Ruby

** If you are interested in adopting Ruby, PLEASE READ HER WHOLE BIO. We know it is long.**<br/><br/>Ruby is an incredibly adorable, super short legged, 1-year-old, 12-lb Dachshund / Chihuahua mix. She was rescued from a hoarding situation in New Mexico where she lived with 30+ dogs and sadly never (until now) got treated right, loved, or shown what it means to be someone’s cherished pet. Because of that, Ruby is still learning how to be a dog — and what it feels like to be safe. <br/><br/>Ruby must go to a home with another dog (or dogs). Dogs are Ruby’s safe place. She feels comforted, confident, and grounded when she is around other dogs, and they will be essential in helping her learn how to live in a loving home. Ideally she would join a home with two or more friendly dogs, but we will consider a home with one stable, confident dog. But she will not thrive as an only dog. She is more confident and happy with doggy friends around her and we want to do what is in Ruby's best interest when finding her a forever home!<br/><br/>Ruby's adopter should expect a bit of a slow transition as she settles into a new home and learns that she is safe and loved. Dogs like Ruby don’t forget the people who give them their first real experiences of love!<br/><br/>From Ruby's foster:<br/>* * * *<br/>"Ruby is an incredibly sweet girl with so much potential. I can see her personality coming out more and more each day. She's gaining confidence and learning to trust me.<br/><br/>Ruby will need an adopter who can be patient and understanding with her. She is timid and shy, but even just after 5 days with me she is coming around a lot! Though she is scared, I’ve fostered many fearful dogs, and most will try to nip when scared, but luckily Ruby has never done that. She is not a nippy scared type, but a run and hide when scared type. I have picked her up twice (which she did not love — she just froze), but she has never shown ANY aggression at all. <br/><br/>The most important thing for a potential adopter to understand is this: you will not be able to pet and snuggle Ruby right away, or walk her, or take her outside right away. I don’t know exactly how long that will take as she's only been with us 5 days so far, and I’ll update as she progresses, but her adopter must be prepared for that reality initially. By day 5 we can pet her sometimes, but it still makes her nervous. What she needs most is patience, understanding, and someone who will not push her boundaries. You cannot build trust with a scared dog if you do not respect her boundaries!!!<br/>Clearly some absolute [bad word] person did her wrong. Respecting her space is essential in gaining her trust.<br/><br/>By day 4 I was able to pick her up and put a collar on her, but I haven't worried about putting her in a harness yet because I want her to trust me and I want to respect that it's scary to be poked and prodded by a new human right now!<br/><br/>By day 4 / 5 she is coming up to my husband and I a LOT more! We're seeing huge progress!! The first few days Ruby would run and hide under our couch if we reached toward her or walked toward her. She still does that sometimes, but now she comes and sits right next to us on the couch, and even snuggles on our legs or against our sides at night in bed!<br/><br/>Food is absolutely the way to her heart. She is VERY food motivated. If I have a treat or I’m eating, she will come right up to me and even stand on my lap (trying to get closer to my food!)<br/><br/>Dogs like Ruby are actually my favorite fosters. They’re the ones who tug at your heart the most, and when they finally start to trust you, it’s incredibly rewarding. <br/><br/>One of the hardest parts for people to understand with dogs like her is that you cannot take them outside right away. No walks, no letting her out in your yard... Fortunately, Ruby is a potty pad PRO. She uses potty pads consistently and perfectly. I have not attempted to take her outside, and I won’t for now. I just would not trust walking her at this stage because 1) she has no leash skills, 2) with how scared of humans she is, she would be a major flight risk due to fear, and 3) she is already stressed and attempting to taker her outside or on a walk would only make that worse.<br/>If she were to slip out of a harness — which is very possible with a scared dog — she would be gone in an instant. Even though we have a fully fenced yard, I still do not let her out there (yet). If she slipped her harness (which I WILL use the first time she goes out even in my fully fenced yard) she would likely run under the deck or not follow me back inside because she doesn’t trust me fully yet.<br/>For now (and likely for at least the first 2–3 weeks, based on experience with similar dogs), potty pads are the safest option. We have them set up in two spots in the living room and she uses them every time. I’m happy to send potty pads home with her adopter.<br/><br/>I know it's not ideal to not be able to potty train your new dog right away, but having potty pads for the first few weeks is a small sacrifice to make to make sure Ruby is safe and comfortable. <br/><br/>As for crate training: I tried once on the first night, and she cried. Given that she came from a hoarding situation and has likely never been alone, I felt bad and chose not to continue crating her. When we leave the house, she stays loose in the living room with three of my dogs and does perfectly fine. She doesn’t chew or get into anything (though we do have our kitchen trash under the sink where dogs cannot see it). I check the camera when I leave her, and she just sleeps on the couch with the other dogs.<br/><br/>She also sleeps in bed at night with us and our dogs. I truly think this has helped her bond with us and feel safe. By night 3 she was basically cuddling us! She still will walk away if we attempt to pet her (it just makes her uncomfortable still) but she will lay right up against us. Last night she slept in between my husbands legs! These sweet moments really show that she is making progress.<br/><br/>Despite still not fully trusting us humans, Ruby is completely confident with my dogs and comfortable in my home. She plays with toys, naps on the couch, snuggles with the other dogs, and moves around confidently as long as I am letting her do her own thing and not pushing my affection onto her. She even got the zoomies around the living room yesterday!!! <br/>When my dogs go out to potty and come back inside, she always gets SO excited they are back and does a little happy dance. Even when my husband or I leave the home and come back she has started getting excited to see us! I don’t force interaction with her — ignoring her and letting her come to you *on her own terms* is key. You need to respect her boundaries to gain her full trust!<br/><br/>We’re gently working on teaching her not to jump onto or put her feet on the table, especially when we are eating, but always without raising our voices or scaring her. She’s not doing anything wrong — she’s just never been taught. (Our living room coffee table is where we eat meals and it's very short and right next to the couch).<br/><br/>I'd love to see Ruby be adopted by someone who is dog-savvy -- someone with dog experience, a history of owning dogs, fostering, or having adopted a similar dog in the past would be great. Most importantly, she needs someone patient who understands that bonding will take time. It’s not easy to bring home a dog you can’t immediately cuddle or pet, I get that, but giving her the space she needs now will allow her to feel safe and eventually blossom. And when she does, it will be incredibly rewarding."<br/>* * * *<br/><br/>We'd like to place Ruby in a home where she'll get the training and stability that she needs. Positive reinforcement training promotes great behavior, bonding and confidence for a young girl whose self-esteem will fly high while she masters her skills. Training is so important in the future behaviors of every dog. It's for this reason that we're unwilling to adopt to a family that doesn't make this loving choice. Farfel's is happy to provide a list of both in-person and virtual positive reinforcement / force- free trainers in your area.<br/><br/>Ruby has been fully vetted, and she is in great health and up to date on her vaccines. She is spayed as well.<br/><br/>Farfel's Rescue is a fully foster based rescue, and offers a one week trial with every adoption. We feel that this is much more beneficial to not only the dog, but the adopter too. We believe that only getting 20-30 minutes with a dog before deciding on a lifetime commitment is not a fair amount of time to the adopter, or the dog. Therefore we give adopters one week with the dog to assure it is the right fit, and offer a full refund of their adoption fee should it not workout within the week trial.<br/>Farfel's Rescue has been doing adoptions this way since 2005 and is thrilled to adopt out ~400 dogs each year.<br/><br/>If you are interested in adopting from us, please be sure to fill out our adoption application at http://farfels.com/farfels-rescue/adoption-form/ .

** If you are interested in adopting Ruby, PLEASE READ HER WHOLE BIO. We know it is long.**

Ruby is an incredibly adorable, super short legged, 1-year-old, 12-lb Dachshund / Chihuahua mix. She was rescued from a hoarding situation in New Mexico where she lived with 30+ dogs and sadly never (until now) got treated right, loved, or shown what it means to be someone’s cherished pet. Because of that, Ruby is still learning how to be a dog — and what it feels like to be safe.

Ruby must go to a home with another dog (or dogs). Dogs are Ruby’s safe place. She feels comforted, confident, and grounded when she is around other dogs, and they will be essential in helping her learn how to live in a loving home. Ideally she would join a home with two or more friendly dogs, but we will consider a home with one stable, confident dog. But she will not thrive as an only dog. She is more confident and happy with doggy friends around her and we want to do what is in Ruby's best interest when finding her a forever home!
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** If you are interested in adopting Ruby, PLEASE READ HER WHOLE BIO. We know it is long.**

Ruby is an incredibly adorable, super short legged, 1-year-old, 12-lb Dachshund / Chihuahua mix. She was rescued from a hoarding situation in New Mexico where she lived with 30+ dogs and sadly never (until now) got treated right, loved, or shown what it means to be someone’s cherished pet. Because of that, Ruby is still learning how to be a dog — and what it feels like to be safe.

Ruby must go to a home with another dog (or dogs). Dogs are Ruby’s safe place. She feels comforted, confident, and grounded when she is around other dogs, and they will be essential in helping her learn how to live in a loving home. Ideally she would join a home with two or more friendly dogs, but we will consider a home with one stable, confident dog. But she will not thrive as an only dog. She is more confident and happy with doggy friends around her and we want to do what is in Ruby's best interest when finding her a forever home!

Ruby's adopter should expect a bit of a slow transition as she settles into a new home and learns that she is safe and loved. Dogs like Ruby don’t forget the people who give them their first real experiences of love!

From Ruby's foster:
* * * *
"Ruby is an incredibly sweet girl with so much potential. I can see her personality coming out more and more each day. She's gaining c