How one Brentwood guard dog became the poster pup for better treatment of outdoor animals

For three years, Rula didn’t have a place to warm herself in the cold, or cool down in the extreme heat.

Used as a guard dog and mostly tethered to a 10-foot-long pulley, the energetic 4-year-old German shepherd/husky mix spent most of her life pacing from end to end in a double-fenced maintenance yard, excitedly wagging her tail on the rare occasions she saw a human.

Today, months after East Contra Costa County animal lovers rallied for her release in a social media campaign, and protested on site at the Brentwood yard, the friendly pup has found a new home in San Ramon where she can sleep inside or roam freely outside on one acre and play to her heart’s content with her new playmate: a young golden retriever named Teddie.

It’s anything but a dog’s life.

“It’s just a perfect home. It’s kind of one of those rags-to-riches stories,” said Carolynn Steen, founder of Knightsen’s Rhodie’s Rescue, which matched Rula with her new family in late December, after months of searching.

The wiggly tail-wagging pup also became a poster dog for changing the county’s rules on caring for domestic animals – a process that is ongoing – and even made an appearance before the Brentwood City Council last fall during a discussion on such rules with council members and county animal control officials.

“Here’s this dog – very social and friendly – that was tied up, living a sad life and living outdoors, and now she’s in this fabulous home,” Steen said, noting Rula also will now enjoy many miles of hiking trails at the family’s two other homes, one in Lake Tahoe on the Upper Truckee River, the other in Vallejo on the Napa River.

The journey to dog paradise was not an easy one, though. Last summer, pet lovers became aware of Rula’s plight when her story was posted on NextDoor. The posts blew up over eight weeks on animal rescue sites, prompting residents to rally and call authorities. But Contra Costa County animal control officers said the owner had not violated any laws, though they did suggest he add a shade structure — a request with which he complied, they said.

Several residents later tried to encourage the owner to surrender the dog, but it wasn’t until weeks later that he finally relented, according to Celeste Smith of Discovery Bay, who convinced him to let go of the dog. She had met Rula earlier in the summer, and had written a letter to the dog’s owner and gave him dog treats, toys and a bed for the pup.

“It broke my heart to see her like that, and I literally couldn’t sleep at night,” Smith said.

In her letter, Smith tried to use reason to convince him of Rula’s plight.

“He did the right thing in the end,” she said.

Smith would go on to foster Rula for several months afterward, but the young dog was too energetic and playful for her two greyhounds, so she contacted Rhodie’s Rescue to find Rula a good home. Despite months of adoption events and social media posts, it took until late December to find the right owner.

Steen said the lack of low-cost spaying and neutering has made the situation more difficult. “The shelter, the rescues are just flooded with dogs right now.”

In the meantime, Brentwood Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer brought the issue of treatment of outdoor animals to the City Council after hearing from residents. She wanted to see if the city could recommend changes in county rules to ensure domesticated pets are safe, she said.

“Rula was not a guard dog,” she said. “There was no way. If anybody came by, there was whining and wagging his tail and all that.”

Beth Ward, Contra Costa County’s Animal Services director, told the council that the county was already working on some possible rule changes about keeping animals outdoors during extreme weather conditions, requiring shade and access to cool water, as well as clarifying rules on tethering and more.

“We want to see this be an educational opportunity, this be a way of keeping us together, not necessarily to punish people or take their animals away,” Ward said.

In a later interview, Ward said she and staff are still working on possible amendments to regulations regarding outdoor animals, rules that must first be vetted by county counsel before being proposed to county supervisors. But since Ward is leaving later this month, she said the  potential changes would likely take another six months or more.

Meyer, meanwhile, said if the county doesn’t implement new recommendations regarding keeping domesticated animals safe in extreme weather conditions, the city could consider its own ordinance. Some city suggestions included requiring access to cool water and a place to rest other than concrete, limiting tethering and exposure to extreme heat, and considering what constitutes animal cruelty.

In the meantime, Pinto is just happy to have found and adopted her new furry friend Rula, who is adjusting well to her new surroundings.

Pinto, who had only owned golden retrievers before, had found out about Rhodie’s Rescue through a nearby horse boarding center and also saw social media posts about the pup in need.

“I thought this could be cool for Teddie, to have a friend that he can play with,” she said.

She later went to visit Rula with dog Teddie and the two got along famously, she said.

“The two play exactly the same way, so they are bonded; it’s adorable,” she said. “We first brought Rula home, she got out of the car and ran seven laps around the whole property.”

Rula now has the run of the Pintos’ property, a doggie door to go in and out, and plenty of indoor sleeping options for bedtime, including a memory foam sheepskin bed.

And though at first she didn’t know what a toy was, now she’s enamored with a stuffed pink-and-purple unicorn.

“What a lovely, lovely dog,” Pinto said, noting she’s surprised Rula doesn’t have any behavioral issues and rarely barks. “I think that it’s just amazing that everyone cared enough to get her out of that situation,” Pinto said.