Tina, Valentina, The Toothless Dog.

Her forehead twitches as she lays on the sofa. Uncontrollable movements that worsen as night grows near.

She was dreaming. Or maybe reliving a memory she was less than keen to have, but has become a part of her at this point. Tina is a 45 pound white and brown Australian Cattle dog-mix.

Tina, formally known as Valentina, is called “Vale” (pronounced Valley) by the people she lives with. They are her people. She had it rough before she was lucky enough to enter their home. But that was years ago, now she can relax and dream.

I call her Tina. I am her favorite auntie, or “Titi” as her Puerto Rican ‘mother’ calls her.

“Titi Shira is coming over!” Tina would perk up. “Where is Titi Shira?” She would ask Tina, who would start going to the door and looking out the window.

For a while I used to ride my bicycle over there and ring my bell when I was getting close. That would send Tina barking at the window eagerly waiting for me to get close enough that she could jet outside and run zoomies in the yard around me.

She would grin so large you could see she had very few teeth, 11 perhaps? Maybe more. Tina had about 28 teeth pulled within a few months of being rescued. Her teeth were in such bad shape. The vet stopped charging per tooth as it would have been SO expensive. Tina just needed the help. Now she runs zoomies.

Some nights, when they were all home watching TV and Tina was in her typical location, resting on the giant brown leather ottoman for the couch, a bell would chime on TV. Tina would jump up, convinced I might be nearby.

“Maybe Titi Shira was coming and would give me a deep scratching!” Tina thought to herself. It felt so great to have those nails run through her fur. Inevitably it would loosen up the itchy undercoat…leaving puffs of hair around the wooden floors.

“Or maybe, just maybe I will get to go on an adventure!” Tina perked up even more.

I often pick Tina up for a river walk with her boyfriend Bob, a beautiful gentle Rottweiler mix I had introduced her to. She would follow him wherever he would go. They chase each other running through the grasses, over the hills and plunging into the river. Best walks ever!

As Bob and Tina run, they find amazing smells. They would take turn marking spots, sharing in the really great spots, marking them together.

I will never forget this one time that I took Tina to the river. It was Spring. See in the spring, an osprey pair nest in the same spot every year. Osprey are such large, majestic birds. Tina was never too interested in the birds, but I always had to be careful. See, the birds like to eat the fish from the river. Tina too likes fish.

Whenever I grill fish, Tina is at my side. I may drop a piece. Sneak her some skin. For sure I’d give her a bit of burned fish. She was right. I always gave her some.

As we approached the pole that the giant nest rested on, I watched for Tina. She was off in another direction with Bob. As we got closer, so did she.

Tina moseyed over to the area of the birds. I could see her sniffing around looking for scraps. Then in the blink of an eye she had half a fish in her mouth.

Now with normal dogs, you can kind of pinch at the back of their jaws and get them to release whatever is in their mouth. But Tina does not have teeth back there so that is not an option. She was good about dropping it, usually. However, this time…it must have tasted amazing! I still do not know how she was able to hold it so tightly. I was pulling with all the force I could and she held on. Slowly but surely…the fish was swallowed up.

We continued on our walk. She drank from mud puddles. She at grass at the river. Tina ran hard.

On the drive home, she was out cold. It was only a short drive, but she was happy and content. When I returned her—I felt obliged to share what she ate, in case she was sick that night. Thankfully she was fine. And Tina and I were allowed to adventure on another day!