Ruby - Staffie, Bitch (2 Years)

I spent 3 hours with Ruby on Tuesday and after we had a good play and a long walk with lead training I sat down with her in her bed.

For the first time EVER she snuggled herself directly on to me, closed her eyes and properly relaxed while i massaged her.
It was lovely. I have never seen her like that before. Then she sighed an placed her head on my leg. I was totally happy for her.

This shows how much time it needs to spend with her on a one to one basis. She so needs this relaxation as she is so hyper and nervous all the time from the noise going on around her.

Again I am proud of myself and can't wait to get back. I will have a bit time until I wil find a new job and will certainly spend a bit more time with her. Unfortunately when I am back at work this will stop and I wil be only there once a weekend.

Hi Lala, it is lovely to read about Ruby's progress and all the work you put in her. Well done for all your efforts. It is so rewarding when you see the dog's behaviour change following your work. I think you have a serious bond going on between the two of you and it is extremely beneficial for Ruby. xx

I joined Lala and Ruby today for a bit of a walk. Ruby showed off some of the new skills she has learned because of Lala's dedication to her training. I was impressed how well she sits when asked and how she just ignored the dogs around her. Ruby reminds me a lot of Missy as she is getting very stressed in the kennels and would also benefit tremendously from being fostered. However, if a foster home can't be found, she would definitely benefit an awful lot from having a consistent and prolonged training dedicated to her specific needs. This would allow her to get to know the outside world again, get used to domestic surroundings and generally escape from the kennels for a while to de-stress. Similar things have worked wonders for Kinver and Zeek as it helped them escape from the confinement of the kennels and develop their personalities in a positive way.

Here are some pics of the team posing on the walk: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.207230839365229.52999.100002349431880&type=1&l=a565b36bcd

When I arrived today at FDR I was told that Ruby has not been very well yesterday and did not get excited as ususal when she was taken out for a walk- instead she had cried out to the staff, Emmae told me. That is very unusual behaviopur for Ruby.

Today Emma and myself put on a harness in joint effort. Some people had mentioned it would work better on her as Madame likes to play with the lead (as we all know). It fitted and I took Ruby out.

Ruby would not stop to try and play with the lead today no matter how often I stopped her. She would always try again and I do not know why. Was it excitement, nervousity, stress??? We simply could not have a walk. How frustrating as she is so desperate for exercise.
There for I took her into the play pen so that she could run freely when I would animate her by throwing her yellow rubber ring. The problem of course is that time in the play pen is very limited and is not enough for her exercise when she can not have a walk either. I then took her to the patio area and let her off the lead again. Thankfully at that time it was midday already and no other walkers would queue in. Afterwards I sat down with her by her bed and she enjoyed a belly and ear massage.

I am now very concerned that other walkers will not walk her when she makes it nearly impossible and that she does get even fewer exercise than she already has. I hope she will soon be calmer again so that a walky is doable. Maybe I am doing something wrong. I am confused because until now I always managed to stop her from the messing with the lead so that she could focus on the walk and the lead training.

Any suggestions most welcome. Thank you so much.

This small squeeky chicken toy that Ruby (still) has in her bed is treated carefully like a pup by her.

I am convinced this is what she thinks it is- a baby.

She licks it all the time and when it falls out of bed she carefully lifts it with her teeth back inside. It is too sweet to watch and really made me laugh.

OK guys,

I think Ruby has had enough of kennel life now -it's been six months and I want to help finding her a loving forever family.

In cooperation with Ria I made a Ruby poster which also has been been distributed on facebook today.

If you can, please print it and ask in your local shops or what ever places you can think to help by having one in a window.

I cannot work out how to attach the PDF here so if you would like to receive it, just send me a personal message and I send it to you via e-mail.

Thank you all for yoru help xxxx

Angela

Angela,

I've added the downloadable PDF at the end of the original (very first) post on here.


Ria x

I spent 3 hours today with Ruby and I have to say the lead training is getting better and better. When she pulls I stop and she comes back to me withoput me having to say anything. Clever girl. This only works well when she is not distracted tho which still happens easily btw. Otherwise I have to be firmer but that also works ok, so no worries.

Ruby chased the Kong in the play pen and clearly enjoyed the new space- well done FDR.

Afterwards we had a cuddle in her bed as usual. She is so happy when I come to sit with her in there- it is just so cute!

Darling Ruby those are wonderful pictures...her little face lights up when she saw Pumpkin..Let's hope somebody sees what a beautiful girl she is really soon

Today,
Ruby was a very good girl again. All it takes is patience and keeping
her as calm as possible. She gets so easily excited and when she
realises she is going for a walky she could just go mad because she is
so happy. I entered her kennel and just stood there for a long, long
while until she just sat down in front of me- still barking but at
least sitting. I talked in a calm manner to her and...
then sat down by her a while so she would become even calmer. Without
any problems I could then get the collar over her mouth, round her
neck. Then I waited another while before I got up, attached the lead
and held it ultra short. That way she did not have a chance to get hold
of it and things wouldn't escalate. Quite easily we so got over the
tricky part, -passing the other kennels where she is confronted with
more exciting things from all sides (barking dogs, smells, people, -all
very very exciting). Then we had a good run in the play pen where she
chased the rubbery ring. After that she walked with me nicely- with
hardly any pulling -and no messing with the lead what so ever. Good
girl.

After a nice long walky I brought her back to the kennels. She always enters her kennel door without moaning or any refusal. I told her what a good girl she is and
then got inside her kennel also, to sit with her in her bed. That is WHEN she got excited and I could not blame her. It means a long time snuggle and she knows it. I sat for over an hour with her and she would hardly move from my side, just snuggling on me as close as she possibly could. With her nose on my arm she fell asleep and snored a bit- how CUTE that was. When the lights were turned out at 5:20 pm I yelled, "wait for me" and Emma switched them back on> She had totally forgotten that I was in there . Then it was really time for me to leave. Sleepy Ruby looked at me with her puppy eyes and guided me to her door, ears hangin.
I'll be back meine Schnuffelmaus. xxxxx

Ruby is showing that she understands that not everything has to be at high octane, off the wall excitement. You are doing so well with her, Lala, that there's no reason why she can't be allowed out in the forest with you. I think you have more than gone the extra mile to highlight Ruby's personality. Fingers crossed she can get a get out of jail pass!

Thanks Ria,
I have literally walked x extra miles with her, haha. It was my wish for ages to take her to the forest but that is only allowed if she wears a muzzle. The reason for that i have been told is: Just in case another dog atacks her and she bites back in defence. That then would be bad reputation for Forest Dog Rescue. So I am still feeding her treats through the muzzle in order for Ruby to associate the muzzle as a nice thing. I am a bit unsure about the moment when I should fix it to her head for a short period- she obviously wants it off as soon as the treat is gone. I will meet Helena tomorrow in the kennels and I hope together we can both calm her down and go a step further with that. I don't want to give her a bad memory of the muzzle so I am very carefull.

Big surprise when Steve and myself arrived in the kennels today. Rich and Helena had phoned up one the trustees and got permission for us to take her to the forest.

Rich then drove down with us. Ruby was a star in the car. Firstly she inspected the car as she was allowed to walk around. Then I told her to sit on the seat-and she happily did. She just sat there and looked out of the window.

In the forest she just walked ahead of us, hardly looking back,- just sometimes to make sure we're all still there. We decided to let her go ahead, just glad that she was out there.
She never attempted to chew the lead- not a single time!!!! The forest was far too interesting to mess around. She was not even intersted in treats, just wanted to explore.

3 times we passed other dogs- two of them we're OFF the lead. Ruby showed a little interest, like saying hello- but mainly just moved on forward.

She was just good - a happy dog.

On the way back in the car she lied down on the seat- totally calm with her head in my hand.

A very peaceful Ruby.

Rubyfull!

to Rich, Helena, Sara M., Ria, Karen, Kim, Sara, Adam and everybody else who supported us on the mission to bring her to the forest. BIG thank you also to the trustees who allowed us to go. Here's to many more happy walkies !

So glad Ruby enjoyed herself ...how happy she looks, lets hope it's the first step to her finding her perfect home

So pleased you succeeded in your mission to get Ruby out of the grounds of FDR and into the real sunlight! You can even really see her brindle coat in those photos! Next time, ask if you can borrow a I Need a Home coat, so that she can be a walking advertisement. I have one (although it needs some nifty needlework to finish it off) if they can't find you one.

Ruby was not okay today. She had a huge poo in her outdoor kennel as soon as i let her out at 11:30 am, -which is normal of course since she must have been holding it since yesterday.

BUT: I then took her out and she repetetly had the urge to poo more- but there was nothing but water coming out.

She squeezed and sqeezed even tho it was obviously empty. I counted her attempts in an hour and it were 20! Poor Ruby, she must have been sore after that.

I then told somebody from the trustees as the vet was there anyway, hoping he could have a look at her. He did not but she got some food from FDR that was mixed with loads of codliver oil.

She pood that out straight away. Liquid.

I am a bit worried as this is very unusual and certainly not right.

I have no idea what brought that on all of a sudden.

"My forever home is out there, somewhere"

Lala, much as I want the lovely Ruby to be adopted, I shall so miss your wonderful reports. Surely, no dog in any kennels can have had such a devoted carer as you.

Thats lovely, Annie. Thank you. I can not help it,- I allowed myself to get so attached to her and I will be very, very sad when she goes. But I find in the end it only matters that she is feeling as good as possible in the kennels.

Today it started snowing heavily (in case you hadn't noticed) and Ruby felt so inspired by it that she turned into a puppie. She hoppelt around and ate snow all the time. Nose constantly on the ground. Hillarious. If the Snow plough had not turned up when we were stuck on the road on the way back home, Ruby would have helped, -no problem.

The other good news is that Rich walked Ruby the other day and she walked nicely along Raffer. We are definately getting there!