PRESS RELEASE: Red Dog Vet

Pip – My first red kelpie

Rick Fenny, a veterinary surgeon, is a man of the road – long trips taking him to his vet practices throughout the Pilbara. He is recognised as the keeper of the real version of the legendary Red Dog story – an animal medicine man – equally excited about dealing with a sick puppy in one of his far flung treatment rooms as attending to the veterinary needs of a vast cattle station.

Red Dog Vet – Pip, is the first of four books about the red dogs that punctuated four eras of Rick’s life. He takes the reader into his world as a young boy growing up in the post war years; firstly, on a small farm and orchard in the Hills area of Perth, and later in the coastal town of Albany. Those years formed his love of the bush, the ocean, everything to do with freedom. It is in Albany that, as a ten year old, Pip entered his life and Rick ofttimes refers to him as “my little brother.”

He says, ‘Pip and I were closely bonded and did everything together. He set me on my pathway, inevitably to become a vet, teaching me about animal and human behaviour, love loss, responsibility, caring and practical lessons in pet ownership.’

About his bond with Red Dog – the talisman of the Pilbara, he says:

‘I was his vet for much of his life and was tasked with putting him down. Laying the last shovelful of dirt on his grave was a poignant moment in my own life.’

Rick needed to think, reflect on what had happened, what led him to be sitting alone on a rock mourning the death of a special dog. He knew he had to write his story about Red Dog and the special bond they shared. The more he thought about where to start, it became clear that he needed to go back to where it all began, reflect on where he came from, go right back to the beginning. In this first book he returns to his early years in Mahogany Creek and Albany with his first red kelpie, Pip.

The reader is invited to share the unique experience of a boy progressing through the formative and manhood years with his special canine friend. It takes us firstly into an era when life was simple and carefree for a young child on a small holding in the Perth Hills, caring for the farm animals and helping with the orchard. With his family’s move to Albany, we journey into an idyllic life for a boy growing up in a coastal town. There are adventures around every corner for Rick, with Pip always by his side, and getting in on the action. 

Red Dog Vet – KELLY, my second red dog