Amy Ramsey, the founder and director of Ruby’s Rescue and Refuge, said that the original goal was to rescue 12 dogs in a year (one per month), but the organization has nearly surpassed 50 in almost a year alone.
(Both photos above courtesy of Amy Ramsey, Ruby’s Rescue and Refuge)
The rescue, which was established in 2020, made its first dog rescue at the end of 2021. This refuge pulls most of its dogs from shelters in Little Rock.
It was a rough start in the beginning, Ramsey said. There were a lot of legal hurdles to get over to become an established nonprofit, and she was on her own to figure out most of the technicalities of the process.
Nearly all the dogs in shelters in Little Rock do not make it out unless a rescue is able to come in and pull them out due to strict dog-breed bans.
“We’ve pulled some puppies that wouldn’t have made it out of there,” Ramsey said. “These were three-month-old healthy puppies.”
Operating out of her own home, Ramsey does not have a physical shelter in place to house dogs, only her own home and volunteer fosters.
“There are currently 15 dogs who are in foster homes,” Ramsey said. “We will take a lot of the tougher cases at times. We have had deaf dogs, senior dogs, and take a lot of pit bulls due to breed bans.”
“The hardest part about following your dream and developing any kind of charity is finding people to help you. In rescues specifically, it’s volunteers and even more so, we need fosters and adopters,” Ramsey said.
Ruby’s Rescue and Refuge was named and inspired after Ramsey’s own dog, Ruby.
(Ruby in picture above)
Ramsey said that her heart changed when she first met Ruby. She found her on the side of the road when she was approximately only 8 weeks old, and Ramsey took her in as her own. Originally from Oklahoma, Ramsey only grew up with working dogs and didn’t have one of her own until Ruby.
“I really just fell in love with Ruby,” Ramsey said. “She’s my heart dog.”
Ramsey said that it was from volunteering at shelters and witnessing the struggles that she wanted to make a difference, and it became her dream to create her own shelter.
Ramsey said the largest issue is getting help from people. It has been hard to find more volunteers and fosters.
“When I talk to fosters or other people in rescues, we talk about trying to concentrate and hold tight to the ones we do save,” Ramsey said. “If you look at all of them that you can’t save, you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning.”
Every day, Ramsey said that she has the mindset of rescuing “that one more dog.”
(Amy Ramsey with her dog, Ruby)