In 2019, this sweet mama dog was brought into animal control by an officer that picked her up along with her puppies. She was completely covered in ticks from her ears to her toes, with a rope around her neck. The officer and a volunteer at animal control spent the day picking the hundreds of ticks off of her body, based on the social media story Kris about her. Kris found out that all of her puppies were tagged by a rescue and picked up, but this sweet mama was left behind. She was incredibly shy and scared of everything. She deserved a second chance, so Kris & Chuck adopted her with a particular intent.

Kris and Hailey had discussed finding a friend for Hailey’s rescue dog that lived in FL with her, Rocky. Ginger seemed like the right temperament for him. She showed Kris that she loved absolutely everyone – dogs and people, that is. Cats, not so much. Hailey rescues cats so, after realizing Ginger’s prey drive was way too high to be alone with the cats, she came back to live with the Barbers in Texas.

They jokingly call Ginger, Bear’s girlfriend. She adores Bear and he seems to only be interested in her as well, even though he lives with two other females; Indie & Ivy. Bear is like the boy in class that pulls a girl’s hair because he likes her. At dinnertime every night, Bear chases Ginger around the backyard, pulls her legs (never rough, just playfully), nudges her, and gives her some unwanted affection. There is always someone outside with them to monitor the situation, but honestly, you can tell him to leave her alone and he will, but she will go right back to seek him out! They definitely have a weird relationship!

Over the years, if Bear jumped the fence, Ginger was right behind him – up and over, to keep him company. Kris would jump in the truck to track them down in the neighborhood or at the back of the property. Ginger would always give up Bear’s game. Bear normally comes when he is called, unless…he is on the run! That’s where Ginger comes in – she always comes when she’s called and would run to Kris and look back to where Bear trying to be elusive. It’s particularly hard to spot Bear in the fall – he blends right into the environment (Ginger too, but she doesn’t hide intentionally!) They are quite a pair!

Ginger is a permanent fixture in the Barber household and loves meeting new dogs that come to the Barber’s house. She is helping Boudreaux get over his trust issues with other dogs, and proceeded to jump the fence to greet Stitch on the first day of his arrival. That was NOT planned and Kris was grateful she didn’t cause Stitch to feel threatened with a dog dashing toward them before they knew exactly how he’d react. The Barber’s have deemed Ginger the welcoming committee!

Ginger is one of the five den dogs that have created their own pack, for the most part. She lives with Bear, Indie, Ivy & Rocky (Hailey’s dog). She is so sweet but the pitch of her bark could literally break glass, it’s so shrill! One of the traits the Barbers have learned to live with but still wonder if someday the glass will actually crack LOL!

Ginger’s most striking feature is her eyes! One is mostly blue with a splotch of brown at the top, the other is mostly brown with a splotch of blue at the top – it’s like they got jumbled up in the spin cycle when she was being created!

Ginger is a mama through and through – she carries around her “baby” unless one of the other den dogs steals it. They are usually respectful of her love for big stuffed animals like “baby” but its hard for the den dogs to resist the need to destuff anything that isn’t nailed down!