His name is Rubedo for the melding of colours on his coat. A brown, which is not quite brown. Not quite earth or rust either. A mix of gold and copper and zinc – at least, that’s the online definition of the alloy Rubedo. Evidently, Tiffany & Co launched an entire jewellery line in the metal not too long ago.

Rubedo is the daddy doggie on the farm – a Labrador-Saint Bernard mix. His missus is a golden mutt called Rio, and together they have a bunch of puppies who look nothing like mamma or papa.

We’re at a farm-stay couple hours from home. It’s the kind of place that makes you linger. Linger long enough to discover canine connections and why Rubedo was named after a precious alloy. Linger long enough to discover the personalities of the other animals who call it home.

There’s Chestnut, the horse, missing one white sock from his hooves (the mystery of disappearing socks seems to extend to the animal kingdom as well). Three turkeys strut about with enough oomph to give the Kardashian sisters a run for their money. Hiding in the undergrowth is a pair of white ducks who prefer to keep to themselves, as if to say this menagerie of animals is below their pay grade. Cows and roosters and frogs and bugs of every conceivable kind (I prefer not to linger too long on those!) stop by to say hello.

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