Ruby Page

INITIAL FOSTER ASSESSMENT

Ruby was fostered by Simon and his family in the West Midlands. Simon said. “Ruby is 18 months old and as you would expect she has all the traits of a Golden Retriever puppy so she’s into everything and has plenty of bounce. However, one exception is that she is not destructive and is quite happy to be left on her own to sleep and doesn’t get agitated when left for an hour or two during the day.

Having collected Ruby from Bristol, she was the perfect companion in the car . After 10 minutes of having a sniff around the boot of my car and watching the scenery go by she settled down to sleep for the rest of the two hour journey. I’m pleased to report that she wasn’t car sick once and she will also happily jump in and out of the car.

Once we arrived home she was able to meet my other two dogs, Freddie (ex-IRR rescue) and Candy who immediately took to her. Over the past couple of days we’ve seen Freddie and Ruby become firm friends and playmates, to such an extent where we have to separate them on occasions so that we can get a bit of peace and prevent them bringing their games into the house. I’ll give Ruby her due – she does respond to the commands ‘calm down’ or ‘enough’ and will stop beating Freddie up and will also sit upon command.

Ruby is well able to climb the stairs (or should I say run up the stairs lol) and come down them again with no problem, she also likes to get on the sofa and cuddle up for a nap. This doesn’t happen often (she is more than happy to chill on floor), it seems more a case of when we sit down to chill at night she feels left out so to get our attention she will get on sofa and plonk her body on top of us to make sure she gets her cuddle haha. She’s also fully house trained.

When taking Ruby for a walk she show’s all the signs of typical puppy so she wants to investigate everything she comes across. She is also a bit of a handful on the lead with pulling on her lead, swapping sides and generally being a puppy. Tonight, I tried her on a harness she was fantastic, a transformed dog so a harness is a must. I’ve also found that if you use a stern voice then this will help to calm her down and then she becomes easier to control. Fortunately the lead pulling is not a major issue and we’ve had plenty of dogs who have been worse. I think given time she will become a joy to walk, it’s just a case of waiting for her to mature.

Ruby is always ready for affection, fun and games and loves to play with balls and rope toys. However, you’ll sadly be disappointed if you expect her to live up to the breed standard and bring a ball back to you for you to throw again. She adores being fussed and will let you know that she wants fuss nudging you and then begging by sitting on her hind with two front paws in the air.

In the family environment she’s absolutely brilliant and is great with our three children. However, we do have to keep a close eye on her when she’s around Thomas (our 2.5 year old) because of her excitable nature and the risk that she may inadvertently knock him over but in all other situations she’s been great around him. She’ll quite happily let him fuss her and show’s no anger if he accidently wakes her. She’s quite happy around Chris (12), Emily (10) and their friends and just wants to be a part of their games. Emily seems to have taken to her and is busily trying to train her to shake a paw amongst other tricks.

All in all Ruby is a lovely dog with a great personality and would make a great addition to a growing family.

RUBY HAS GONE TO HER FOREVER HOME

“Ruby met her lovely new family today and to myself and Julie it came as no surprise that she took to them instantly and their handsome Labrador, Presley. Therefore, it was with a bit sadness that we said goodbye to another foster dog but we feel secure in the knowledge that she’s going to a caring family and has a wonderful life ahead of her.

We wish Ruby every success in her new life with Andrew, Sally, their two girls and Presley and know that she will bring lots of joy and tail wags to them all.”

1ST REPORT FROM HER FOREVER HOME

We had a very good Christmas with Ruby who is coming along really well and is settling in with the family.

We picked her up from Simon and Julie who were kind enough to give us lots of time to meet her one Saturday morning in December, and she travelled superbly during the two and a half hour trip from Wolverhampton to Berkshire. We felt a little guilty as she was obviously very happy in her foster home, and she didn’t really want to leave (understandably).

She was a great surprise for our daughters (aged 6 and 8) as we had told them that the journey to Wolverhampton was to go to a boring (their words) national trust property for a walk!

Once at home she learned that the new bed was indeed hers, and she spent a very quiet first night in our home, really well behaved as she came to terms with her new surroundings.

At first we think she was nervous that she may be moved on again, refusing to get in the car for walks “just in case” but she is a really happy dog now and we think that she is feeling more confident that “this is it” and that we are her forever family.

She is enjoying long walks and runs in the woodland near our home –and this exercise is great for removing a few volts ! She is also loving chasing the cats who have all learnt to stand well clear when Ruby is around – although all she wants to do is play, not even a cat claw in her nose could dampen her desire to be friends with the cats !!!

She has fitted in excellently with our 9 yr old Labrador “Presley” and has turned him into a big puppy – the two of them are always playing, and Ruby is watching and learning from Presley all of the time now.

They really enjoyed the recent snow together, and she is great off lead too – returning when called and carrying out responses to basic commands.

Our two daughters love her to bits, even though she has a habit of landing on them whilst they are asleep in bed in the mornings (Ruby knows how to open doors without any human assistance!).

Extended family and friends are all smitten – we have had lots of offers to “babysit” her if needed. She loves meeting people and fluttering her golden eye lashes (to look even more cute).

What’s next for Ruby? Well, we are planning to get her some more formal training (or should we say WE are planning to get ourselves some formal training for her) so we can bring her on even more, as she is a very clever dog and has picked up commands super quickly.

After a very short period of time, Ruby is well and truly one of the family, she has already brought a lot of fun and laughter into the house and we are really fortunate to have been given the chance to take her on.

Thanks and kind regards

Andy and Sally

UPDATE 10 MAY 2010

Andy said. “Ruby is doing really well, she is full of fun and keeps our daughters and our Labrador Retriever entertained.

She loves to meet and run with other dogs, and is a great running partner for me, with all her detours through shrubs, ditches, and trees she runs twice as far as me!

She recently took one of her short cuts and all that a poor couple who were jogging on the bridal path could do was scream as this “half golden / half black with mud” smiling creature burst out of the bushes, tail wagging, to say hello – they really saw the funny side (luckily), Ruby had made two new friends 🙂

She is well loved by the family, and extended family, and recently went to Cornwall where she got her first view of the sea. She travelled very well in the back of the car, sleeping for the entire trip.

She is great fun and we are really pleased with her progress.”