De La Brooke Xon (2015) by Claire Newsom I visit this area during every school break and spend four weeks in the summer to help take care of the hounds and horses. As a result, I have come to know all the Tryon Hounds fox hounds, but my favorite must be Xon.

Xon was born at Moore County Kennels and drafted to my aunt, Beth Blackwell, the huntsman of Tryon Hounds. De La Brooke Kennels is where Xon got his formal name. Hound names are chosen alphabetically and Xon’s litter names happened to start with X. His father’s name was Truckstop and so Beth had to get creative since names starting with X are not common. She eventually named him Xon, sort of as a spinoff of an Exxon gas station to go with Truckstop. 

However, Xon did not have the skillset that his father had. Truckstop was a phenomenal hound, so Beth had grand expectations for Xon and his siblings. He is by far the laziest dog I have ever met. The other day I left him in my room to sleep in while I did morning chores, and I forgot he was there. I came back nine hours later and found him on my bed with his head on my pillow, which is exactly how I left him. He is also one of the most loveable and affectionate hounds around. He steals everyone’s heart that meets him, hence the reason he lives in the house. Xon never really enjoyed hunting. He would much rather sit on the couch all day with his people. When Beth did manage to coax him out to hunt, Xon would just sit and wait for Beth to get him anytime the hounds had to cross a stream or ditch. Yes, he is that lazy and a scaredy cat to boot! I am sure all he does is get up once a day to use the bathroom although he does love his food and manages to get up for meals!

Xon is not just any dog to me, he is extremely special. I care for him as if he is my own and I favor him over the remaining hounds. When I make food for the rest of the dogs in the house, I secretly put a little bit of wet food in his bowl even though he is a little on the chunky side and should not really get too much extra. I also feed him my food scraps. Xon, along with his sister Xanadu, sleeps with me every night. He always sleeps right next to me just like a human, with his head on the other pillow. Sometimes he even puts his paw around me and his head on mine.  I really do hope I can take Xon home with me someday. I am currently trying to convince my parents to get onboard with the idea.

PS -  the entire time I have been sitting here authoring this article, Xon was on the couch with his head over the back of it looking up at me, as if to say, “Attention please – I’m over here!"