Ruby 15-297

back to Adopted Dogs

Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Date Posted Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
 12/10/15 Physical fence required  Not tested Confident dog required  Not tested
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Welcome Ruby to the RAGOM family! Ruby is a retired mama from South Dakota who was dropped off at a humane society in Sioux Falls on Halloween along with two other Golden moms. Ruby is medium blond, tall and thin, weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 pounds. Ruby was transferred to a boarding facility in Sioux Falls where she started catching up on her vet work. In early November, Ruby came to RAGOM's attention and now she is slowly (very slowly!) starting her journey to a new life. Miss Ruby is now up-to-date on all her vaccinations, she's been treated for worms, and her test showed she is heartworm negative. We took her to the vet today where we confirmed that she's been microchipped, treated an ear infection, and made an appointment for her spay surgery -- all good things!.

When Ruby first came into foster care, she was accompanied by one of the other Halloween moms and they were both very scared girls. They spent most of their time huddled together, but slowly started to play together, although they were not comfortable interacting with the rest of the household. After careful consideration, it was decided that it would be best for them to have separate foster families where they could each grow in confidence and have the attention and love they needed. That's where we came in -- we welcomed Ruby into our home and she has continued her steady, slow progress to enjoying life and learning to romp in the backyard and play dog games.

We still have a way to go before Ruby can be adopted, but she is making progress every single day. As an example, she now readily leaves her kennel to go outside, waits with the rest of the dogs to come back in, and best of all, she's not had a single accident in the house. She's slowly starting to explore the house, but if she's afraid or confused, she appreciates the safety of her kennel. She has a good appetite and is most comfortable, at this point, eating her meals in her kennel, an easy habit to indulge. It's been absolutely great to watch Ruby become more confident in the short time she's been with us. In the middle of one night, I headed to the kitchen for a drink of water and found Ruby stretched out on the kitchen floor, enjoying the peace and quiet. I'm not sure who was the most surprised -- Ruby or me! Most of the time, she still prefers to be in her kennel, but we are starting to see her getting out of her kennel and walking cautiously to the living room, spying on the rest of the dogs. We expect that it's just a matter of time before she joins us all in the living room, you can see how much she wants to take that next step and we know she will when she's ready. She lets us pet her, but you can tell she's still not completely relaxed about all the attention. Good things are in store for this girl; it will just take time.

Please check in regularly; we'll keep you updated on her progress!

At a Glance #15-297

Golden Retriever Born: March 2008
Female 60 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

In addition to LOVE this dog has the following requirements:
Date Posted Fence Kid Friendly Another Dog Cat Friendly
 12/10/15 Physical fence required  Not tested Confident dog required  Not tested
This is the most recent information available; however, it may change as we learn more about the dog.

Welcome Ruby to the RAGOM family! Ruby is a retired mama from South Dakota who was dropped off at a humane society in Sioux Falls on Halloween along with two other Golden moms. Ruby is medium blond, tall and thin, weighing somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 pounds. Ruby was transferred to a boarding facility in Sioux Falls where she started catching up on her vet work. In early November, Ruby came to RAGOM's attention and now she is slowly (very slowly!) starting her journey to a new life. Miss Ruby is now up-to-date on all her vaccinations, she's been treated for worms, and her test showed she is heartworm negative. We took her to the vet today where we confirmed that she's been microchipped, treated an ear infection, and made an appointment for her spay surgery -- all good things!.

When Ruby first came into foster care, she was accompanied by one of the other Halloween moms and they were both very scared girls. They spent most of their time huddled together, but slowly started to play together, although they were not comfortable interacting with the rest of the household. After careful consideration, it was decided that it would be best for them to have separate foster families where they could each grow in confidence and have the attention and love they needed. That's where we came in -- we welcomed Ruby into our home and she has continued her steady, slow progress to enjoying life and learning to romp in the backyard and play dog games.

We still have a way to go before Ruby can be adopted, but she is making progress every single day. As an example, she now readily leaves her kennel to go outside, waits with the rest of the dogs to come back in, and best of all, she's not had a single accident in the house. She's slowly starting to explore the house, but if she's afraid or confused, she appreciates the safety of her kennel. She has a good appetite and is most comfortable, at this point, eating her meals in her kennel, an easy habit to indulge. It's been absolutely great to watch Ruby become more confident in the short time she's been with us. In the middle of one night, I headed to the kitchen for a drink of water and found Ruby stretched out on the kitchen floor, enjoying the peace and quiet. I'm not sure who was the most surprised -- Ruby or me! Most of the time, she still prefers to be in her kennel, but we are starting to see her getting out of her kennel and walking cautiously to the living room, spying on the rest of the dogs. We expect that it's just a matter of time before she joins us all in the living room, you can see how much she wants to take that next step and we know she will when she's ready. She lets us pet her, but you can tell she's still not completely relaxed about all the attention. Good things are in store for this girl; it will just take time.

Please check in regularly; we'll keep you updated on her progress!

Updates

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Ruby is one lucky lady -- the H. family drove down to Iowa to meet her and fell in love with her. I can't fool you, Ruby could tell that something special was happening and she was a bit nervous about it, but her new dog sister helped to calm and comfort her and they spent the ride home cuddled together in the back of the car. This morning, Ruby joined her new dog buddies on a walk, something I bet she's never done before. Ruby doesn't know it yet, but she has landed in a house that is very experienced at helping dogs blossom and grow and she's in excellent hands -- and to add to that she will get to join her family on outings on the lake this summer.

I could not be happier for Ruby; she's going to continue to grow and experience the Golden Life she deserves.

Monday, February 8, 2016

We're very pleased to share this update with you - Miss Ruby is starting to share some of her personality with us and it's great to think that she's starting to recognize that life is good. Here are some of the highlights since we updated her page last:

First: Ruby is now all about "dish," which is our word for feeding time. She enjoys the routine, does happy barks, and dances with delight. She eats her food with relish and gusto. Mealtime is clearly becoming one of the highlights of her day.

Second: Ruby is getting closer and closer to taking a treat from our hand. She will take a treat that we put in front of her (when she's in the living room in her safe spot, for instance), but she'll also take a treat off the top of our shoe or even off the top of our feet. This week, we're going to see if she will take the next step and take it out of our hand. We've used some really good treats and she's developed quite the liking for waffles. Go figure!

Third: We actually found her on the dog couch in the sunroom, looking out the window with the other dogs. We wonder now if she's been doing this while we have been away from the house, but this week, she did it in front of us and we were happy to see this new behavior!

Next, she's learned the comfort of a dog bed. Most of the time at night, she voluntarily joins us in the bedroom, but sometimes we have to remind her that it's time to go to bed. She may start out in the spot that she's declared as her bedroom safe spot, but later in the night, she claims the guest dog bed as hers and really settles in for a good snooze.

Yesterday, we put a leash on her and walked her upstairs with the other dogs -- something that we've not done with her before. She did just fine, following the dogs' lead as if it was no big deal. Truthfully, you could tell she was very nervous, but she was also very brave. When it was time, she went back down the stairs with the rest of the dogs and we're going to give her plenty of practice with this over the course of the coming week. Ruby is a creature of habit and we want her to feel comfortable in the entire house.

Ruby has also started to relax about coming back into the house after her romps in the backyard. She does a great job coming in with the pack, but if she's at the end of the pack, she sometimes gets in a bit of a panic about entering the house while I'm standing by the door. These last few days, she's entered the house easily whether or not she was in the pack.

One of Ruby's routines is to only use the water dish that is outside -- she just didn't like the water dish that's in the house. So, she has a special dish outside that doesn't freeze over and that's worked out fine.

Here are a few pictures of Ruby -- the one with her head under the folding chair was taken at the vet where she was getting her nails trimmed. We took her favorite dog buddy with her and she did OK. Putting her head under something seems to be her way of coping and we call those spots her safe spots. Going to the vet and returning, Ruby preferred to ride on the floor between the front and back seat.

  

Stay tuned, we hope to tell you about Ruby's bath adventures in our next post. It's time for Ruby to learn about The Tub!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

From Sharron Thomson From Sharron Thomson

 

Monday, January 11, 2016

Ruby is making some good steps forward on her new year's resolutions -- I'm so happy for her!

First, she is very close to taking treats from our hands - you can tell she really wants to and she almost touches the treat, and then just can't quite make herself trust us and backs off. I bet within a week, maybe two at the most, she'll be taking treats from us. She's that close.

Second, Ruby surprises us by coming into the bedroom in the middle of the night. Sometimes when we wake up, she's there having a happy moment with the other dogs as they all wake up and head outside. She also spends much more time in the sunroom now and it's not unusual to find her in the sunroom when we come home from running errands. In the past, she would have been in the living room 100% of the time; now, she's expanding her comfort zone considerably.

Third, she now approaches us to be petted, but only in the middle of the night. Don't quite know what that's about. One night last week when I was a bit restless, I went back out to the living room to watch TV and Ruby was very excited to see me, came to me when I called her and seemed to enjoy the attention. This has happened several nights now. She's not quite so open to me during daylight hours, but that's OK. This is a great start.

And her fourth accomplishment this last week is that she now eats with the rest of the dogs. She even goes to her feeding spot when she knows it's about time to eat and waits for us to place her dish in the right spot -- love this girl! She is really making progress, slowly, very slowly, but it's all still progress. You can see one success building on another - it's wonderful to watch!

Monday, January 4, 2016

Ruby welcomed in the new year in great style -- she had a good meal, enjoyed time with friends, and made a resolution or two that she's already working on (much better than her foster mom is doing...).

Ruby is really connecting with her dog buddies and doesn't seem to mind that the temperatures have dropped and it's really cold outside. She seems to really enjoy the freedom of roaming in the yard, following our pack and engaging in their daily activities.

When I think of what she was like when she first joined our household, she's made miles of improvement. She now plays with our dogs and enjoys playing with toys as well. She goes outside with ease and comes back inside almost as readily. She has learned the feeding routine and enjoys treats. Her coat is lovely and she has decided that being combed is not a frightening activity.

Here are her resolutions for 2016:

  1. To take treats from our hands -- she enjoys treats, but is not ready to actually take them directly from our hands. We're convinced she can master this - you can tell she really wants to and that she's very close to a breakthrough on this.
  2. To learn about the rest of the house -- she's comfortable with the kitchen (it's where her kennel is located), the living room (her favorite safe spot), and has started to conquer the bedroom. The next step is to learn about the stairs and going up to the office with the rest of the dogs so they can spy on the birds in the backyard together.
  3. To approach people for attention and pets - she did this in her first foster home, but she hasn't gotten to that point with us yet. She lets us pet her, and is starting to relax with the attention, but she hasn't sought us out and initiated any interactions with us. Again, we think she's close, but just needs a bit more time and trust.

We learned one important thing this last week. Now that Ruby is playing with toys, it's important that we help her learn the difference between toys and other household items, just like you would do with a puppy. She enjoyed one of mom's shoes this last week and since mom and dad were slow to learn, she also had an opportunity to enjoy one of dad's shoes as well. So, now we put our shoes away and are helping her learn where the toys are stored and what is play material and what is not!

All good!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

What a brave girl Ruby is becoming! I'm just thrilled to share the major breakthroughs this girl has experienced in the last week. Truthfully, any one of these steps forward would have been great, but the fact that she took all of these major strikes in one short week really speaks volumes for what we think is in store for Ruby. Here are some of her holiday highlights:

First, she has extended her safe spot beyond her kennel and the coffee table. She now routinely spends time out and about in the house, looking out the windows and joining the dogs in their fascination with squirrels and deer. She got excited with the rest of the pack when a bald eagle landed in the field across from the house. She joined the dogs at the windows, jostling around, trying to find the best vantage point to appreciate the sighting.

Second, even bigger, she is now engaging in play with the rest of the dogs, sometimes even initiating play. She isn't quite ready for bitey-face games yet; she's more interested in sniffing, rolling around, and nuzzling -- but we know that our dogs won't stop until she's in a full-play mode. She plays with our youngest dog (a former RAGOM girl) and our large male (also a RAGOM dog) and our most recent addition to the household as well. It's as if she's learned to enjoy life, enjoy being a dog.

Third, she now joins the dogs in their play-filled romps in the backyard, running with the pack instead of running the perimeter as she did when she first arrived. She now enjoys the entire yard, not just a path by the fence. She has assumed our dogs' habit of bursting out of the back door at full speed to see what wonder the yard holds for them, even if they just went outside and explored the yard only 10 minutes earlier.

Fourth, she now eats with the rest of the dogs -- she still prefers to eat in her kennel, but she eats at the same time as the rest; she no longer waits for them to leave the kitchen before she enjoys her food. Along with that, we're slowly moving her water dish towards to main dog dish and hope to eliminate her private water dish in a week. She's a bit suspicious, but she's going along with it.

Fifth, she loves her red Kong -- tosses it in the air, rolls it around the floor, chews on it, rolls on it, and in general has learned what toys are. She hasn't yet found the dog toy basket, but I expect she'll be thrilled to find out that there are other equally exciting toys in the house!

Ruby is still very cautious around her people -- she's very gentle, but still very cautious. She lets us groom her, pet her, and give her doggie massages, but she's not quite ready to fully open up to us yet. That may take a while, but that's OK -- we're positive that good things are in store for this lovely girl and she's worth the wait!

Here are some pictures from this week -- I hope you agree that she's starting to enjoy life!

Monday, December 21, 2015

I'm so happy to see that Ruby has a fan club -- thank you to all who have been reading about her and thinking good thoughts about her progress. And thank you to Sharron Thomson for your support of Ruby's expenses -- this is greatly appreciated!

Ruby is getting to be a brave girl; she's ventured out of her kennel now and spends most of her day in the living room with her head under the coffee table, creating a new safe spot where she can watch the day's activities and keep an eye out on the two- and four-legged family members. She still eats in her kennel, but that's about all the time she spends there. She seems to love going outside, particularly with her dog buddies where she will follow them around the yard and join them in their appointed rounds of sniffing every blade of grass out there. She has even joined in on a bark-fest when there was a herd of deer within sight on the other side of the fence. What dog could resist that? She is also starting to play with our resident dogs, but only outside. There's some preliminary romping starting to happen, tail wagging and what we like to think of as smiling. She seems happy and is starting to engage.

Inside, she is a very quiet girl, carefully watching what is going on. She is now responding to her name and knows the word "outside" and we think she's also learned the word "dish" which is a word we use at feeding time. She likes to eat after all the other dogs have left the kitchen and is happiest when she doesn't have to worry if the other dogs will get her food. She has given them a very soft low "grrrrr" to let them know she would like to be left alone and they've all respected her wishes. They do check in on her periodically to see if she'd like to play when she's inside -- our youngest dog is quite insistent that she play tug-of-war, but Ruby just isn't interested. Instead, Ruby has started to chew on some of the dog toys and we're wondering if this might be the very first time she's had toys to enjoy. She is slowly but steadily coming out of her shell and it is absolutely terrific to see. She has so much more to learn and so much ahead of her, but it will all come in time.

Ruby was spayed last week and she handled the surgery OK -- she was very glad to get home where she could get back into her routine -- she just loves her routine. She has a few more days of antibiotics to take and all that will be behind her.

We're very pleased to say that Ruby is still accident-free in the house -- what a good girl! This week, we're hoping to introduce her to another room or two in the house so her world can continue to gradually expand. We'd love to see her sleep in the bedroom with all the other dogs, but right now, she's still partial to the living room.

Please check in next week for another update about lovely Miss Ruby.

You Recently Viewed