Rexie: the Australian Heroine
Rexie with John and Evie Nagy
In the 1960s, Rexie was a German Shepherd living in Australia in the home of the Nagys. They adopted her after she came wandering into their tavern, and she quickly became a beloved family pet. But Rexie wasn’t an ordinary dog. Over time, the Nagys realised that even though she had never received formal training, she had a knack for identifying suicidal tendencies in people.
Thanks to Rexie’s intervention, many suicidal people were prevented from ending their lives. Some sources estimate that Rexie saved approximately 30 lives, while others speculate that she saved hundreds of people.
It is a privilege for me to share this story of this wonderful, kind dog with the world.
Tsem Rinpoche
The Gap in the suburb of Watson Bay, Sidney
The Gap is a beautiful ocean cliff located in the suburb of Watson Bay, Sidney and overlooks the Tasman Sea. The place is not only popular with tourists, but also with those who sadly want to commit suicide. The Gap sees an average of 30 – 50 suicides every year.
The Gap Tavern
In the late 1950s, a female German Shepherd puppy came to John and Evie Nagy’s home. At the time John and Evie were the proud owners of The Gap Tavern located near the edge of The Gap. The tavern was a popular hang-out place for those living in Sidney and was frequently featured in social pages. The couple made inquiries about the puppy and found out that she was a stray. The Nagys happily adopted her and named the dog Rexie. Rexie quickly became a beloved member of the Nagy family, and she loved John Nagy’s cooking.
Rexie with The Gap Tavern’s guests
In episode 41 of The Extraordinary, an Australian TV show which featured stories regarding the paranormal and supernatural, Evie Nagy fondly recalled the deep bond that she had with Rexie. When Evie was pregnant with her first son, Rexie was also pregnant with her first litter. When Evie’s baby was due, John took her to the hospital after which he went back home to check on Rexie. When the doctor called to inform him that his son had been born safely, John told the doctor to tell his wife that Rexie had given birth to 13 puppies. Evie was pleasantly surprised with the news.
Newspaper clipping of Rexie’s heroic endeavours
A newspaper clipping depicting Rexie and one of her litter
As time went by, the Nagys realised that Rexie had a natural skill to identify suicidal tendencies in a person, although she had never received formal training. One day, over 40 years ago, when Evie Nagy was busy in the Tavern kitchen, Rexie approached her and barked nervously. Evie felt that there was an emergency and she followed Rexie to the edge of the cliff. Evie found a man who was determined to end his life by jumping off the cliff. Fortunately, due to Rexie’s intervention, the man was saved. He was the first of many lives that Rexie would save.
Rexie liked to patrol The Gap to make sure that everything was in order. The special quality about Rexie was her ability to identify suicidal tendencies in a person who visited The Gap. She was never wrong in identifying these people, as she knew the subtle differences between a tourist and a person who intended to commit suicide. Rexie’s diligence in patrolling The Gap earned her the title ‘Guardian of The Gap’. Due to her heroic endeavours, Rexie became an international celebrity and was the first Australian German Shepherd who won the Award of Merit, which is the canine equivalent to the Victoria’s Cross. It is an award given for bravery in the face of the enemy.
Rexie’s Award of Merit
Rexie was different from the other rescue dogs because she never received the formal training usually required for this role. In addition, Rexie was very gentle to those she saved. She licked and kissed them like a mother would for her puppies.
Rexie’s courage to save those who intended to commit suicide was not without risk to her own life. One day, John Nagy saw that someone intending to commit suicide had grabbed Rexie’s collar and threatened to take her with him over the edge of the cliff. John pleaded with him, “Please, you go, but leave the dog. Don’t take the dog with you.” The leaper complied and released Rexie. After that day, John Nagy never put another collar on Rexie.
Rexie with John Nagy
In another sad incident, Rexie found a lady who was ready to jump off the cliff. Police officers could not convince her to come away from the edge and so they asked Evie to have a woman-to-woman talk with her while Rexie was standing beside Evie. Eventually, Evie managed to convince the lady not to commit suicide. The next morning, Evie learned from the newspapers that this suicidal lady had killed her child. After her first suicide attempt, the lady tried to commit suicide two more times at The Gap and escaped death each time.
Rexie’s distinguished career came to an end in September 1970 when she died giving birth to three puppies. Although she lost her life, the puppies were saved. Her death was mourned by the Nagys, those whom she had saved and many more who were inspired by her courage. Throughout her heroic life, she managed to save over 30 people (some say hundreds) from committing suicide.
Newspaper article on the passing of Rexie
Evie recalled that Rexie’s skill to identify suicidal tendencies was an inborn trait that none of her pups inherited. The Gap Tavern survived into the 1990s before it was replaced with a modern structure.
Please watch the clip below to hear Evie Nagy recall her experiences with Rexie, taken from The Extraordinary Episode 41 from minute 33:15 to 41:42.
The Story of Rexie
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/Rexie.mp4
Source:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney)
- https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowTopic-g255060-i122-k564947-The_Gap-Sydney_New_South_Wales.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoYrp0RkJcc
- https://roadsrus.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/gap-bluff-an-unexpected-sydney-attraction/
- http://www.watsonsbayassociation.org/cms_subpage/5/27
- Poliness, Grania; Plating Up History: The Story of Australian Souvenir China; Australian eBook Publisher (17 August 2015); ISBN: 0646931911
For more interesting information:
- Hachiko – A Lesson in Eternal Friendship & Loyalty
- Heroes Behind the Scenes
- I heard her voice!
- 7 Signs Your Dog Is in Pain and Trying to Hide It
- Inside The World’s Most Dog-Driendly Office
- Feeling Guilty?
- New Zealand Officially Recognizes All Animals as Sentient Beings
- These Dying Dogs Need Your Help Urgently
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Animals show love for humans! Cow, lions, apes, dogs, bears, parrots and more can all be very affectionate and show surprising emotions when it comes to expressing their love for people. An emotional animals hugging humans video.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1546455946.mp4
Thank you for keeping this story alive, Effie and johnny were my great aunt and uncle and so many of these stories have been lost. I loved reading this and watching my auntie Effie again ☺️
Thank you
Dear Rebekah Goodman,
Thank you so much for your comment. It is very nice to know that you found this article and that it bought back many wonderful memories for you. His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche is always trying to educate others and inspire them in their daily lives. Rinpoche was very touched by the story of Rexie, and John and Effie Nagy. In fact Rinpoche is a great animal lover and loves stories of animals, like Rexie. If you like, you can read an article written by Rinpoche about his relationship with his dog, affectionately called Mumu. Here is the link: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/my-life-with-mumu.html.
Thank you,
Pastor Niral
Such an amazing story. I am so happy to know that this actually happened and that it is actually real. Truly an incredible animal.
Dogs have always been different from other animals. They are kinder and more compassionate. Thats why they are known as mans best friend, unlike any other animal or pet. Like a cat for example. They simply do stand out from all other animals on this planet.
But Rexie here even stands out from all the dogs, of which already stand out from other animals. She has an ability that isn’t even common in humans. She is more human than most people I know. In fact, I didn’t even know being able to sense suicidal tendencies was even a thing. Rexie is a life saver. And I hope more and more people read this story and give her the respect she deserves.
Human not necessary more superior than others being on the earth. Beings like dogs can save people and have special instiact that human don’t have. Some animal, can sense the earthquake is coming. So, we must not have the thinking that are species lower than us and can become our entertainment or food.
Thank you Valentiena for sharing this article on Rexie. I really salute on her capabilities to be able to detect any human who wants to commit suicide. In a Buddhist point of view, Rexie is kind and compassionate. May Rexie have a good and swift rebirth with all her good deeds.
With folded palms,
Vivian
It is an inspiring story of a dog who rescues suicidal people. Perhaps Rexie could have saved humans before in previous lives.
What an inspiring story, thank you. Rexie was only a dog but with the care and concern for others of a human, truly remarkable. You may say it was animal instinct, but you don’t see that in all dogs or animals. It definitely looks like a past life imprint manifestation.
This reminds me of the story of a man, Ah Heang in Penang who often rode along the Penang Bridge saving many people from jumping off.
Inspiring story here, http://bit.ly/2eI434C
Rexie had a wonderful motherly instinct. That reminds me of my own dog Teenie, a Chihuahua who especially loves my son and likes to mother him. During dinner time, she runs upstairs without fail to scratch on his door and make sure he comes down for his food. While sitting on his lap, she will groom him as she would her own puppy, licking and nibbling off any scab she can find. We love her to bits.
Rexie and Ah Heang are such inspiring individuals. They could have just watched and done nothing or turned a blind eye while people were suffering around them. But they could not just sit around and instead were instinctively stirred to mobilise themselves into action, not wanting any reward or recognition, many times at great risk to themselves.
There are three ways in which one could react, cause harm (push them off), do nothing (walk away) or positive action (save them). Interestingly, causing harm and doing nothing carry the same kind of negative karmic result (black and neutral karma) while only the positive action (white karma) results in merit and positive states of rebirth.
Thanks Rinpoche and Valentina for sharing this beautiful story of Rexie.
Although animals can’t speak or think like human, there are a lot of abilities they posses such as Rexie here, an uncommon ability to identify the suicidal. What they see and feel can be more than us.
Dog is an animal that especially close to human. We can see dogs also assist in after disaster rescue works and they give their life to their “job”.
May more people have loving kindness to dogs and also other animals that are intelligent and beautiful in their own ways.
This is very interesting. Rexie is very cute and I am sure she was psychic, which is not unusual considering many animal species had displayed psychic abilities. You have cats, rats, birds and so forth that had from one time or another displayed some sort of psychic abilities.
Dogs are one of the most common to display that and usually only towards their owners only. I find Rexie’s special because she display her psychic abilities towards a complete stranger. She must have been trained to do this in previous lives and hence, it came naturally to her in this life. That’s how i see it and I am sure she would have taken a good rebirth.
Thank you Valentina for sharing rinpoche’s great story collection to us. Animal like human too they have supernatural power or strong sesnses!!!! That hey could smell good or bad things about to happen.
Like my dog, he could know or smell when i am unhappy down deep inside before i could show it on my face..
He will then sit next to me or lay his head on my lap…it happen again today when a sad message comes thru….
Amazing maybe this is inborn or from their previous live.
Dear Lisa
Thank you for your comment. I can totally relate to your story as I have a dog myself (picture attached). When I was in Jakarta, I often came home very late, but he is always there to wait for me and when I felt down, he is always there to cheer me up. He may be spoilt, but my little dog know about loyalty I appreciate him for that.
Animals are intelligent and loving being. having an animal pet really help us to understand about this. We should not harm or cause any animals to be harmed for whatever reason.
Valentina
Valentina, thank you for sharing this lovely story of an extraordinary dog called Rexie.
Rexie , a German shepherd,had an unusual talent to identify would-be suicide cases. When people visited the Gap, she could tell who were tourists and who had come here to seek an end to their lives. Her natural talent for identifying would-be suicide cases was not from any training. In fact , none of her puppies have inherited this skill.
The Gap was a place sought by those were bent on taking their lives. Rexie would patrol the Gap diligently for any such possible case.
She was very gentle with those she saved. She would lick them and kiss them like a mother would her puppies. She had great courage, as she faced risk to her life every now and then, when a suicidal case would try to catch her and take her down with them.
All in all, Rexie is credited with having saved over 30 lives. Her sad end came when, true to form, she gave up her life for her three babies.It is little wonder that she won the Award of Merit, which is the canine equivalent to the Victoria’s Cross – an award given for bravery in the face of the enemy.
Thank you Rexie for being there for the people who needed you most.
Thank you for such a wonderful story about this beautiful heroine. It is indeed a gift that Rexie was able to tell when a person is on the verge of ending his life and be the being responsible to save him.
This is a beautiful story shared. From the story we learned that Rexie is a German Shepherd who is soft and kind inside but tough & courages at the same time. This might sounds weird but it’s true that animal like dog is able to feel and have feeling. They even able to help and in some incidents, readily to sacrifice their life for others. We as human may be should start the thinking of animals are inferior and human are far more superior. This is actually wrong.
A truly remarkable and inspiring story about Rexie, thank you Rinpoche and Valentina for putting this on the blog. I am pretty sure many after reading this would feel that Rexie has some amazing psychic abilities that could sense human suicidal tendencies.
Dogs have very sensitive nose where they could detect approximately forty times more in comparison to human nose but being able to detect suicidal tendencies in human is beyond my imagination. There have been no research done on this but I guess that should there be another Rexie that comes along today then perhaps some interest can be generated.
I had a friend who recently succumbed to cancer; she had fought so hard trying to exterminate these invading cells for about a year. She went for surgery, chemotherapy session and many other medical interventions but unfortunately cancer eventually took her away. I was informed by her when she was alive that it was her pet dog that detected her cancer by sniffing all over her and barking at her continuously she felt strange but finally decided to do a checkup. There was no symptoms and did not realize that it was cancer until a diagnosis hospital oncologist confirmed it.
What a beautiful story of a heroine in form of a dog named Rexie. She was taken in as a stray and went on to save many through her natural instinct. This is such a rare trait that animals have that I wonder what she was in her previous life. Her bond with John & Evie Nagy was so endearing that Evie & Rexie were pregnant and gave birth at the same time.
On the opposite of saving lives, I heard of a cat in a hospice that could sense impending death of the residents there. She would curl up with the specific resident at the point of near death, providing comfort. Apparently she was never wrong in her prediction. The medical science says that maybe when we are near death our bodies produces certain scent and this cat was able to pick up on it.
Thank you Valentina for sharing this heartwarming article and thank you Rinpoche for initiating this article so we may share in the Boddhicitta deeds of Rexie.
Thank you for highlighting this dog, Rexie and her knack for identifying the suicidal tendencies of some people.
As time goes by, heroes and heroines are forgotten. So, this article is great as it refreshes people memory and mind on such great acts of benefits to many people. It also serves as an inspiration to many to be more aware of the tendencies of beings.
This dog must be very observant and very smart to recognize signs of suicidal tendencies. Can a dog be called mindful and she seems to be very much so. As a Buddhist, I would tend to think that this dog is not ordinary as it has a great compassionate mind. Maybe the throwing karma of this mind was not favorable in her previous life.
Hopefully, the throwing karma is better this time around and with her great merits accumulated from saving all those lives will bring her a better rebirth.
Thank you Valentina for sharing this wonderful story of an incredible and courageous dog. Rexie , the dog definitely deserved the ‘Award of Merit’ for her bravery and selfless actions.Even animals can show great compassion and care towards other beings therefore, we must not hurt any animals as they are living beings with feelings too.
This is a warm story about a beautiful sensitive German Shepard by the name of Rexie. Her innate ability to sniff out people with suicidal tendency helped saved life is such a refreshing relief to the gloomy The Gap that recorded upto 50 suicides a year. It is especially heartwarming to see Rexie took it upon herself to guard the cliff of The Gap from unattended suicides. Thank you for this article, Valentina.
Dear Valentina,
This is really a very heart warming story. A dog which treasure life and would save the people’s life!
I have found some information regarding The Gap. The Gap is an ocean cliff on the South Head peninsula in eastern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, it has also a long history as a suicide spot for Sydney begin in year 1863.
To me, I believe Rexie was a special dog. As we know, unless the dog is well trained for certain activities, dogs will not automatically do any rescue acts, what to say that Rexie have repeatedly saving lifes, and it is without any training. She have a heart of Bodhichitta that determined to save life, even she was hurt once.
Thank you for research and sharing this wonderful story of Rexie- the heroine
Best regards
Freon
Thank you Valentina for this wonderfully researched and concise article for us to reflect on Dharma.
It is certainly heart warming and further convince us that not only humans are capable of compassion, but all sentient beings.
This case of Rexie is a perfect example that puts to shame a lot of humans who turn a blind eye to people who are attempting to commit suicide.
If a single dog can save so many lives, aren’t we humans should be able to do much more, that we are able to talk, comprehend, listen and relate back to others.
This is truly an inspiring story and may Rexie be blessed by the Three Jewels always and obtain a higher rebirth where she can be of tremendous benefit to all sentient beings.
Thank you
Lum Kok Luen
It is amazing that Rexie had a natural skill to identify suicidal tendencies in a person. Unfortunately, there is no successor to Rexie although she has given birth to 13 puppies. Perhaps some dogs are more sensitive and some are not?
Past researches found that dogs can integrate two different sources of sensory information into a perception of emotion in both humans and dogs, such as voice/ vocalisation that indicate mood, as well as facial expression. However, I think there is much more that perhaps researches have not been done to confirm. The theory that Pastor Jean Ai mentioned could be a possible reason why dogs can ‘sniff’ out our emotions.
Although Rexie was a heroine, she remains almost forgotten now, and dogs are no longer allowed around the cliff area. Thank you Valentina for bringing to light the history and story of the brave Rexie.
Rexie was an extrordinary dog, because she is one dog which has never received formal training, and yet she had saved over 30 people from committing suicide, though some said the total figure comes to more than a hundred! The heroic dog’s owner, recalled Rexie’s skill to identify suicidal tendencies was an inborn-trait that none of her three newborned pups inherited. Nevertheless, Rexie the selfless herioc german shepherd dog unfortunately died after given birth to her three pups. Throughout all her heroic life, she had being acting like a real mother to whoever she saved, kissing and licking everyone very gently to show her motherly love to one and all, courageously! May such meritorious energy and compassion of Rexie’s heroic acts, gain
immortality, wisdom and merit for her to attain the desired objective of a Human rebirth in her next life. Om Mani Padme Hung.
Thank you Valentina for sharing the beautiful story of Rexie. She is truly an intelligent and compassion dog. A dog with a given talent to sense a person who want to commit suicide and ability to save them.
A very special dog indeed. It is an inspiring story.
I hope she has a good rebirth and be blessed by the Three Jewels.
Dear Lin Mun
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you. Rexie was an intelligent and compassionate dog. She was special and intelligent because she had this quality that could identify when someone is desperate and would like to end his/ her lives. She was compassionate because knowing someone desperate, she was willing to make an effort to run and fetch someone to save the desperate. For that she deserved our respect. I hope the story of a compassionate dog who lived more than 30 years ago will inspire many people to be more compassionate.
Valentina
There is a theory that depression is caused by chemical imbalances, or that when we are sad or depressed, our body’s chemical make-up somehow changes or has been changed. So while we might look happy on the outside, physically it could be one of two things:
(1) we are depressed and suicidal because we have a pre-existing chemical imbalance
(2) our body has made changes to itself to attempt to regulate our mood and depression, and this has resulted in microscopic chemical alterations. In this link for example (http://bipolarworld.net/Phelps/ph_2005/ph1353.htm), the doctor describes changes that may take place as a result / symptom of being bipolar.
< <"To speculate about what's going on here: I suppose when she gets depressed she might eat less, perhaps little? When people are consuming less than what they're burning every day, especially if it is a lot less, they become "ketotic": they start releasing fuel molecules into the blood called "ketones", from their fat stores. Ketones diffuse easily from the blood to the air in your lungs, and they have a very noticeable odd odor, sometimes described as sort of a sweet smell. So there's one way mood could easily come out with a smell -- but the smell you describe sounds worse. Ketones don't smell "bad", but they definitely smell like something.">>
The doctor also says that these changes would be noticeable to someone who is always around a person with bipolar disorder, because there’s a difference between when they are severely depressed and when they are not.
These are however, such minute changes that people like the Nagys wouldn’t be able to tell because they are not exposed to those suicidal people on a regular basis to experience the changes. But perhaps it is these chemical differences that Rexie was so hypersensitive to, more so than other dogs.
There are other sorts of incredible medical feats they are capable of, like sensing oncoming strokes and warning their owners. I wouldn’t put it past Rexie to be so attuned to those who are depressed in this manner because certainly dogs do have a heightened sense of smell.
This is a very beautiful story, thank you for sharing it with us. Animal has natural instinct and skills that is beyond human understanding, they are very intelligent and sometimes, like Rixie very loving and compassionate, in additions, Rixie has a special gift that saved many lifes. We should treat animal with love and care, because they have the same exact feelings and emotions like human.
Beautiful and interesting post of Rexie…Amazing Rexie was so special different from the other rescue dogs. She never was not train to rescue in the first place and yet she can identify suicidal tendencies in a person That is amazing and she had rescue many people .She must had been some one who was so compassionate,loving and caring in her previous life that made her so special.Hope she had a good rebirth.
Thanks Valentina Suhendra for sharing this beautiful post.
Thank you for this beautiful story on Rexie Valentina.
Rexie is really a beautiful selfless being. I don’t see her as a dog, but another caring being. In fact if we follow and believe that Bodhisattvas can emanate into many different forms in many different realms than I will definitely say that Rexie is one!
No ordinary dog would feel or care or empathise with someone this much. She is definitely a very very special dog, and I am sure in her past life Rexie was someone very caring and loving, someone who was selfless and seems to be always looking out for others and helping others.
Wherever Rexie may be, I pray that she is well, and I pray that she has taken a good rebirth as a human so she can do more and benefit more, and that she will be protector by Lord Dorje Shugden.