Scenes from a Life: Tilda {5/9}

Tilda is the dog she wasn’t sure she was ready for.

Her ex was the animal guy; she wasn’t convinced they had the life for a dog. But there they were one day, at the Humane Society, where they had been visiting in search of a rescue. They were there to see a dog that had caught her eye online. A lab/border collie mix, Tilda was in an isolated wing waiting for space in the main shelter.

It was Tilda’s soul-deep brown eyes that drew her first. Those eyes saw things the humans kneeling at the cage couldn’t. When they got up, Tilda cocked her head, stuck a grey paw through the bars (she’s jet black save for a stripe of white on her belly and those front right toes), and placed it on her knee. Tilda chose her.

Tilda was, in short, a wild child — a smart hunting-herding cross that needed untold amounts of exercise and intellectual stimulation. Neither she nor her ex had been truly prepared for what was required. But she committed. She went all-in.

She read book after book on dog behaviour. She played brain games with Tilda, shaped good habits with positive reinforcement, and spent hours exploring Toronto’s Don River Valley with a dog who exuded joy in the wild.

Tilda wanted no part of her ex. She refused to walk with him. She had bonded with the one who had given her not only love, but also time, engagement, and structure. It made the breakup easy. One night her ex turned to her in bed and said, simply, “She’s always been your dog. She should stay with you.”

It was when she moved into her own place that she started running with Tilda, who loved bounding along beside her. On those runs she found resilience, strength, freedom … and herself. With Tilda at her side, she ran her way to marathon finish lines and also to the woman she was always supposed to be. 

Tilda knew exactly what she was doing that day at the shelter. Tilda knew the woman kneeling in front of her would need her far more than she would ever need the woman.

And not a day goes by that she doesn’t kneel back down, look into those brown eyes, and thank the dog who chose to save her.

Soundtrack: Stars, "Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It"