our neighbour’s garden, but came back when called. I patted him on the head enthusiastically. His head was wet and sticky. He had been rolling in fox shit. Ah, the joys of dog ownership.