Tattler’s Tale: How a Dallas Street Dog Changed One Woman and a Community
Discover the Dallas street dog rescue story behind Tattler’s Tale, where filmmaker Justina Walford turns heartbreak into hope and change.
Filmmaker Justina Walford never set out to become an animal rescuer. She was a writer and creative producer, new to Dallas, when a big, scruffy, emaciated, and obviously ill stray she named Barnaby followed her home. Hoping to help, she called animal control and was devastated to learn he’d been euthanized while she was onsite visiting him moments before, before she could do anything to help him.
“That was my introduction to the good and bad of dog rescue,” Walford recalled. “It showed me how lacking city services could be, even in a city as big as Dallas. It broke my heart and changed my life.”
That heartbreak led to years of advocacy and rescue work, culminating in her short documentary “Tattler’s Tale,” which screens next weekend at the Billy the Kid Film Festival in Hico, Texas. The film tells the story of Tattler, a German Shepherd mix who spent years surviving in the harsh climate and even harsher streets of southern Dallas before Walford finally gained her trust.
Discover the Dallas street dog rescue story behind Tattler’s Tale, where filmmaker Justina Walford turns heartbreak into hope and change.
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Catching Tattler took almost two years. “She was too smart for traps and too scared of people,” Walford said. “A house was just a big trap to her.” What followed was a patient, often grueling process of teaching a feral animal how to live inside four walls, walk through doors, and eventually nap by a fireplace.
Tattler’s story mirrors the struggles of thousands of dogs living on the streets in Dallas’ poorer neighborhoods. Walford describes rescuing more than a hundred dogs herself, often in brutal heat or freezing ice storms. “Southern Dallas has a stray dog crisis,” she said. “You’d see them digging shallow holes to shield themselves from the wind, just trying to survive.”
The documentary captures the heartbreak, humor, and hope that defined Tattler’s rescue along with several of her packmates. With the help of a younger dog named Hef, Tattler learned that humans, and couches, could be trusted. “He was her Sherpa into the world,” Walford said.
Tattler lived to an astonishing 13 or 14 years old, rare longevity for a former street dog, before dying peacefully at home after a long battle with Cushing’s disease. “If I get into heaven, it’s because of Tattler,” Walford said, her voice softening. “She taught me unconditional love.”
Since those early days, Dallas Animal Services has improved dramatically, though it has ebbed and flowed with shifting leadership. The city added an animal cruelty division within the police department, and rescuers could register their names on rescued animals to be notified before euthanasia decisions—both of these features have come and gone, back and forth, over the years, but marked improvement is still present. “[Additions like these] help rescuers trust the process,” Walford said. “Back then, we didn’t have that. Now, more dogs get a real second chance.”
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The film’s screening in Hico carries special meaning. The small town’s animal control unit is currently raising funds for a permanent shelter, and Walford hopes her film, Tattler’s Tale, will help raise awareness. “I’m hoping they even have a couple adoptable dogs walk the red carpet,” she said with a laugh.
Now based between California and Arizona, Walford is expanding her creative reach with a new horror-novella series and flash fiction published on Substack. But she remains deeply connected to her Dallas friends and the rescue community that changed her life.
Tattler’s Tale screens Friday, November 7, as part of Opening Night Texas Shorts at the Billy the Kid Film Festival in Hico, Texas.
Discover the Dallas street dog rescue story behind Tattler’s Tale, where filmmaker Justina Walford turns heartbreak into hope and change.