It’s been just over a year since I wrote this post introducing you all to Ruby, and what a wonderful year it has been.

Our fourth shelter dog, Ruby has been everything we could have hoped for. She is loving and lovable, she is obedient, loyal and fun. She loves to play with Ranger; she loves to herd chickens; she loves to play ball with my husband while he is trying to do chores; and she loves to cuddle up on my lap in my recliner. She is a good watch dog with a big bark and will let us know if she sees something that she thinks is not right. She does take her time getting to know new people but the easiest way for someone to befriend Ruby is to toss a ball for her to catch or fetch. You then have a friend for life. 💖

RUBY LOVES TENNIS BALLS!!! Ruby can also count tennis balls. She seems to know how many she has and where they all are at all the time. My husband will sometimes secretly slip one of the balls in his pocket as they walk. She will bring him another ball and he will throw it for her, but she will not chase that ball until he takes the ball out of his pocket and throws that one too. At times we will be playing ball and she will run off in a different direction only to return a few minutes later with another ball. I find her obsession with balls quite amusing perhaps because I have never had a dog that loved to play ball like this.

Last week I noticed that we were building a collection of balls at the house. There were six balls (five tennis balls and a rubber football) on the living room floor when I went to vacuum. It seems Ruby had been bringing some of her balls home from the farm. Ruby doesn’t need that many balls in the house and I, quite frankly, don’t want to chase that many balls around as I vacuum, so after Ruby and Ranger were in bed (in our bedroom) my husband picked up three of the tennis balls and put them on the shelf in the mudroom so he would remember to take them back to the farm the next day.

It was 2:30 in the morning when Ruby and Ranger woke me to let them outside. We made our way to the mudroom in the dark, as we always do, and I turned on the porch light before letting them out to do their business. When they returned a few minutes later I let them in, closed and locked the door and turned off the porch light. As I turned around, I could barely make out the figure of Ruby with her front feet up on the dryer. “What are you doing?” I asked and as I did, she got down and went to the shelf by the door put her front feet up, grabbed one of the tennis balls and took it with her to her bed. It was still dark. I had never turned on an inside light and the balls on the shelf were well above her sightline so how in the world did she know those balls were there? Smell perhaps?

Later that morning, around 6:00 a.m. my husband had gone to the farm to open up the chicken coop for the day, but he didn’t take the tennis balls at that time. Ruby came to me and wanted to go out. As we went to the mudroom Ruby grabbed another tennis ball from the shelf and took it with her while she went out to do her business, then she brought it back in the house with her. A few minutes later when my husband returned Ruby greeted him at the door and he gave her the third tennis ball.

The picture below was taken a few days after that incident.

As you can see there are still six balls on my living room floor. It seems that I am now destined to chase tennis balls with the vacuum. My only wish is that I could grow a tennis ball tree. LOL!

Thanks for visiting.