Rescued by Ruby

Ruby!

- -

Hot dog!

Ruby, come get it.

Hot dog!

Oh! Good girl! Good girl.

Good girl. Oh, Ruby!

Oh!

And you have a date with a family.

Oh!

Somewhere in you is an adoptable dog.

I know. I know.

All right. Good girl. Come on.

Oh my gosh! We've got skunk soap.

Perfect. Thank you. Come on, Ruby.

- She knows a family's picking her up. - She doesn't want to leave us.

No, no, no, she doesn't want to leave you.

Well, I'd take her home, but my husband would leave me.

All right, come on.

This is serious now.

You've been here six months. Yeah.

You cannot blow this chance.

You've been to seven homes already.

Darn dog!

- -

Ruby!

Get out of there, Ruby!

Ruby!

It's time to clean up your act, sweetie.

All right? Come on, stinky. Let's get you going.

- -

Ah!

- Come on! -

- -

Let's hope this placement sticks.

All right.

- Oh, I washed that. - I just picked a piece of onion off it.

Oh.

Yum, yum, yum.

Come sit with us. I don't even let my third graders eat while standing.

- I failed third grade. And fourth. -

- You're exaggerating. - Oh, you'd have failed me.

Never. You would be my favorite. Teacher's pet.

Bye.

Careful today.

Always.

- Say "Bye, Dada." - Bye-bye, Dada.

That boat's in a good spot there.

All right now. That's clear.

- Head down current there. Let's go. Seek!

Morning.

Morning.

- It's the K9 unit. - Yeah.

Searching for drugs tossed out of a vehicle last night.

That's some of Matt Zarella's team down there. Best of the best.

Like a Navy SEAL Special Ops team.

300 million olfactory receptors in their noses,

compared to six million in people.

Their sense of smell's 100,000 times more acute than ours.

If we can sense a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee,

a dog can detect a teaspoon of sugar--

In two Olympic-size pools filled with water.

Yeah.

Uh, Daniel O'Neil. Rhode Island state trooper, Wickford Barracks.

Seamus Brady. Retired maintenance, Scituate Barracks.

- Well, it's good to meet you. - Mm.

Look. Found.

- Bring it in. -

Smooth. Good job!

Excellent work.

I'm gonna be one of those guys with one of those dogs.

I gotta, uh... Good to meet you, Mr. Brady.

Bring it in. Let's go, team.

Weather continues to be unseasonably warm.

Not even May, but keep an eye out for stranded motorists,

carry extra water for overheating radiators.

No matter the heat, hats stay on.

I'm talking to you, Two Towers.

- You got it, Sarge. - You got it, Sarge.

And of special interest to O'Neil.

It's that time of year.

Tryouts for the K9 academy are coming up May 15.

Right on, my brother.

Eighth time trying to get in is gonna be the charm.

Be safe, everyone.

Sarge. Uh, this year's my last chance.

The applicants have to be under 30, and I'm 29.

I'll write the letter of rec again,

but I'm not the one standing in the way of you trying out.

It's Zarella. His K9 unit, his academy.

Come on. -

Come on. She'll come.

Come on, Ruby.

Okay, go on. Go. Go on, sweetie.

Go on. Go.

There you go. That's nice, right? There you go.

- Oh. Aw. She got away.

Oh! Okay, okay, okay. Okay!

Go on. Go on.

- Go! -

Go on.

Good.

Ah, there you go.

Come. -

There you go. That's nice, right? There you go.

I don't wanna see her back here.

I'll have no choice.

Thanks.

Excuse me, sir. How many juice boxes have you had this afternoon?

All right. License and registration, please.

Mom!

Hey, I was... I was just kidding.

Sir, I know you think I don't have the right stuff to...

No. The right temperament.

No, no, no, no. Don't presume to know what he knows or thinks.

Daniel O'Neil.

Like clockwork.

Sir.

All right, sit down.

Sir, I know you think I don't have the right temperament,

that I'm easily distracted, maybe not much of a reader,

but for the job I think intuitive skills and people skills are more important

than being speedy with paperwork.

Plus, I love dogs.

I'm ready for this.

I'd really like to try out, sir.

Aren't you qualified in a bunch of other trooper specialties?

Yes, sir. I am. Hostage negotiating, EVOC training,

peer-to-peer counseling, honor guard, boat team, dive team.

But K9 is my dream. You know that, sir. I mean, I think you know that, sir.

Sorry, sir. I don't mean to presume to know what you know or think.

- I'm a fan. - Thanks.

But also a truth-teller.

K9 team requires calm

and focus.

You're all over the place. You can't even sit still.

- Who knows where your mind is. - It's here, sir.

I appreciate the candor

and the persistence, but I don't see it.

You do this because you care about people, sir.

The same as me.

You want justice. You want endings to stories.

Sometimes happy endings.

Sometimes just closure.

The department has no money for new dogs.

The German shepherds we use come from Czech Republic or Germany

and cost over $10,000 each.

I know how much you want this. How long you've waited.

I'm a short guy. I barely made the height requirement.

I had to work twice as hard to get to the same place as everyone else.

I'm used to working ten times harder.

Sir.

Danny.

Catch.

We don't have $10,000.

With one kid here and another on the way,

we have our hands full.

- Say what you just said again. - I'm pregnant.

That's great news!

That's great!

Oh, Mel! Oh.

Ma?

K9 dogs live with their officer partners 24/7, right?

It's no trouble at all. They're trained. You wouldn't have to lift a finger.

I'm thinking now maybe it's not the right time for the K9 thing.

Remember how we were building the deck when I was carrying Finn,

and you promised a quiet pregnancy if it happened again?

It's... It's not the right time for K9 unit.

It's the only time, Mel.

It's a... It's a step up, a raise.

We'll finally be able to pay off college loans,

save for our kids, maybe get a bigger house someday.

- So what's the plan? - I'll get back to you.

- All right. Love you. - I love you too.

- -

- Hey. Down. Down. -

She doesn't listen. She's too high-strung.

She chews. She digs. She steals food.

She never sleeps. She barked all night. She's not even housebroken.

I know people who train dogs. I could get you some names.

- I'll pay for it. - We're not keeping her.