Hi, all hooman and furry frendz. It’s me, your ever-so-curious sniffer and tail-wagger JournoDog who is always sniffing out the latest scoops and digging up the latest tidbits of info-kibble you should know.
Sad news today. All you pet news-watchers may have heard that Ruby of Rhode Island crossed the rainbow bridge.
This is the Australian shepherd/border collie mix with an incredible heart-warming story, but who very much came to fame when being hailed as a hero for her work as the first-ever shelter dog to train with and become a K9 on the Rhode Island State Police force. Her handler, Corporal Daniel O’Neil, practiced with Ruby for a year, helping her become a certified trooper with the Rhode Island State Police K9 Unit by 2012.
Among so many accomplishments, she’d go on to become the inspiration for Netflix’s Rescued by Ruby film that premiered in March 2022.
Just about two months after that streaming film’s debut, the Rhode Island State Police revealed on May 15 that 11-year-old Ruby had been euthanized two days earlier due to a “sudden, acute, and untreatable illness.”
[Insert sadness + hooman comfort here]
The Rhode Island State Police put out a touching press release, and this quote included in People’s Pets section sums it up:
“K-9 Ruby dedicated her life to serve the citizens of Rhode Island and make a positive impact on every person she ever interacted with,” said state police superintendent Col. Darnell Weaver. “She became a symbol of hope for all shelter dogs, showing the world what a shelter dog can do when just given love and the chance to shine.”
The state police official went on to say:
“She had a full, happy, and wonderful life, not only as a trooper but as part of a loving family. She worked right until the end and never gave up doing what she loved most — making people smile.”
[Awwwwww! So many tail wags and sad-but-loving doggo kisses.]
Before joining the state police force, Ruby was at Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RISPCA), still searching for a home after months at the shelter and 5 failed adoptions.
But shelter volunteer Patricia Inman is reported to have stayed devoted to Ruby, training the dog and working to find her the ideal fur-ever home — all despite being an energetic pup with some “hard-to-manage behaviors.”
Once joining the police force, Ruby helped her handler O’Neil and the police force find numerous missing hoomans. It was one of those remarkable cases that made the TV news and went high-profile in 2017, when a call came in from the police in Gloucester [glu-coaster, like with diabetes?!?!].
The lil hooman had been missing for 36 hours already when they started sniffing all the sniffs and digging up clues. After 6 hours of searching, Ruby located the missing boy and stayed by his side until rescuers came to take the lil hooman to the hoz-pit-aal.
Even more amazing than cats and dogs becoming friends, is the fact that the lil hooman’s Ma turned out to be the very hooman — Patricia Inman — who was the shelter volunteer that had not ever quit searching for Ruby’s fur-ever home.
[OMG! THIS IS THE BESTEST STORY EVA!!!!! NO WONDA IT’S BEEN MADE INTO A NETZ-FLIFFX FILM STARRING THE FLASH HIMSELF!!!!!!]
Not surprising to any canine or dog whisperer hooman reading this, Ruby wagged her tail gave all the kisses and jumped up onto her OG shelter volunteer Pat.
[Of course that was Ruby’s reaction. We doggos never forget what’s imprinted in our hearts.]
The Netz-Fliffx hoomans told People Pet’s the following:
“There’s a champion spirit in all of us that sometimes takes one person to see what we don’t see in ourselves,” the statement said. “As dramatized in our Rescued By Ruby movie, they needed each other for that champion spirit to flourish. We like to imagine that a scrappy rescue dog named Ruby, saved in the 11th hour by Trooper Dan and a Godwink, has now arrived at her heavenly destination and heard these words: ‘Good dog, my faithful servant.'”
[All the back shivers and sniffles of emotions.]
What a story, to be sure. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this trailer for the Netz-fliffx feature starring Barry Allen. Defz worth the watch.
Until next time, or whenever paw-some news beckons like a barking dog you can’t help but pay attention to, #JournoDog out.
As always, remember: Love your pets. Support local journalism. Make a true difference in the world. And try to smile and find a little happiness for your heart every day.
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