PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) – A dog from Rhode Island, whose inspiring story about the transition from a shelter dog to a life-saving police K-9 became the subject of a recent Netflix movie, has been euthanized.
State police say K-9 Ruby was killed Friday after a “sudden, acute and incurable illness.” She was 11 years old.
Colonel Darnell Weaver, Chief of State Police, thanked for the years of service to K-9 Ruby.
“K-9 Ruby has dedicated her life to serving the citizens of Rhode Island and making a positive impact on everyone she has ever interacted with,” he said in a statement. “She has become a symbol of hope for all the dogs in the shelter, showing the world what a dog from the shelter can do when it simply gives him love and a chance to shine.
Ruby has served in the Rhode Island State Police for 11 years and is led by Corporal Daniel O’Neill, Weaver said.
Partly an Australian Shepherd and partly a Border Collie, Ruby was one of the first shelter dogs trained to serve in the Rhode Island State Police. She has participated in numerous search and rescue missions and made many public appearances during her career.
Ruby became famous in 2017 when he discovered a teenager who was seriously injured while walking in the woods. It turned out that the boy was the son of a volunteer from the animal shelter, who fought to protect her from extinction.
“She was a complete idiot,” Patricia Inman, a shelter volunteer and dog trainer who was returned by five families for being too violent before O’Neill adopted the then-eight-month-old in 2011, told the Associated Press.
Ruby won national recognition for the rescue – the American organization Humane Hero Dog named her “Search and Rescue Dog of the Year” of the country – and her story was turned into the 2022 Netflix movie “Saved by Ruby”.
“She had a full, happy and wonderful life, not only as a soldier but also as part of a loving family,” Weaver said. “She worked to the end and never gave up doing what she loved most – making people smile.”
Ruby has lived with O’Neill and his family and will be honored in private, police said.
“She was given a chance and she’s doing her best to get it back,” O’Neill said earlier this year. “You have this dog that has been abandoned and it has changed the lives of so many people.”
Despite her lauded career in search and rescue, Ruby’s naughty spirit was unstoppable: three years ago, she landed near a state park and appeared alive and well after a 19-hour search. Most recently, she returned from a vacation in the bathroom with a live skunk writhing and squirting in its jaws.
The lotteries were part of what Ruby did, all right, Ruby. Above all, she was a good dog.
“If you show them love and compassion and give them a certain type of stability, they will show their true colors,” O’Neill said.
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