Tilly, the Wonder Dog

Tilly, the Wonder Dog, actually smiled for her volunteer badge photo at Methodist Hospital today. She's becoming a pet therapy pro. Even though we've gone on a dozen or so visits with the Faithful Paws group -- we've also gone to a couple of assisted living facilities and DePelchin Children's Center -- this was only our second time to go to Methodist Hospital.

The last time we went to Methodist, Tilly did a great job of propping her two front paws on the bed to let the hospital patient pet her. This time, there were no special requests to go to particular rooms, so we went to the surgical waiting room. From the outside looking in, it was obvious that everyone was on edge, tense with worry waiting to hear that all was well with their loved one. The mood visibly lightened when we walked in with our pets. It was remarkable! You could see the tension melting away as we walked our dogs around and visited. Over and over, people thanked us for bringing our pets to the hospital.

It's really fun to take Tilly places that people don't normally go with animals. She is so sweet, gentle, beautiful, and well behaved. People can't help but fall in love with her. She seems to understand that she goes to these places to let people meet her, pet her, and maybe scratch her under her chin. She was especially good today. It's like she knew that people needed to be comforted.


We live about a mile from Methodist, so we walk there and back. It's still quite hot here in Houston -- about 95 degrees today (feels like 100) -- so by the time we got home, poor sweet Tilly was exhausted. She is taking a well deserved nap. Good girl, Tilly. Good girl.