Meet Ruger: the American dog who put 150 African poachers out of business

theguardian.com ^ | 03/08/2016 | Michele C Hollow

[Silentgypsy]

Ruger is a bad dog, and that’s why he does his job so well. Just ask Megan Parker, the director of research at Working Dogs for Conservation in Montana. When Parker scours animal shelters for her next dog-in-training, she looks for unadoptable, hard-to-handle dogs.

Ruger was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. His owner shot his littermates, and Ruger escaped. He was taken to a nearby animal shelter where he was found by a dog trainer who alerted Meg’s organization.

It was Ruger’s drive that convince Parker to keep training him. She eventually paired Ruger with the scouts of “Delta Team”, a Zambian law enforcement unit jointly operated by the South Luangwa Conservation Society and the Zambia Wildlife Authority. The scouts, who had little interaction with dogs, were skeptical.

[Silentgypsy]

Ping.

[vpintheak]

Awesome story!

[Ken H]

Cool name for a dog!

[Mr Apple]

The senseless slaughter of elephants, rhinos, gorillas and giraffes must stop.

[SeeSharp]

The senseless slaughter of elephants, rhinos, gorillas and giraffes must stop.

Privatize them and it will.

[doug from upland]

It is really disturbing.

[doug from upland]

Send him back to get the bastard who killed his brothers and sisters.

[PAR35]

Interesting that they can’t use dogs from the African villages for such work, because they are too lazy.

[Mercat]

Reminds me of our Barkley, cattle dog/border collie mix. He started out with behavior problems, wanted to eat small children but he would do anything for the toss of a Frisbee and soon learned that children were more interested in playing with him. This dog was not trained with food but with play.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

A GSD Lab mix gets the best of both breeds. No wonder he is a badass!

Good doggie. Fetch. Kill.

[05 Mustang GT Rocks]

I’d try him on Planned Murderhood.

[Joe 6-pack]

WOOOF!

The Doggie Ping list is for FReepers who would like to be notified of threads relating to all things canid. If you would like to join the Doggie Ping Pack (or be unleashed from it), FReemail me.

[Mr Apple]

BTTT

[apocalypto]

Great story.

[Boardwalk]

AMEN!

[Silentgypsy]

Concur.

[Silentgypsy]

The thought did cross my mind....

[Silentgypsy]

It’s likely that “bad” dogs aren’t tolerated there.

[MountainDad]

It is a cool dog name.

My son-in-law named his yellow lab “Ruger”.