Prior to joining the Rhode Island State Police, Ruby was taken on and gotten back to the animal
shelter multiple times. Ruby the legend canine became a celebrity.
The rescue canine’s biography was the reason for the new Netflix film, Rescued by Ruby, which debuted on March 17. The film followed the canine’s exceptional excursion from shelter pet in danger of being put down to a legendary police K9.
“Our hope, our prayer honestly, is that people see the movie and they will go out, and they will adopt a shelter dog,” PEOPLE spoke with Louise DuArt, one of Rescued by Ruby’s executive producers alongside Squire Rushnell.
DuArt and Rushnell cast outstanding shelter canines in the role of Ruby in the Netflix video to ensure that rescue pets were at the center of the story. The title hero in Rescued by Ruby is played by two rescue dogs, Bear and Shiloh, who were adopted from a shelter by the film’s animal trainers.
“There’s really an amazing parallel between the dogs,” according to Rushnell. All of the film’s stars, including Ruby, were once on the verge of being put down.
Ruby’s story begins at the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where the vigorous canine was returned multiple times in the wake of being embraced due to her hard-to-oversee conduct.
Fortunately, even after various premature moves, shelter volunteer Patricia Inman remained loyal to Ruby, and prepared and trained the canine while attempting to find her the ideal permanent spot to settle down so Ruby wouldn’t be euthanized.
The permanent spot to settle down turned out to be with Corporal Dan O’Neil, then a Rhode Island State Trooper, who was searching for a canine to prepare for a spot on the Rhode Island State Police K9 Unit.
“I tried out for the K9 Unit for several years and just kept getting passed over. Then Ruby came into my life in 2011. She was the first shelter dog to ever get adopted and put into police work in the Rhode Island State Police,” O’Neil stated as the new Coordinator of the Rhode Island State Police K-9 Unit.
“She was aggressive, food aggressive. She was very protective of herself because she had never been in a stable environment,” he added of the obstacles he assisted Ruby to conquer in their most memorable months together.
Because of O’Neil’s and Iman’s confidence in her, Ruby began to flourish. In the wake of dealing with her way of behaving with O’Neil for a year, Ruby went through a human detection class and passed decisively,” as per her accomplice, and proceeded to pass a search and rescue class not long after. In 2012, Ruby turned into a guaranteed state officer with the Rhode Island State Police.
“It was quite a feat because this is the dog that wouldn’t even sit for five seconds. To pass the test, I had to have her minimally sit for five minutes,” O’Neil stated.
No one knew how Ruby would repay the shelter worker who had saved her life at that time. In 2017, the Gloucester Police Department in Rhode Island contacted O’Neil for aid in locating a missing boy who had been gone for over 36 hours.
Ruby found the missing boy after six hours of searching and waited by his side with O’Neil until rescuers arrived to take the child to the hospital. Ruby and O’Neil saw the boy’s family after he was on his way to safety and were stunned to learn that Iman, the shelter volunteer who never gave up on Ruby, was the missing boy’s mother.
“She started to cry. I started to cry,” O’Neil described his and Iman’s reactions when they realized Ruby had saved her savior. “Even six years after not seeing her, Ruby was wagging her tail and jumping up on Pat, giving
her kisses,” said the corporal. “I told Pat, ‘Pat, this was Ruby’s way of saying thank you for giving her a chance.”
Rescued by Ruby delved into this heartwarming story and shows what a rescue dog can accomplish when given the chance to shine. Ruby is still shining brightly in her 11th year as a Rhode Island State Police officer.
“There’s no end in sight for her. She can still run around for hours and hours. She’s just amazing. She just doesn’t want to give up,” O’Neil stated. “She’s this little mutt that still is kicking butt today,” O’Neil added.
To find out more about Ruby and her significant life, watch Rescued by Ruby on Netflix