Ruby, the service dog so beloved her Fargo owner offered $10,000 to find her, has died

Jason Larkin of Fargo sits near a picture of his missing dog, Ruby, in this Forum file photo from December 2023. The Goldendoodle has been missing since Sunday morning, Dec. 3. The dog is specially trained to assist Jason, who became paralyzed in 2013 following an accident.

By Tammy Swift

April 16, 2024 at 3:38 PM

FARGO — Ruby, the service dog so beloved that her owner offered a $10,000 reward to find her, has died.

Owner Jason Larkin shared the news via a public Facebook post Sunday afternoon, April 14.

“It saddens me to share that Ruby has been found and unfortunately she is in doggie heaven,” he wrote. “It wasn't the outcome we prayed for but we do have closure.”

People first heard about the missing service dog in December, after Ruby slipped out of the Larkin's backyard on a Sunday morning.

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"She must have spotted a rabbit, and we saw her run back toward the back and that's last we saw of her," Larkin told WDAY’s Kevin Wallevand at the time.

Ruby had been specially trained to help Larkin, who was paralyzed in a 2013 accident. She followed him everywhere and would do anything — from open a door to pick up a single Kleenex — to help him, according to the WDAY story.

The search for Ruby spread like wildfire on social media, and the Larkins purchased huge, electronic billboards and offered a reward of $10,000 to anyone who could find the golden-hearted Goldendoodle.

Unfortunately, this tale did not end happily. Larkin didn't share details of Ruby’s death and did not immediately respond to The Forum’s request for a short conversation Sunday evening.

But he did note that the family buried Ruby where she would never be far away — in their backyard. “Since Ruby loved hockey, the kids and I are going to make a cross out of one of the many broken hockey sticks we have piled up in the basement," he wrote.

Larkin’s post also ended on an upbeat note, when he reminded followers that the family adopted another stalwart Goldendoodle, Knox, in February.

“Remember because of Ruby and an amazing family we have Knox,” Larkin wrote. “Knox carries Ruby’s spirit. Knox is an amazing dog and is so loving, caring, and gentle.”

We think Ruby would approve.

By Tammy Swift

For 35 years, Tammy Swift has shared all stages of her life through a weekly personal column. Her first “real world” job involved founding and running the Bismarck Tribune’s Dickinson bureau from her apartment. She has worked at The Forum four different times, during which she’s produced everything from food stories and movie reviews to breaking news and business stories. Her work has won awards from the Minnesota and North Dakota Newspaper Associations, the Society for Professional Journalists and the Dakotas Associated Press Managing Editors News Contest. As a business reporter, she gravitates toward personality profiles, cottage industry stories, small-town business features or anything quirky. She can be reached at tswift@forumcomm.com.

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Ruby, the service dog so beloved her Fargo owner offered $10,000 to find her, has died

The Dec. 3 disappearance of Ruby, a Goldendoodle specially trained to assist her owner, ignited a major social media search. Her owner took to Facebook Sunday to share that the beloved pet had died.