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WARMINGTON: Milestone for loving hound who completed her 1,000th therapy mission

Tilley’s road to being a therapy dog came honestly because she was rescued herself

St. John’s Ambulance Ontario Commissioner Brian Patterson, left, lauds Tilley the pooch and Shelley Baker on her 1,000 visit, alongside Stewart Kellock.
St. John’s Ambulance Ontario Commissioner Brian Patterson, left, lauds Tilley the pooch and Shelley Baker on her 1,000 visit, alongside Stewart Kellock. Photo by Supplied /Toronto Sun

To set this record, Tilley and her handler Shelley Baker had to work like dogs! 

Move over Phil Kessel and Mitch Marner because you have company in the record books of stardom and consistency. In Marner’s case, it’s 19 straight games of scoring a point. In Kessel’s case, it’s playing more than 1,000 consecutive NHL games.

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But when it comes to Tilley, it’s the distinction of 1,000 game-winning therapy visits at the Markham Stouffville Hospital and Chartwell Woodhaven Long Term Care Residence. 

On Tuesday, the soon-to-be-14-year-old Yorkie/Bichon cross received a special gold medallion from St. John’s Ambulance for all the years of helping people cope after surgery, or from loneliness or even in bereavement. The special honour given to the dog and Baker drew a crowd. 

“You knew something was happening because the lobby filled up with people,” said Brian Patterson, St. John’s Ambulance Ontario commissioner, who also heads up the Ontario Safety League. “It was one of those moments that made everybody feel good.” 

As Patterson said, around that hospital or the adjacent sites it services, “everybody knows Tilley.” The friendly pooch who — when she’s not volunteering — lives with Baker and her husband, Stewart Kellock, a retired highly decorated Toronto Police detective who has volunteered for St. John’s and with the military in Afghanistan.

Tilley is a legend in these hallways. Her road to being a therapy dog came honestly because before she could help so many, she had to be rescued herself. 

“She was locked in her crate for 22 hours a day,” Shelley said of Tilley, who she found at six months old and seized from a location that was not warm and loving for the pup. 

“At first we took her in as a foster dog until we found her a new home,” said Shelley with a chuckle. 

Tilley was already home. 

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The pup liked going with Shelley to work at the hospital, where she soon dove into becoming a trained therapy dog with St. John’s to help so many people. Some of the those who came to celebrate her 1,000th visit were the kids who got to know Tilley while they were at the hospital in the final days of their father’s life as he died from cancer. Tilley helped them through that tough time and played with them as their mom and dad talked with doctors. 

Other people just need to hug a hound during a hospital stay to feel some love. Since March 13, 2011, Tilley has been going to the hospital and long-term care facilities to do just that. On Dec. 6, 2022 she was honoured on the 1,000th time she did. 

Just like Marner and Kessel, Tilley is now in the history books. 

jwarmington@postmedia.com