RUBY

Ruby is an approximately 8-yr old purebred who came to us as an unclaimed stray from a Utah shelter. She is affectionate and quiet in the house and an intense focused hunter outside. She is not housetrained. She will go quietly into a crate but often soils the crate. Ruby is also deaf, or at least, very very hard of hearing. She is not a candidate to be let off lead outside of fully enclosed areas. She is not a fence jumper or digger. She is healthy for her age with just a few small moles around her eyes. She has a great temperament with people and gets along with most other dogs. Ruby is very quiet and has not barked at all in her foster home. Ruby is looking for a family who can keep her safe in a fenced yard or on a leash so she will never be lost again.

Update Jan 2005: There are times when even an experienced foster home "meets their match". Ruby is such a dog for our program. Even after 6 months in foster care we could not housetrain her. She could not hear verbal cues and in her prior life probably lived in a kennel and so she never learned to keep her space clean. In addition to her lack of house manners and hearing, Ruby is an older dog and she had no home interested in adopting her. We sought the help of groups that specialize in hard to place seniors and dogs with special needs. To our joy, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary accepted Ruby into their program. She will not only get special care but will have a much higher chance of finding a home as some 20,000 visitors arrive at the BF Sanctuary each year. We are sure Ruby will woo a home willing to take on a "not perfect" dog that loves, LOVES, humans. Please check out their amazing work at www.bestfriends.com.

Sept 2006: Ruby decided to take the LONG way around to find a home, must be her penchant for travel! When we were unable to find a solution to her issues we asked Best Friends to accept her into their senior program. They did but after a few months in their care, Ruby met a woman from CA who does rescue work. Ruby has no issues with people and another group with some dogs that did, needed the space at BF. So Ruby traveled from Kanab, UT to the bay area in CA. Then to make things even more interesting, Kelly had seen Ruby while she was at Best Friends and could not get her out of her mind. So a few months later Ruby flew west coast to east coast to be adopted by Kelly. Kelly hopes to get into therapy dog work with Ruby and says that she is a total love -- of course, she is a Vizsla!

Visit the Photo Gallery for more photos.