Tilden Labrador (TilTil) --- he loved the tinkling of bells --- was born August 4, 2009. I first met him on the morning of July 17, 2011 and he graduated from Guiding Eyes (at home) on Aug 5, 2011.
His pet name was Til-Til (he loved the sound of bells and would jump up shoulder high if you rang a bell) --- and had a very gentle personality. He worked as a guide-dog for 11 years and 1 month before going to sleep peacefully on September 3, 2022, 16:23 PDT.
During his career, Tilden worked at Google Mountain View and travelled to multiple Google offices including Seattle, Cambridge and NYC to name a few. He also had the privilege of sharing at least 10 different desk locations on the Google MTv campus ranging from main campus all the way to the far end of the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy (AKA West Campus) and the opposite end on East Charleston. He travelled around the Google Campus proudly sporting his Google Badge, but unlike his predecessor Bubbles, would wait if recalcitrant Googlers blocked his way and look up at them gently as if to say Why dont you move out of my way please?. On the other hand, he was also the veritable sphinx in that if he parked himself outsite the restroom to wait for me, he would look up at all who came close to say Thou Shall Not Pass. He worked on a variety of AI-powered projects including Google Accessibility, Smart Assistant, and toward the end on Google Translate, all while bringing his refreshingly Natural Intelligence to his primary job of path planning and obstacle avoidance on the Google Campus --- and believe you me, it takes a particularly intelligent dog to avoid obstacles that smart Googlers can place in your way. He attended most Smart Assistant offsites with the claim All of you have just a Smart Assistant; But I'm a Smart AssistDog, and that is better, --- because you know, A Dog is Bigger Than An Ant! Tilden also partnered me as Google's W3C AC Rep until 2015. In addition, Tilden, like Aster and Bubbles before him, was also the mascot for Emacspeak --- The Complete Audio Desktop; in addition, he played the vital role of Press/Analyst contact for just over 11 years.
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