Animal trainer Sherri Davis has a saying she’s fond of repeating. “The day my kids don’t want to go to work, they retire.”
Davis’s kids are not human: a pack of German shepherds make up her brood. One of them, Diesel vom Burgimwald, ascended to global fame and adoration as the star of popular Canadian police-dog procedural “Hudson & Rex,” now airing its seventh season on Citytv and in dozens of other territories around the world.
Then one day, it happened. It was a Sunday morning and Davis had just emerged from the shower. “OK, buddy, ready to go to work?” she asked. Diesel jumped off the bed, but Davis felt something was off.
“As I looked into his eyes, I could see they just weren’t as bright. There was a void and I knew that something was not right,” she remembered. Diesel’s nephews, Dillon and Dante, had been training to one day take over as Rex, so they headed to set to fill in for their ailing uncle; thankfully, it was a day that didn’t require any complex performances.
Davis rushed Diesel to an emergency clinic, where an ultrasound revealed that his spleen had burst, filling his abdomen with blood; he headed right in for emergency surgery. After 48 hours in the hospital, he returned home to around-the-clock medical care.
“His recovery was absolutely phenomenal and, despite being full of stitches, he was back in the pack wanting to play and go to work,” Davis said. “Every day I came home from a set he would greet me at the door wagging his tail giving me kisses. I feel that the other Rex dogs knew that he was sick and were giving 150 per cent to make him proud of them.”
Four weeks later, Diesel’s health took a turn and Davis opted to provide compassionate euthanasia for him. Diesel vom Burgimwald died at age eight, surrounded by Davis and furry family members.
But what would “Hudson & Rex” do now?
Their titular star had just died, yet they were only a few episodes into shooting the new season. Davis and the producers faced a choice: reveal Diesel’s demise right away or hold off until the season was finished.
In the end, the crew decided to keep the news under wraps, shooting the remainder of the season with his nephews. In a touching twist, Diesel’s final episode would be “Room With a Clue,” a “Home Alone”-esque episode entirely focused on Rex that finds him solving a crime on his own while stuck at home.
It was not an easy decision for Davis. “But it was imperative to go this route for me to continue to finish shooting Season 7,” she said. “I had to stay concentrated on the task at hand, which was getting Diesel’s nephews up to par to take over the role of Rex.
“I am a very private person and I did not want people approaching me on set about the news. This would make me emotional and that would project to Dillon that I was upset with his performance.”
Besides Dillon and Dante, another set of Diesel nephews, Is-he and Iko, perform stunts in the show, as does distant relative Dreamer. Davis wanted to maintain the order and stability of the pack, so there was no real time to mourn.
“It truly was ‘the show must go on’ and let’s keep training to keep the show going,” she said. “I could not break down and cry in front of (the dogs) because that would impact the pack and Dillon, who was giving his all to make his uncle proud.”
Christina Jennings, president of production company Shaftesbury Films, remembers being on set when Dillon was performing in his first episode.
“I’d look over and be like, ‘Did Diesel just come on set?’ He’s so similar to his uncle, it’s hard to tell them apart,” she said. “So we decided we’d just wait. We’d let the season go out and, if the fans started to notice, we’d be ready and we’d be public about it.”
Come January, the season started airing. As Jennings predicted, some of Rex’s more eagle-eyed fans noticed something was different.
“Our fans are superfans, they can spot all sorts of things. When you’re watching a police show, you’re sitting there as an armchair detective already,” Jennings said, “so, sure enough, within two weeks, come Episode 3 and Dillon’s entrée into stardom, there were comments.”
Fans started commenting and comparing pictures on social media. “I honestly don’t think it was the dog’s performance as much as it was his ears, believe it or not!” Davis said.
Retiree Bonnie Lee is a long-time fan of the show and its star. “Diesel had that special quality that is rare in a TV star. You fell in love with him after the first head tilt or that little cry he makes, or when he climbs up on the sofa between Charlie and Sarah,” she said.
“I looked forward to the show every week. I’ve had some terrible losses in my life and watching the show always put a smile on my face and somehow managed to make me feel better.”
Lee felt something was wrong after the second episode. “The other dogs all look like him, but there was a distinct difference.”
She started tweeting about it and many fellow viewers responded that they, too, were worried about Diesel.
Davis has mixed feelings about the online sleuthing. “Social media can be a great thing, but it can also be a devastating thing,” Davis said. “My one main wish is for those commenting on social media to look a little deeper and think before they comment about the dogs and their work. I needed time to grieve and to train, and the process was difficult and heartbreaking.”
As challenging as it was, Davis knew it was finally time for her to go public with the news. The production revealed to the world that Diesel had died via a People Magazine exclusive.
Jennings has no regrets about holding off on the announcement for six months. “It was all about grief: Sherri could not grieve at that time and keep working her job, she just couldn’t do it,” she said.
The announcement unleashed a huge number of tributes to Diesel and grief at his passing.
“The outpouring of support at this time has been heartwarming, especially seeing posts of fans recounting their experiences of meeting him,” Davis said. “He absolutely adored his fans! One of his favourite pastimes was the various fan meet and greets. Fans who thought he was a serious police dog were taken by his quirkiness in person.”
Lee herself attended a Diesel meet-and-greet in 2023 and was shocked at how sweet the dog was, taking photo after photo with hundreds of attendees. She was “crushed” when she found out about Diesel’s death. “I felt like I had lost a family member,” she said.
The show has yet to be picked up for an eighth season but, if it is indeed renewed, Dillon will continue in his uncle’s footsteps, with Dante providing backup. “Dillon has massive paw prints to fill,” Davis said. “My No. 1 priority is not to have either of them be overwhelmed and to just enjoy the working experience.”
For Davis, grieving a heart dog has been tough and grieving a heart dog in full view of the world has been even tougher.
“This has been an enormous emotional roller-coaster and reliving it now is not easy,” she said. But if the show is renewed, Davis is ready to soldier on with her remaining kids. “I have to stay strong for the other Rex dogs!” she said. “I must carry on Diesel’s legacy in his honour.”
