‘Unmanageable’ Dog Returned to Shelter 4 Times Becomes Hero

 

Ruby had way too much energy. Her first owner gave her to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA) because she was generally “unmanageable.” The cute puppy was adopted right away, but it was sent back four times. Things didn’t look good for the dog that was a mix of a border collie and an Australian shepherd.

 

But RISPCA’s special agent for humane law enforcement, Joseph Warzycha, fell in love with the 8-month-old puppy and thought she had promise. The important thing was to figure out how to use all that energy.

 

“After being returned the fourth time, the [shelter] director felt there was too much liability in placing her again and the decision had been made to euthanize her,” Warzycha tells MNN.

 

 

Uncomfortable with the decision, he requested additional time to formulate a plan.

 

“I spent a lot of time with Ruby while at the shelter,” Warzycha says. “She was smart, agile and demonstrated very high play drive, all of which are desirable qualities for a search and rescue dog.”

 

Warzycha called his friend and coworker, Rhode Island State Police Sergeant Matthew Zarrella. Zarrella takes shelter dogs that can’t be adopted and trains them to be search and rescue dogs. Not long after that, Trooper Daniel O’Neil got a phone call about a dog who might become his new partner.

 

Even though O’Neil’s life was pretty crazy at the time, he took Ruby home to train her as a K-9. He told Today that he was a father of a young child, that his wife was pregnant, and that he already had a dog. Ruby ran right into his house and left him a big, smelly gift in the living room. 

 

Things didn’t start out well. But the patient soldier and the rowdy dog trained with Zarrella for six months.

 

Ruby turned out to be a natural.

 

‘She brings a little humility to a very negative environment’

 

Ruby is great at her job, and she loves every minute of it.

 

“She keeps me motivated to come to work,” O’Neil tells People.

 

“She wants to jump in the cruiser so bad. She brings a little humility to a very negative environment. When you have a dog that has that emotion of pure love, it is really tough to be in a bad mood. She just wants to be with you.”

 

Ruby has been a police K-9 for almost seven years, and her achievements are now being praised. She is in the running for one of the Hero Dog Awards from American Humane. Ruby and O’Neil helped find a teen boy who had gone missing from home and was found unconscious in the woods. In a strange twist, the boy’s mother was a volunteer at the animal shelter named Patricia Inman. Each time Ruby was returned after a failed adoption, Inman tried to help her get better.

 

“You can think what you may, but I believe that was Ruby’s way of saying thank you to Ms. Inman for taking care of her during her rough beginning,” said O’Neil, on nominating Ruby for the award. “Ruby was given a chance at life and ended up saving a life.”

 

Ruby is one of the dogs in “Searchdog,” a documentary about search and rescue teams and their K-9s that won an award. A film crew was following Zarrella to show his work, and they caught Ruby’s change from being hard to handle to being a hero.

 

 

“Searchdog” was made by Rhode Island filmmaker Mary Healey Jamiel, who told WJAR: “I think Ruby exemplifies the story of someone who was unwanted and discarded and, like a lot of us, we all just need a second chance.”

 

Source: Treehugger