Honoring All-American Dog Ruger
August 31, 2020
Ruger is an all-American dog with a billboard to prove it.
The 5-year-old Belgian Malinois-pitbull mix from Bentonville is trained in search and rescue, specializing in finding missing pets. Recently, she was selected as one of 10 winners among about 16,000 applicants in the Early Times All-American Dogs social media campaign.
Early Times Kentucky Whiskey has honored Ruger and nine other “All-American” dogs from around the country with a photoshoot, a billboard and a whiskey barrel doghouse. Ruger’s billboard is in Stephens City near U.S. 11 and Va. 37.
Considering the thousands of submissions, she said, “I was just blown away.”
Jones, who operates the business Full Tilt Tracking LLC, got into search and rescue after she hired Dogs Finding Dogs out of Baltimore to track down her son’s missing dog in Front Royal.
“We didn’t eat, we didn’t sleep. We looked for that dog around the clock,” she recalled.
Afterward, she realized that she wanted to help others find their missing pets, too. “That was a job I could really wrap my heart around,” said Jones.
Ruger helps find lost animals by sniffing their scent from a household item. She narrows down the area where the pet is hiding, and Jones might then either set out a trap for the animal or lure it using its owner’s scent.
“People want to be found, but animals don’t,” she said. “You’re trying to trigger that recognition in them.”
In one of her favorite memories, Ruger helped find a lost dog named Willie in the George Washington National Forest. She located the area where Willie was hiding, and his owners walked the trail before Jones directed them to return to their car and leave all the doors open — “so that their scent would blow out into the night.” This left Willie “a scent trail to follow,” she said, and a few minutes later, he came bounding down the trail to the car. “It’s a rewarding job, I love it,” said Jones.
The 2021 calendar is Early Times’ second All-American Dogs calendar, said Robert Trinkle, partner and senior vice president at PriceWeber.
“We have a great team that goes through all of the entries,” he said in a Tuesday phone call. “Really, what we’re looking for is dogs that are All-Americans.”
What that indicates, he said, is a dog that exemplifies the core values that have kept the Early Times brand alive since 1860 — hard word and dependability.
Other dogs featured in the calendar hail from Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana and Nevada. They’re military dogs, rescue dogs, therapy dogs and companion dogs who help others, spread joy or simply have an inspiring “All-American” redemption story.
The idea for the yearly calendar grew from a partnership the company has with K9s for Warriors, a nonprofit that trains service dogs for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, and other trauma resulting from post-9/11 military service, an Aug. 17 company release states.
Most Recent News
Former Victoria man’s diabetic alert dog helps him get back to life
When Luke Hengen’s diabetes worsened in his early twenties, it stripped him of the outdoor activities where the country kid felt at home. Countless wilderness adventures and years of hard-fought football games took a toll on his body, to the point where he could no longer sense when his blood sugar was too high or […]
Students Get Therapy Dog
When middle school students return to class on Jan. 11, they’ll find a new face at the door: Daisy. Daisy is a therapy dog and the personal pet of Rob Kreger, principal of the Rock L. Butler Middle School. The five-year-old golden retriever is not a school pet or mascot, but rather a working dog […]
Therapy Dogtor
Last March, Caroline Benzel, a third-year medical student, began to notice the stress and discomfort her nurse friends were feeling from the pressures of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “[Personal protective equipment] can be really rough on the skin,” Benzel, 31, tells PEOPLE. Benzel and her 3-year-old Rottweiler, Loki (who’s also a therapy dog) hatched a […]
Therapy Dog Pups
When Stanley the miniature fox terrier’s owner passed away, the little dog started a ‘paw-some’ new role – bringing puppy love to some of the Gold Coast’s oldest residents. After Carinity Cedarbrook Diversional Therapist Julianne Staff adopted Stanley, he began visiting the aged care community at Mudgeeraba as a therapy dog. Therapy dogs help to […]
Puppy Cams
A nonprofit is providing an unusual form of therapy for those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic – puppy cams! “You spend five minutes with a puppy and try not to smile,” said registered nurse Robin Lingg Lagrone. Lingg Lagrone says watching little furballs wag their tails and prance on their paws helps […]
Pet Committee
When Moore County’s school doors were abruptly closed earlier in 2020, two- and four-legged volunteers from the Moore County Citizens’ Pet Responsibility Committee (PRC) were in their 12th year of presenting a six-session Pet Responsibility Education Program for fourth-graders. The PRC quickly shifted gears and placed its program materials online as part of a home […]