Fenton the Wonderdog

• kateshrewsday

Well, he’s just been on Channel 4 News.

We first heard of this particular dog during last week, when my sister sent me an e mail entitled “Jesus Christ in Richmond Park”.

We clicked on it, expecting some mad preacher dressed in a long smock beard and standing on a soapbox. Instead, a home video pans across the leafy glades of Richmond Park on the outskirts of London.

For those who do not know it, Richmond Park is a Royal Park. The 3.69 square miles has been played in, walked in and hunted in for centuries, filled with gorgeous planting and illustrious buildings like that of the Royal Ballet School.

It’s a green lung for the privileged, this place; a place for champagne picnics and walking the corgis. One does not venture out badly dressed into Richmond Park. It is a manicured wilderness.

And it is packed with deer. Not in the furtive way our forest has deer- silent, invisible, isolated twos and threes communing in a rather wonderful companionship; no, these deer are in-your-face herds, numbering 600 or so, standing around being picturesque for Richmond residents and tourists alike. They are easy. Available.

Protected.

It even has protected views. This is a very British planning concept. The barrow-like hill called Henry VIII’s mound  looks all the way to St Paul’s Cathedral: and no one is permitted to build, or grow, anything in the way of this line of sight. The law decrees it.

Into this tightly controlled, revered and historical environment, every now and then, a little chaos must fall.

I have often thought managing a dog must be a challenge, surrounded by i) space and ii) deer. Our small terrier Macaulay would never be able to co-exist. He would have to be out there, running after them, the wind between his ears, his quarry the epitome of availability. It would be like cutting butter.

So about two weeks ago  a gentleman took his dog, Fenton, for a trot in the Park.We know, because someone filmed it, and then uploaded it onto YouTube.

It’s a treat.

The camera person is filming a picturesque group of deer, collected in picture-book pose, when a panic-stricken voice sounds from stage right: “Fenton! Fenton!”

It is the voice of a reasonable Englishman, and in that voice is the knowledge that events are slipping out of his grip.

“Fenton! Fenton! ” he continues and in utter horror utters the name of Jesus Christ as, finally, the black labrador bowls into the camera’s view.

Fenton has seen the deer. And the rest of the world has gone away, and so has his owner, and Fenton is in another reality, just him and the big retreating haunches of the Richmond deer.

These things can escalate very quickly. One or two deer can turn to ten, twenty, thirty in seconds. And the owner becomes aware that the deer are heading for the little road on which motorists pootle happily across the Park.

All we have heard so far is the stricken voice of Fenton’s owner. As a delighted Fenton herds his quarry ecstatically towards the road, Fenton’s owner comes into view tearing after him and the deer at full pelt, but still a fraction of the speed Fenton the dog and his four-legged holy grail can achieve.

Heart in mouth we and his owner and the cameraman watch as the cars grind to a halt, forced to stop their progress as Fenton drives them happily across the highway.

It is a must-watch: find it here. Fenton has not yet been identified, although surely it is only a matter of time.

It has spread like wildfire. Since it was uploaded onto YouTube on November 13 it has polled nearly two million views: and the cyberworld has seen the funny side.

The copycat versions about, each funnier than the last.

There’s a shot taken from the Indiana Jones film with Indy tearing over the crest of a hill, hotly pursued by hordes of furious natives; and over the top, they have dubbed that stricken English voice shouting :”Fenton! Fenton! Jesus Christ!”

Someone else has taken a clip from Bambi as a Disney deer flees through the forest, and a voice bawls the dog’s name in panic over the soundtrack.

They’ve dubbed the frantic shouts over New York shopping scenes, second world war films, even Monty Python’s The Meaning Of LIfe.

Fenton is a superstar. He has afforded us more guffaws in the last week than all the clever London comedians put together.

And so, from the bottom of our heart, we plead: will the real Fenton please step forward?

Picture source here

52 thoughts on “Fenton the Wonderdog”

  2. Hey that link gets me to the International Catholic weekly 😉 I need to see that video – haha. My dogs will chase kangaroos if given the chance (but never go too close – they don’t want to get boxed in the nose) and the neighbours hear me yelling all manner of profanites.

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  5. I first heard about this when it was mentioned on ‘The Now Show’ (R4 Friday 6:30pm) – and Scout said, “have you seen it?”

    When I said I hadn’t he went and found the clip for me to see. It’s amazing how these things travel through cyberspace!

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    1. I must admit to having a delayed laugh at this. The first time I watched in horror rather than glee….. a bit like the first time I saw Fawlty Towers!

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  12. You’ve made me laugh to the point of tears, Kate. Tom just rushed in hoping I’d not fallen off of my chair, only to sit through one more sitting of Fenton and the Deer. Fenton’s owner is probably hunched under a blanket, hoping no one has recognized him, poor soul. It was not Fenton, nor his owner, that brought me to hysteria, though, it was your words . . . “still a fraction of the speed Fenton the dog and his four-legged holy grail can achieve”. You are, dear Kate, a master at the art of wordsmithing and I admire your talent.

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  13. Now the video has gone ‘viral’ it cannot be long before the Police are ringing Fenton’s master’s doorbell, but for the video maker he has hit the jackpot.

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  14. I can’t lurk any longer… oh good lord. Having been brought to tears giggling, it would be remiss of me not to thank you.

    “It is the voice of a reasonable Englishman, and in that voice is the knowledge that events are slipping out of his grip.”

    Spot on.

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  15. Thanks so much, Kate, for sharing this hilarious video. I almost fell off my office chair laughing. The three cats looked at me inquiringly and sniffed when I told them what Fenton had done! I think they, too, long for the freedom of the hunt. For them the “holy grail,” of course would be bird, squirrel, vole! Can’t you just see Maggie, the long-haired calico with whom I live, chasing a herd of squirrels through the suburbs!

    Peace.

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  17. “Fenton’s owner, an architect and father of two who only gave his name as Max, was seen with the dog, which appears to be a black Labrador cross.

    The pair became an internet sensation when they were caught on a mobile phone by a 13-year-old boy who was filming the deer in Richmond Park, in south west London.

    The clip shows deer beginning to run as a well-spoken man is heard shouting at the dog off-screen.

    Fenton then appears racing at the deer, which begin stampeding towards a road with Max shouting expletives hard in pursuit.

    It was reported that Max did not want to speak because he was concerned he might face sanction for potentially breaching the rules on controlling pets in Royal Parks, of which Richmond is one. ”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/8919729/Fenton-the-dog-found-with-owner-Max-on-Wimbledon-Common.html (28th November )

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  19. A priceless dog and person moment! The poor man was probably on the verge of a heart attack, but we can all laugh about it now. 🙂

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  22. You made me laugh, even though I was feeling so awful for those poor deer, not used to this sort of unroyal treatment. Off to see the vid now…

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  23. Got to your site via Andra (Cootchie Mama) and her blog today about Super Lou. What a funny tale. Thanks for making me laugh today.

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    1. Hi Jill! It’s hit the big news in this country: everyone’s talking about it now. Who would have thought that one dog could cause a national sensation?

      Loved that super Lou post of Andra’s. I’ve never seen a picture of him before apart from his avatar. Fab stuff.

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    1. Glad it caused those at the Good Luck Duck a laugh 😉 Thanks for coming over to take a look-and for airing it on Facebook! Fenton is now a national phenomenon now (possibly because no-one can bear to think about the economy). We’re all debating whether he was a menace to wildlife or just a howlingly funny loose cannon. I shall always hold the latter point of view…

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