Nothin' But a Hound Dog

Nothing But a Hound Dog is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Quick walkthrough

 * Talk to the King in Freeside at the King's School of Impersonation
 * Talk to Julie Farkas about what can be done to help Rex.
 * Return to the King with the news that Rex can be healed.
 * Take Rex to Doctor Henry in Jacobstown to learn how he can be fixed.
 * Acquire a new brain for Rex from one of these sources:
 * Rey's Brain increases Rex's attack.
 * Acquire a new brain for Rex from one of Old Lady Gibson's dogs.
 * Violetta's Brain increases Rex's movement speed.
 * (Optional) Search for an exceptional canine brain among the Fiends.
 * Lupa's Brain increases Rex's DT by 10.
 * (Optional) Search for an exceptional canine brain among Caesar's Legion.


 * Occasionally NCR Guard Dogs will drop their brains, which can be transplanted into Rex for no benefit.
 * Return to Jacobstown and have Rex's brain transplant performed.

Detailed walkthrough
Talk to The King in The King's School of Impersonation, inside Freeside. Ask him about Rex and he will tell you that something is wrong with him. He will then ask you to go to Julie Farkas, located in Old Mormon Fort. She will tell you that there is a man, Dr. Henry, in Jacobstown who can help. You must then tell King that Rex can be fixed. He will allow you to take Rex to Dr. Henry, who will tell you to to find at least one dog brain to fix Rex. There are three possible brains to choose from:


 * The first brain is at Gibson Scrap Yard, just north of Novac. Old Lady Gibson will ask you for 700 caps in exchange for Rey's brain. If your barter skill is at least 70, it can be obtained for free.
 * The second brain is at a Fiend camp near Poseidon Gas Station, built from ruined campers (trailers). This section is populated by Fiend Guard Dogs, including Violetta, a boss Guard Dog. She and her master, Violet, must be killed to acquire this brain. Remember to keep Violet's head intact when you kill her if you plan to complete the quest Three-Card Bounty.
 * The third is in The Fort, to which you gain access in the quest Render Unto Caesar. Talk to Antony about Lupa and eventually about a brain for Rex. Antony will then ask you to give Lupa an honorable death. You must fight Lupa in the arena with only a machete and no armor. Your reward will be Lupa's Brain if you defeat her in a battle.

Choosing to implant Rey's brain will give Rex the perk Faithful Protector, increasing his attack damage. Choosing to implant Violetta's brain will give Rex the perk Unshakeable Tracker, increasing his speed. Choosing to implant Lupa's brain will give Rex the perk Blood of the Legion, increasing his Hit Points (as of patch 1.02, this perk gives Rex +10 DT instead). [see Bugs below]

It should be noted that you can only choose one.

Bugs

 * If you succeeded in killing Rey and getting Rey's Brain for free, talking to Old Lady Gibson afterward will still offer you the option to purchase the brain for 700 caps or barter for a lesser price.


 * If you have already killed Old Lady Gibson as well as her dogs, Rey's quest marker may change positions on the world map either showing up at Novac or Gibson Scrap Yard. In both cases, Rey's corpse may be stuck inside the ground, making it hard for the player to see Rey's body or even realize that the body is glitched.


 * Completing this quest caused me to level up to the same level I was before. (Went from level 29 to 29)


 * While you can receive Rex as a companion, you may not unlock the quest Nothin' But a Hound Dog. Subsequently you will be unable to repair Rex's brain.


 * Rex may not join you if you previously had ED-E as a companion (he will growl at ED-E's presence even if ED-E is in another town). Rex will, however, join you, if you're waiting for ED-E to be upgraded by either the Brotherhood of Steel or the Followers of Apocalypse.


 * Kings' Gambit and G.I. Blues can interfere with this quest, making it impossible to finish. If you go back to King after talking to Julie Farkas and he says something like "My eyes on the street tell me you haven't spoken to our mutual friend Orris yet, until you do, we got nothin' to talk about", it means that the G.I. Blues quest is still considered active. You can still talk to Orris and hire him as a bodyguard, but you will not be able to finish G.I. Blues, making it impossible enter dialog with the King.


 * If you tell Rex to go back to the Lucky 38 and then go to the Fort to get Lupa's brain, talking to the Legionary Trainer next to the drawbridge in the Fort can make Rex's Search and Mark Perk Lost message appear again, saying that Rex has gone to the Lucky 38, and the player will get stuck, unable to perform any actions. The only known fixes for this are to load a previous save, or restart the system.


 * Old Lady Gibson may spawn at Helios One hostile. If you don't scavenge Rey's brain its body will actually stay out back in the solar field.


 * Guess Who I Saw Today can also interfere with this quest. If you are at the stage where you have to decide how to handle Keene's demands for the Stealthboy Mk. II specs, then Doctor Henry will not open any chat dialog thus preventing you from progressing this quest.


 * There is a chance, if you finish the quest by talking to Calamity rather than Henry, that the variable for Rex's brain won't be set in the quest, you'll get the ending for if you hadn't actually transplanted the brain at all (which is kind of upsetting). The fix for this is as follows:


 * - Press ~ to bring up the console.
 * - Type: set "001176B8".nTransplantResult to X

(You must type the quotes for this to work in the console)


 * X is one of the following:


 * 0 for no transplant ending.
 * 1 for Rey's brain ending.
 * 2 for Violetta's brain ending.
 * 3 for Lupa's brain ending.


 * That will fix the issue.


 * This can also be used in comparison with the resetquest trick above. If you do a resetquest 001176B8, you'll then have to pick up the quest from King and do setstage 001176B8 30. Follow the quest through as normal then, and once the quest is over, do the command above.


 * If you're having any other problems, try this command: set "0010d8df".ReceivedTransplant to 1


 * If the player implants Rex with Lupa's brain, prompting Boone to initiate the dialog in which he leaves the Courier, the game will sometimes glitch upon leaving this conversation. The result is that Boone will no longer be accompanying the player, but will still follow the player wherever they go, and (upon gaining close proximity) greeting them with his standard welcome, "Is it time?" There are, however, no dialog options available, effectively breaking Boone as a companion.
 * Upon transplanting Lupa's brain Rex's hitpoints may glitch keeping them at 100, If he engages in combat he will be knocked out rather quickly making him extremely useless as a companion.


 * Sometimes the player is unable to enter conversation with Dr. Henry. It makes this and every other quest involving Dr. Henry impossible to complete without console commands. To complete the quest via console, use the command: setstage 001176B8 100

Behind the scenes
"Hound Dog" is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and was originally performed by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. Elvis Presley covered the cover version of "Hound Dog" by Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys.

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