Ruby(Bear), an Australian shepherd and border collie mix, has been returned to the shelter for the fifth time due to her hyperactivity, destructive nature, and inability to take commands. Per shelter policy the shelter must reluctantly declare Ruby "unadoptable" but shelter worker Pat Inman (Camille Sullivan) asks for one more day to find Ruby a home and is given one. Meanwhile family man and Rhode Island State Trooper, Daniel O'Neil (Grant Gustin), is applying once again for the K-9 unit. The unit's head, Matt Zarrella (Scott Wolf), is aware of O'Neil's strong desire to join, but is also uncertain about O'Neil's issues with hyperactivity and restlessness. Zarrella says they don't have any more German Shepherds for recruits, but if O'Neil can provide his own he can get in. Already raising an infant son and O'Neil's wife, Melissa (Kaylah Zander), pregnant with a second child, O'Neil can't afford the $10,000 for a German Shepherd. Retired mechanic, Seamus Brady (Tom McBeath), tells O'Neil the dog doesn't have to be a German Shepherd and only needs to be a trainable medium sized dog which leads O'Neil to the local animal shelter where he finds Ruby, adopts her, and tries to train her unfocused energy.
Raised by Ruby is an adaptation of the short story Dogwink Ruby from the book Dogwinks by Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt. The story itself is based on the true story of Rhode Island State Police Cpl. Daniel O'Neil and shelter dog Ruby who was saved from euthanasia by Daniel O'Neil's last minute adoption and Patricia Inman's stopping Ruby from being put down more than once. The movie comes to us from Dan Angel's Fezziwig Studios which is no stranger to Squire Rushnell adaptations having produced three Godwink Christmas movies inspired by Squire's Godwink series from which Dogwinks came. With a pedigree that comes from Hallmark movies and children's film and TV you'll find Rescued by Ruby ticks many of the boxes you find in one of these heartstring tugging "true story" movies, and yet I can't deny that it works.
Grant Gustin of CW's The Flash is a solid lead in Daniel O'Neil and brings his natural charm and charisma to the film with effortless ease. O'Neil is a loving family man, dedicated Trooper, and is well liked in the community (for good reason). Despite this O'Neil struggles with hyperactivity and dyslexia and Gustin does a solid job of conveying that to the audience with his exhibition of various ticks and coping mechanisms that he tries to overcome. Gustin is well complemented by Ruby as played by real life shelter rescue, Bear, who like Ruby was scheduled to be euthanized but was rescued by the production team and trained for the movie (be sure to stick through the credits for the outtakes). Bear's performance is well done in the movie as Ruby is conveyed to us as a high energy dog with some focus and control issues but also exhibits intelligence and tenacity making her and O'Neil an endearing set of leads.
Despite being based on a true story the writing is often that very on the nose "Hallmarky" style of writing that's almost become a parody of itself. Unlike a lot of these types of movies there's no villain with the shelter manager shown to be reluctant to put Ruby down and Scott Wolf's K-9 lead Zarrella shown to be a tough but very fair judge of Ruby and O'Neill's partnership. But there are also elements like "the sage advice" character in Seamus or the third act nadir (which is admittedly based on an actual event from O'Neil and Ruby's relationship, but it plays exactly how you expect it to). There are also moments where the editing is a little sloppy such as during Ruby's test but given the nature of the dog actor it's forgivable. But easily the biggest point in this movie's favor is the fact the dog doesn't talk. Movies like A Dog's Purpose, A Dog's Journey, or A Dog's Way Home show how wrong a premise like this can get with obnoxious voice over narration so the fact the dog is expressed through body language and animal noises is a major plus for this kind of movie (at least for me).
Rescued by Ruby doesn't break from most of the tropes of inspiring true story movies, but with a charismatic pair of human and animal leads in Grant Gustin and Bear and some solid charm it's honestly an engaging sit for the kind of movie it is. It's a solid story of underdogs (both literal and figurative) overcoming the odds and sometimes you need that.
