Scooby was born at Spicemill on 29 January 2007 from Venka and Jambo Spices litter.

She was the last one to be born. I had actually gone to get a couple hours of sleep on the sofa as I really though that was it. Mum Venka was very settled with her 8 puppies. Nothing had happened for 2 hours. But when I came back, half asleep at 5 am, to check on mum and pups, here she was, a ninth puppy, another black and gold girl. Venka had dealt with her like a proper mum. The little one was all clean and had a full belly.

She went at first to live with Sue, who gave her the beautiful name of Ruby. She was very well looked after. Unfortunately, Sue had an unforeseen change of circumstances and it was becoming incredibely difficult for her to care for Ruby in the right manner. She called us for help and we obviously opened our door to Ruby. She came back to us at 2 years of age and we fell in love with her all over again.

Gary and Hazel, who had been waiting for one of our puppies, found out about this lovely girl. They had 2 dogs but one, who was very old, died very shortly before Ruby came back to us. They already wanted for a hovie, but Hazel saw the fact that Ruby was looking for a home just as they were going through this hard time as a sign that she should join them. They asked to be considered for her. They came to see her several times at ours, we also went to see their place and met their dog, a 7 years old German Shepherd bitch. Meeting their dog lifted any hesitations we might have had. It was obvious she is loved and very well cared for. They live in the beautiful Kentish countryside. Hazel walks her dogs several times a day in the nearby fields and local country park.

So the real question was what their German Shepherd would make of Ruby. So after an introduction on a walk and in the fields, Ruby stayed with them when we went to Crufts to see if the 2 dogs would get on. The shepherd was not too sure at first and there was the occasional curled lips on both sides but by the end of the week-end, things had settled and if they were not playing together yet, they were at least respecting each other. So Ruby did not come back to us at the end of the trial week-end and has been living with them ever since. The 2 dogs are now good pals. Hazel and Gary's grand daughter, who regularly visits, kept calling Ruby 'Scooby', and so this is now her name.

Spicemill has retained half of the ownership of Scooby so we will organise her breed health tests later this year and may occasionally show her.