Tilda’s Memorial Tribute Calendar for 2012
Calendar Sales: The calendar sales for Tilda and the other 4 hospitals are going well. Thanks to all of you that have purchased and I appreciate all the great comments. I am glad you are enjoying them. You can purchase your calendars now by clicking here.
Quick Update: Thanks to all of Tilda’s Friends that continue to share their Tilda Rainbow experiences. I never knew so many double rainbows occurred. It is simply amazing. It is almost serving a dual purpose. The initial purpose is Tilda saying howdy to her friends, but then when those friends are considerate enough to relay that information to me, it is almost like Tilda is sending me a direct signal again letting me know she is still involved. What a magical story this has become. Out of the saddness of being without Tilda comes more happiness that she is still there watching over us. There is still a lot of stories to be told about Tilda and I hope to put them all down on paper, one at a time. Somehow, I have this feeling that new stories will continue to flow because of Tilda as in the story I want to share with you today.
Dreams of Tilda
I have had several dreams about Tilda lately. They were all good dreams and very vivid. The first one of a few weeks ago was so funny I want to share it with you. In the dream, I was walking across a very large vacant parking lot of some sort, maybe 5 or 6 acres in size. In the far corner of the lot were some storage containers and all of a sudden I happened to glance in the direction, while walking, and a small image of what I thought was a dog came walking out from behind one of the containers and started walking towards me. I looked, looked again, strained my eyes to focus better, it kept coming closer and then I said to myself “is that Tilda?” The dog was the same color but much younger, like a two year old Tilda. The dog was the same color with those distinctive markings. I started calling to the dog “Tilda, is that you?” over and over and over again as Tilda came running in my direction with that wonderfully joyful gait trotting sideways with her body at an angle as she always did. I then started screaming her name very loud over and over and DARN IT………I WOKE MYSELF UP!!!!
An interview with “Midnight”
I tried to go immediately back to sleep again hoping to pick up where I left off, but nothing doing. I startled myself so much, I was wide awake so finally just got up and thought about it for a very long while. I must have scared Tilda also as I didn’t dream about her for a couple weeks after that time, but then she started to come back again. We really didn’t do anything in the dreams, just sort of hung out together and she gave me impressions that she was doing great and it was time for us to move on and she would help us with another doggy adventure. So Donna and I have been looking at other dogs. Many people are trying to help by looking out for us in case they see a rescue dog that needs a great home. We know we want a larger dog (50-60 pounds or so), must be a female, at least 2 years old, must be gentle and hopefully something that might have other things going for them besides playing ball or retrieving a Frisbee or a stick. Since I spent so much time with Tilda, I know the look, the eyes, the depth of eye contact, etc. So I will be trying to find a dog with similar traits. I am not looking for another Tilda, that doesn’t exist. I am looking for a new dog with potential for some wonderful new skills all of her own. That would be most exciting. So the hunt begins. I know it’s out there, it just has to find me.
A really sweet dog named “Midnight”
So far we have spent a couple hours with a lovely dog named “Midnight”. She was a 4 year old Black Lab/Dalmatian mix dog. We had a fun time, but it wasn’t a match. Next Tuesday, we have an appointment in Denver to visit a couple hours with “Sissy” who is a 6 year old Border Colline/Dalmatian mix. Sissy has “the look” in her photos, but we’ll see if the rest of her traits are compatible. Midnight and Sissy are in foster homes with the Colorado Dalmatian Rescue organization. Wonderful people are doing this for those dogs who have lost their homes and keeping them out of the kill centers. We visited briefly with a young dog named “Heify” in Fort Collins. She was a cute little thing, but too small and not old enough. I have been
How does the Sissy face grab ya!
frequently visiting the Humane Societies also and nothing so far has caught my eye. Of course I want a dog that has the ability to be a therapy dog again so I can get back to work after the dog is ready. So there are lots of parameters to consider such as attractive, calm, walks on loose leash, good with children, not aggressive to other dogs and a dog with a great face and smile. All those things are the makings of a super therapy dog that becomes enjoyable for the person being visited and for me. If any of Tilda’s Friends know of something like this description, please let me know. Now for today’s true story:
Rescuing Buddy….Was it Tilda at Work Again?
Donna and I had an appointment to spend some time with a dog (I call it a dog interview) in Fort Collins at 11am sharp. We were excited as this was our first dog interview so we left a bit early around 10am. As we were driving up the asphalt road a couple miles from our house, Donna said to me “is that a dog coming down the center of the road way up ahead?” I strained my eyes to look and sure enough, it looked to be a large red colored Golden Retriever and it was running frantically right down the center of the road in our direction. I stopped along side the road and the dog came running at us full speed and in a major panic, it ran around and around the truck and then jumped up on the driver’s side door and wanted in badly and started scratching the door violently. To prevent any further
Sissy looks like she could melt a heart
damage to the paint on the door, I quickly opened in and noticed the dog had a collar so I grabbed it and led the dog around to the other side of our vehicle so it would be off the road. The poor dog was breathing so hard and about that time Donna opened her door and the dog tried to jump in on top of Donna. He wanted in the vehicle so bad. Donna then helped me look at the tags on the collar, no address at all (lesson for all to learn right there). There was a medallion for the county license and there was a number on it so I tried to call the county license office and they didn’t open until 11am. Actually, that is where we were headed as the Humane Society in Fort Collins does the licensing in this county.
We then discussed the situation and were sure the dog’s home was probably close, but we have never seen the dog before and had not a clue. Donna suggested we put the dog in Tilda’s compartment in the back seat and go back home and wait until 11am and call the Humane Society to see if we could get an address or phone number for the dog. I had a strong leash in the truck so we hooked it to the dog’s collar and opened the rear door and that dog went flying into Tilda’s compartment. We had to wrap the leash around Donna’s seat as the dog was not happy just sitting there and wanted to jump up front with us which was not going to happen. It was a very large male dog and very strong and could have done some real damage if it got up front with us. With everything in place, I turned around and we drove back home.
At our house, I unloaded the dog and he was so excited and nervous. We calmed the dog down for a while and when it came close to 11am, Donna sat on a ledge outside and I tied the dog to a post near her so she could comfort it while I went inside to call in the information. Donna happened to say at that moment “so doggy, we need to call you something while you’re visiting us here. What are we going to call you…….how about BUDDY or since you’re a boy, we can make it Buddy Boy. Will that work for you?” The dog looked at Donna very calm and wagged its tail…..we both looked at each other and just shrugged our shoulders and I said “that’s a good a name as any, so Buddy Boy is it”.
I went into the house at 11am and called the Humane Society. They were very helpful and gave me the name of the owner and their phone number. I asked for the address, but they said that was private information and not given. I asked what I should do if the owner doesn’t answer the phone and they said to call back in that situation and they would try some other things. The lady on the phone then said she wanted to verify that this was the licensed dog. She asked me if it was a red colored Golden Retriever and I acknowledged that for sure. She then said “it looks like we have the right dog and and by the way, HIS NAME IS BUDDY!” Well at that point, as you can imagine, I nearly fell off my chair. I asked her “what did you say?” and she repeated the dog’s name was Buddy. I then said “is this a joke?” and she laughed and asked me why I would say that. I then explained and she said “wow, this is probably one of the strangest occurrences I have had” and of course I couldn’t disagree with that statement. I then told her about Tilda and that maybe this incident wasn’t quite so strange after all. She agreed that certainly could be a possibility as it is a bit beyond total coincidence.
This is what Buddy looked like
I then called the owners and thank goodness they were home and lived about 2 ½ blocks east of where we first saw the dog. Situation solved…………..except for the curiosity of Donna getting the dogs name right. I went outside and asked Donna why she picked the name Buddy. She replied that is just felt right and it was the very first name that popped into her head immediately. When I told Donna it was his real name, she was as amazed as I was. She just kept saying that she had the impression of Buddy when she asked that question out loud. Wow! How’s that for something to ponder over for weeks.
Here is the afterthoughts of this incident. Normally, it is not uncommon for a dog to be on the road and normally we may have driven right on by thinking that it belonged to one of the houses on the road and all would be fine. But for some reason, this dog was in a panic mode and that concerned us both. Something was telling both of us to make an attempt to find this dogs home as it might get hit by a fast moving car when the dog was in such a panic mode. I now think maybe it was Tilda helping this dog and Tilda even gave Donna the name of the dog to help calm it down. Could it be? I think it may be possible it was Tilda, but you be the judge now that you also know the whole story.
This story has a happy ending as we loaded Buddy into our vehicle and went over to his place a couple miles away and as we drove up, his mommy owner was standing by the front door with the door open and all I had to do was open Tilda’s compartment door and Buddy went flying out of there and headed for his home. Just before he went inside the house through the front door, Buddy stopped for only a moment, looked back at Donna and I as if to say Thank You, then went inside. That was a perfect ending to an very happy story. Thank you, Tilda!
Until Next Time…………..