Nothin' But a Hound Dog

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

Synopsis
The King's cyberdog Rex is getting on in years and the brain he uses for a central processor is degrading more and more each day. The King wants to know what can be done to help his canine friend.

Walkthrough

 * 1) Talk to The King in Freeside at The King's School of Impersonation about his cyberdog.
 * 2) Talk to Julie Farkas at the Old Mormon Fort about what can be done to help Rex.
 * 3) Return to the King with the news that Rex can be healed.
 * 4) Take Rex to Doctor Henry in Jacobstown to learn how he can be fixed.
 * 5) Acquire a new brain for Rex from:
 * 6) Rey, one of Old Lady Gibson's dogs can be found at Gibson scrap yard. Gibson will demand 700 caps for the brain of her old dog, or she will give it up for free with a Barter check of 70. Rey's brain will provide Rex the Faithful Protector perk, increasing his attack damage.
 * 7) Violetta, a Fiend guard dog owned by Violet is found at Violet's trailer fort near the Poseidon gas station. Violetta must be killed to acquire her brain. Violetta's brain will provide Rex the Unshakeable Tracker perk, increasing his movement speed.
 * 8) Lupa, Caesar's Legion hound mother is found at Fortification Hill. Her handler Antony requests that the Courier gives her an honorable death in the Legion arena with only a machete and no armor. Lupa's brain will provide Rex the Blood of the Legion perk, increasing his damage threshold.
 * 9) Return to Jacobstown and have Rex's brain transplant performed.

Behind the scenes
The title of the quest is a cultural reference to the song "Hound Dog", sung by Elvis Presley in 1956.

Bugs

 * It is possible to stealthily kill Lupa and loot Lupa's brain from her corpse. If she is successfully killed without the player being noticed, Antony may not "notice" that Lupa has died and will still give you the option to fight her in the arena for her brain. If the player accepts, it is possible to obtain a second Lupa's brain, but having two of the brains in your inventory will cause Dr. Henry to not recognize that you have the brain at all, making it impossible to give Rex Lupa's brain. To solve this, either revert to an earlier save, or enter in the console. Make sure that you only have one instance of Lupa's brain.
 * 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. Use the following command to fix this
 * 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.


 * 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.
 * Upon transplanting Lupa's brain Rex's hitpoints may become set at 100/0 making him impossible to heal.
 * 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.