The Rescued by Ruby true story confirms that Ruby was surrendered to the Rhode Island animal shelter when she was four or five months old because she was "unmanageable."
The Rescued by Ruby real dog was adopted and returned to the shelter five times, mostly due to being unmanageable as the result of persistent behavioral problems. "Ruby was dynamite, a handful, nonstop," says shelter volunteer and dog trainer Patricia 'Pat' Inman, who was determined to find a suitable home for the rambunctious Ruby. Inman told the AP, "She jumped and bit her leash. She wouldn’t sit or lie down. She just never stopped moving. She was special, and she needed a special person." Pat Inman had to repeatedly intervene to prevent Ruby from being euthanized. -American Humane
Yes. "During my first seven years as a trooper, I told just about everyone my dream," says Dan O'Neil, "to work in the Rhode Island State Police K-9 unit." -Today
Rhode Island State Trooper Dan O'Neil's department was in need of another search and rescue dog. "Patricia [Inman] knew there was something about this dog," says O'Neil. "There was something about [Ruby's] energy, her focus, her drive. She just needed a job to get all that focused energy to work at."
"She was an absolute wreck," recalls Dan. "She hadn't had a stable home for her first eight months of life and was in desperate need of love and stability." -Daily Paws
Yes. The Rescued by Ruby true story corroborates that his wife was expecting. "I brought [Ruby] home. My wife was pregnant. We had a toddler and another dog," says Dan. -Today
Yes. While most search and rescue K-9s are bred for the job and cost around $7,500, Ruby was a shelter dog that was eight months old when she was adopted in 2011 and began training with Rhode Island State Police Corporal Dan O'Neil. "The training Ruby had to get was from the ground up. We had to build a foundation with Ruby," says O'Neil. "There's always going to be that stigma of, 'She's the shelter dog,' but the second you see her workin', then you're gonna be like, 'Well, okay, we're good.'"
"Sometimes I'd look at other members of the K-9 unit with their respective high-priced K-9s bred for police work and say, 'How did I get this disaster?' It wasn't easy, but I wanted my dream to come true, so I had to make it work." Dan says he discovered that once Ruby was in a stable environment, she began to turn a corner. -Today
Yes. In real life, this happened in early December 2018. The Rescued by Ruby real dog escaped from Trooper Dan O'Neil's fenced backyard and ran away. The dog was found around 1 a.m. not far from O'Neil's home after several hours of searching. The Rhode Island State Police stated at the time that neither Trooper O'Neil or his K-9 Ruby would be reprimanded.
Yes. "I got up early one morning, opened my son's bedroom door, and he was gone," says Pat Inman, the woman who had cared for Ruby at the shelter and helped to place her with Rhode Island State Police officer Dan O'Neil.
"He had been missing for 36 hours," says Officer O'Neil. Another K-9 unit officer named Scott Carlsten remarked that they had been on a lot of similar cases of missing persons that didn't end well.
In researching the true story, we learned that at the time of the release of Netflix's Rescued by Ruby movie in March 2022, Dan O'Neil and his K-9 dog Ruby had been partners for 11 years. During that time, Ruby and Dan worked together on several successful rescues. Ruby also helped to put two murderers behind bars based on evidence she sniffed out. -AP
The Netflix movie is based on the short stories "Ruby: A Godwink Dogwink" and "Dogwink Ruby" by Squire Rushnell. The short story is included in Rushnell's book Dogwinks: True Godwink Stories of Dogs and the Blessings They Bring.
Yes. In an interesting twist, the dog actor, Bear, who plays Ruby in the Netflix film, is also a former shelter dog. The movie's dog trainers saved Bear from being put down. -AP