Ain’t nothing but a hound dog? No way. Ruger is a whole, complete “person”, and at Best Friends, he’s learning to be anything he wants to be.

Ruger was bred in a rural, isolated community to be a cow herder. He’s a big boy, and very friendly. But he’s never really lived in society. When his person had to leave town and couldn’t find anyone to look after his cow-herding dog, Ruger came to Best Friends. But Ruger has never been to a park. Or walked on a busy sidewalk. Or come inside to lie on the soft carpet or settle around the TV with a family. So how can he get adopted?

That’s where his new social planner (and dog trainer) John Garcia, comes in. John is teaching Ruger how to experience life in a whole new way. And the hope is that Ruger will see how much broader the world is than he once thought. And that he’ll begin to see himself in a whole new way, too. That he’ll realize he’s not “nothing but a …” anything. Instead, he’s Ruger. There’s not another one in the world, so that’s a pretty great thing to be!