Ruska, registered as Standard-Bearer Ragamuffin, is worth his kennel name! He is a real wild child and inventive fellow. Ruska is 8 years old (born 1.6.1999) and has a lot of character.

Ruska’s big curiosity gives me grey hair at times. Locked doors aren’t an obstacle for him, not necessarily even double-locked ones. This boy likes to put his head where ever it fits, all kinds of holes, bags and sacs are fascinating for him. Sometimes we have seen him wandering around with a waste-basket’s pendulous cover around his neck, sometimes dried urethane in his nose. He has managed to lock himself in our caravan’s toilet once and often been a “prisoner” in our garage.

Ruska also loves carrying all kinds of stuff. The bigger the better! He has been bird hunting a couple of times, though mostly as a tourist. He has had one glorious performance with a wounded, but still flying black grouse. So he’s not an unnecessary dog for the hunter, though during a long day his good movement turns into wandering behind the hunter. I must admit that Ruska is the dog in our family who has had a “free upbringing”, so for the most part I’m the one to blame for his lack of hunting skills.

Ruska might not be very intelligent but he is surely quite inventive. He is also quicker to discover things than his big brother. Ruska is curious and friendly, though maybe not as crazy for strangers as Nuusku is.

Since Ruska’s other testicle never came down to it’s right place, he can’t attend any shows. A couple of years ago he was sterilised, which made his great appetite to grow even greater. “There’s no punishment so bad that you wouldn’t suffer it for food”, is the motto of the food thief Ruska. Until today we haven’t found a food that he wouldn’t eat, and we have tried everything from jalopenos to lemons.

Swimming is one of Ruska’s passions and he likes to swim rather long distances in our river. One of the aims in his life is to rescue people from the water, as he seems to think us human beings can’t swim at all and are in constant danger of drowning.