Shelter Dog Becomes A Police K9 And Saves Woman's Son Years After She Helped Him

Ruby is a dog who has experienced the rough part of life but came out strong. The Netflix movie “Rescued by Ruby,” is based on her life story, showing how she went from shelter dog to hero police k9.

Ruby stayed at the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals when she was adopted and returned five times for having an energetic behavior that was difficult to manage. A volunteer at the shelter, Patricia Inman, decided to train her and help find her the perfect forever home so that she wouldn’t be put down.

Inman found a home with a Rhode Island State Trooper at the time, Corporal Dan O’Neil, who is now the department’s K-9 Unit Coordinator. O’Neil needed a dog to fill an opening in his department’s K9 Unit, so he took Ruby in and trained her. Ruby went through the human remains detection class and the search and rescue class. She passed and became the first shelter dog to be adopted for police work in the Rhode Island State Police.

Ruby soon became a valuable K9 officer, as she was good at her job. In 2017, she became a hero when she helped find a boy who had been missing for over 36 hours. Later, O’Neil discovered that the boy’s mum was Patricia Inman, the shelter volunteer who helped Ruby years ago.

To this day, Ruby still works with the Rhode Island State Police.

Image Credit: Warwick Police Department