They have been with me all night,thinking about all sorts I guess thats what happens when you cant sleep. I am still thinking a lot about my Grandad but also about his dog Rex.
Rex was a very special dog and I know all dog owners think that their dogs are special in some way,and most animals are they all have their own little quirks.
Let me tell you about Rex.
Amongst Grandads friends were several policemen,one of whom was a dog handler.As grandad saw this gentleman on a regular basis he got to know the dog quite well,the dogs name was Rex.He was the second dog to be handled by this person and so was quite young.In his few years as a police dog Rex had already won two bravery awards for courage beyond the call of duty.I dont know exactly what they were for as Grandad never told me.
Grandads friend was due to retire and that meant that Rex would be found a new handler.About a year after he learned that his friend was retiring Grandad learnt that Rex had been relocated but not with a new handler,they had decided that it would be easier to bring in a handler with dog and so Rex was retired and 'given' to a new home.Grandad wanted to find out if he was ok and so got in touch with his old friend who in turn got in touch with the people who had relocated him.The reason that he hadn`t stayed with his old handler when he retired was because he was only young and had still a lot of work years left in him,and apparently they had moved to a smaller place on the coast and couldn`t take him.
They finally located Rex who by this time had apparently been given to someone else.
When they found him he was locked in a coal bunker,down some steps,the man refused to let Grandad see him and so he went straight to the police station that Rex used to work at and told them he believed that Rex was being cruelly treated.They brought in the RSPCA and together Grandad,a policeman friend of his and A RSPCA officer went to this house. While the policeman and the officer talked to the man Grandad went down the steps to the coal bunker and talked to Rex from behind the door ( The man was refusing to unlock it) he said that Rex just kept whimpering,something he had never heard him do. Finally the man gave the policeman the key to the bunker and Grandad opened it. He told me that when he saw Rex he just cried,at first he wouldn`t come out and when finally coaxed by Grandad he crawled out on his belly. His fur was matted with blood and dirt,there were cuts across his back where the man had beaten him,open and weeping,as well as what were obviousley fresh cuts.Grandad said he had never wanted to harm another human till that day but he wanted to take that man and do to him what he had done to Rex.Rex`s eyes were filled with gunk where he had a cut and it had been left to fester. The RSPCA officer said he may have to be put down as the treatment could have turned him. Grandad said he`s going home with me,there was a bit of an argument but Grandad was resolute Rex was going home with him,in the end they relented and said as the dog knew Grandad and wouldn`t respond to anyone else then he could go but he would have to be treated first.Grandad told them they could send the vet to his house that Rex was going nowhere but home with him.
And so Rex came home to Grandads,it took weeks of treatment to heal the wounds on his back,and one never properly healed,though it was never open it gave him a lot of pain through the years.
Rex was a beautiful dog and I loved him to bits and he loved me too even though it could be months between seeing each other,to me he was huge,he was quite a big dog but to me he was enormous but still I could roll all over the floor with him.
One day Grandad was walking Rex along the canal as he did everyday when they heard a shout and a splash a child had fallen in to the water and was going under,Rex never even hesitated he dived in and pulled the child to the bank where Grandad and another man pulled him out of the water,he was to do this another three times before he died and won himself even more bravery awards.Not just the canal either he even pulled a fisherman from the river when he had got into trouble. He once bit me,not a massive bite just a little nip really,he was asleep under the table and I was writing as usual,I dropped my pencil and went under the table to get it,I accidently touched his back where the bad wound had been the one that still hurt him,and he snapped. Somehow he knew it was me and though he could have made a real mess of me all I got was a little nip. He was very upset when he knew he had hurt me and spent the rest of the day with his head on my lap whenever I sat down. I was sorry I had hurt him and so sat with my arms wound round his neck for ages after. I was never scared of him even after that.
Rex lived to be nearly fourteen years old,he died about eighteen months before Grandad did,having spent the better half of his life being loved as he should have been.
Rex not a brilliant pic but the only one I have ( thats me stood at the side of him)
