Ruger’s Story
This post is a little different from other posts that I have written. It is the true story of Ruger. The awful, painful truth about what happened to her. She is the most courageous, brave, strong little 40 pound mutt that I know. She saved her kids. Literally, she was willing to sacrifice her own life for the life of the children in her family. This is her story. The truth. The undressed post about how she came to be Ruger the Rescue.
We adopted her from the pound when she was estimated to be 6 months old. She was skeletal thin. She only weighed 15 lbs. They said that the posting of her availability had been a mistake. She was dumped in a field with her brothers and sisters. All of them were sick with parvo. She was the only one that survived. I had been checking the listings for adoptable dogs for a while looking for the right dog for my family. My youngest child at the time had only just turned 2 and I needed a dog that would be sweet, kind and enjoy being around children.
She was so thin, so weak. The shelter did not even seem confident that she would make it. They waived the adoption fee and told me to bring her back if I thought she needed to be put down. I cried when I carried her out of the shelter, pushing the stroller with one hand, having my oldest child who was 5 take my 4 year old by the hand and help my hot mess of a little family to the car. I placed the dog on the floor and she crawled up on the seat next to me and wagged her little tail all the way home. She was ready to leave that place. She was ready to go home.
The first few months, it was hard to remember that she was just a young puppy. Yes, there were accidents on the floor and she did not always listen well but she interacted with the children with an old gentleness that would melt anyone’s hearts. She was a kids dog and loved just being near them. She would lay at their feet and watch their every action. She would walk calmly with them and play gently with them. She loved them with a fierce love that only a dog who is truly bonded to her humans could possibly love them with.
Then it happened. We got an email from the pound that we had gotten Ruger from. They were over full and desperately asking for volunteers to help foster the overflow of dogs. To help save them. We agreed and were paired with a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. She was bigger then Ruger. She weighed about 80 lbs. She was supposed to be kind. She was supposed to be good with kids. She was supposed to be good with other dogs. And she was, for about a week, things were fine. Then it happened.
That morning she was acting strange. She was tense, stiff, dangerous. I thought I was doing the right thing by putting her behind a barrier to keep her away from the children and the other dogs. She was supposed to be lethargic, recovering from heartworm and not feeling up to too much activity. In the week that we had her, she slept more then she was awake. She was well mannered and calm. But then it happened. She jumped over the barrier. She was headed straight towards my children. I could not stop her. At that moment, Ruger sprang into action.
Ruger jumped on the bigger dog, knocking her off course. She fought the beast and stayed between her children and the attacker. It was horrific. I could not stop it. The dog fight that raged was the single most horrific moment I had ever watched. It raged on and on. I could not separate them. I got a hold of the beast’s collar and pulled. I yelled and tugged. I doused them in water. I could not separate them. I screamed for help and no one came. I shoved my children in the bathroom and shut the door to protect them from the rampaging beast while Ruger fought for their lives to be saved. She saved them. She kept the beast from getting to them. She stopped the beast when I could not, but at a cost. When the fight was over, her body was broken. Her leg had been snapped in several places with the bone sticking trough the skin and the leg almost ripped off of her body.
I finally was able to get the exhausted beast in to a crate and secured so that she could not get out. I ran to Ruger to find her bloodied and broken. I choked back a sob and fell to my knees hugging her and thanking her. If she had not been there, if she had not jumped in, if she had saved herself, my children might not be there. But they were fine, they survived and she lay broken. I called my husband, we rushed her to the vet to try and save her. After surgeries and treatment, they were able to put her body back together and after a year of therapy, her body was back to functioning normally.
Her spirit never changed. She watched her kids with love. She was gentle and kind. The veterinarians were amazed at her gentle spirit and how they would not have to sedate her or hold her during dressings changes because she would not fight them. She was amazing.
The reason that her paintings are so amazing, is because they are done out of love for her children. She loves them, she would sacrifice her life for them and the paintings are an expression of her love for them.
The dog that attacked her, was euthanized after the attack. During the ensuing investigation into the incident, it was found that the dog was at the pound because it had attacked someone and bitten them. The shelter had not disclosed this to us. It was also found that the heartworm medication that the dog was on had the potential to make dogs aggressive. This was also not disclosed to us.
All of Ruger’s paintings are unique because Ruger is the artist. Each painting that is sold has a portion of the proceeds go to the local SPCA to help get shelter dogs adopted into loving homes. Ruger is doing amazing right now and loves her life with her brothers. Please contact us if you wish to purchase one of Ruger’s paintings.
