The Saga Of Ruby:

  

Yesterday we drove into Alamosa and retrieved Ruby's remains (see photo above). As we brought her remains home I was thinking back on when  I first adopted her. Her story is much different than our other family members. I saw her photo listed on a Maine Facebook page. "Old dogs, new digs". She was at a shelter not over 50-60 miles from us and I made inquiry there. She had been in the shelter for 4 months and it turned out they were so glad to get rid of her they actually drove her up to me. 

They just handed her over no charge. As they drove away she and I stood at the gate together watching them drive down the driveway. They had brought her up to me in a wire crate in the back of a pickup truck. I turned to go into the house and she just walked along with me. It appeared Ruby may not have much self worth as she was very compliant. 

As I checked her over I found she had several sebaceous cysts on her plus I was told she was incontinent. Over a few days I also discovered she was deaf. We did not get a history on her but from what I could tell it wasn't a good history anyway. We quickly scheduled a visit to the vet to have her examined and those cysts removed. She just rode along as compliant as when she came to us. 

After we had been able to observe her for a few days (carol was visiting friends when I adopted her) we discovered she just didn't seem to care about much but that she did not like being brushed or having her toenails trimmed. She also was not overly friendly with Carol. We were told she was between 12-15 y/o when she was brought to us. 

She continued to remain aloof and not connected to our family but over time she slowly began to trust and realize she was now part of our family. She got tons of affection and love in spite of her obvious doubts. Training was difficult but possible since she was deaf. We took her to our vet for X-rays and found she had severe arthritis. As it progressed we had difficulty treating her as her stomach was super sensitive and we ended up giving her pain Rx which helped her continue in her mobility. 

When it finally got to the point she lost bowel control as she was unable to get into position to relieve herself. I would have continued to pick up her poop in the house and wipe her butt but it was pretty clear the pain Rx was no longer doing the job. She just got to the point she didn't want to move anymore. We picked up her poop in the house for several weeks but it bothered her to be unable to go out to poop. 

Finally the final several months of her life she had acclimated to us and was an absolute delight to be with. She tested us by being mischievous and the more we laughed at her antics the more she became fully comfortable being a valued family member. In the final analysis we were able to enjoy an absolutely delightful girl in her very advanced years and she was able to be in a family that showed her nothing but endless love and approval. 

I'm not writing this to imply we are good people, we are not that good, but we love dogs and we will never regret showing Ruby all the love and compassion we could and help restore her slowly to be part of a family that truly loved her. In return she loved us more and gave much more. We gave her self respect back, dignity, and laughter and love. We have no regrets but we miss her terribly. 

This is written for the reader to not be reluctant to ever adopt a very senior family member. They may be old but they have much value and abundant love to give. We gave her all our time and everything we could and what we got in return was far greater. My only regret is that we could have gotten her earlier in her life so she would not have been so downtrodden as she was. She had several good months with us and there is something about senior dogs that can bring vitality to a family. Ruby did that to us.

Tomorrow we will lay her remains to rest with the other fur family members who have passed on in a small cemetery we have designated for them. It is a good place to go to sit and reflect and she will now be a part of those good memories.