Early on, Shepherd’s Rex Blaze was a bit of a hard case. While at his first stop, an urban home in Alabama, the family’s wife died. Under the circumstances, her husband felt compelled to re-home Rex. From there, he landed on the farm of a doctor friend who was ironically named Shepherd. During the period in which Rex resided at Shepherd’s farm, there was an incident involving the death of a few goats. It was questionable if Rex was actually guilty of capricide. It appears as though Mr. Shepherd himself did not live on the farm’s premises. In his absence, a nanny goat gave birth overnight. One theory is that there were complications during the kidding. If that was the case, the deaths may have occurred on their own, and Rex may have been investigating after the fact. But, Mr. Shepherd deemed Rex to be the killer. Mr. Shepherd told the English Shepherd community that he felt inclined to put Rex down. Rex’s breeder heard of his fate, took possession of him, and worked to re-home him.
When he was eight, Rex finally found his forever home near Asheboro, North Carolina. Rex and the elderly gentleman who took him in adored each other. Late in life, Rex sired no less than seven litters! To his credit, Rex bred into the lines of Wingler, Peaslee, William’s Dairy, Whippoorwill, Le Gette, Celo, and Carousel. Rex’s hips graded as Good by the OFA, which was an important factor in his selection by so many breeders. It is noteworthy that Rex’s hips were not graded until he was already eight years of age. Some folks wonder what his grade would have been at a younger age. As it stands, Rex made a significant contribution to the breed at a time when his type of dog was scarce. He was registered with the English Shepherd Club, the UKC, and the IESR. Many consider him a key male in the modern history of English Shepherds.
