Ruby Gardner

RubymeI am making my deceased dog Ruby a calm human-loving Kelpie my hero because at a young age, Ruby was adopted as a farm dog and because she did not herd farm animals. The farmer wanted to get rid of her but did not have the heart to shoot her so he chained her up somewhere and tried to get rid of her that way until a lady found her teeth ground to the bone, emaciated and scared of men she saved her and fed her way too much. Ruby made her way into an animal rescue and was going to go to a dog rescue by transport in a couple of days. we were the ones to be transporting her so we had at home overnight to transport her the next day. But that night she made her way into our hearts by being in the moment, good with kids, great with cats, ok with other dogs and best of all cuddly. So as most foster fathers do we adopted her but we needed to help her get over her fear of men and be on a diet.

My deceased uncle would come over and hand feed her, throw food next to her and ignore her secretly watching her but defiantly watching TV until one day she would have enough courage to let her pet him and let him cuddle her and that day forward she associated every man with him. When he would come over she would be so happy to see him that she would almost pee herself with my other dog at the time a blind sharpei. my uncle would come in say hello to her and cuddle her then let my blind sharpei chew his hand.

I learned from her that everyone needs a second chance, to live in the moment, be close to the people you love, and help anyone when they need it, people love you for personality and kindness not for what you look like, everyone needs a cuddle and actions speak louder than words.  every time someone was upset she would try and get your attention to cuddle her or pet her. She would sleep next to me like a human in between the covers and head on the pillow. She loved to run on farms but she would never go to far away from you. We call her my spirit dog because she was always helping me and we had a very close bond.  

When she was older, we found a solid lump on her leg so we took her to the vet the vet said that she had arthritis and more or less cancer so we had limited time with her left. We went home and spent a few more loving months with her but she was not coping with it she was not her happy self she barely ran, and limped. we knew that if she was not happy and hurting, we had to what was best for her because she had done so much for us. She knew what was happening and was happy not to hurt anymore; we told her thank you, that she was a good girl and we would see her again soon.