Why people bring sticks to a gravestone for a dog named Rex

• Rex has become a famous dog sculpture in the Green-Wood Cemetery, where famous people were buried. 
• Because of the stress caused by COVID-19, people come to the park to enjoy nature and every time they see Rex, they would leave sticks at his feet. 
• Rex’s statue in there is a sweet reminder to the world that a dog’s love and loyalty to his human remain the same forever.

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The Green-Wood Cemetery in south Brooklyn is known for being the resting place of many famous people — politicians, Civil War generals, musicians, artists, and others. But one grave has been getting lots of attention lately than it normally did in previous years. 

Among the many obelisks and angels, stood the bronze statue of a dog with his name, Rex, engraved on it. He has been there for more than 100 years now, believed to be guarding the grave of his owner — still a good boy and loyal. 

His owner is believed to be John E. Stow — one of the city’s longest fruit merchants who passed away in 1884. And it has become a tradition for people to leave sticks on the dog’s paws. 

“When it comes to Rex, he obviously stands out,” Stacy Locke, the cemetery’s communications manager, told The Dodo. “People will drop a stick across his little paws. Someone also left a picture of a dog there once, maybe their little pet who passed away, as to say, ‘Rex, look after my little one.’”

The influx of visitors was mostly people who wanted to hang out in nature and escape the negative atmosphere of COVID-19 in the cities. 

But aside from Rex, there was another dog statue in the cemetery, only that it was not easy to be seen. It has the same mysterious story as Rex, in which the beliefs that he’s buried beside his owner remains unconfirmed. 

Still, the sculpture of a pet in there is a sweet reminder that a dog’s love and loyalty remain the same forever!

In Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn there is a gravestone for a dog named Rex. People bring him sticks and place them at his feet because he is still a good boy. cc: @dog_rates pic.twitter.com/0GhxcZwjSz— ¡Kevin T. Morales! (@KevinTMorales) August 2, 2020

Source: The Dodo