Soft paws pad throughout the silent room, weaving around desks and feet. Multiple students run their hands through the dogs’ short fur, amazed and whispering to one another. After making her rounds, the dog sits at the foot of the stool, peering up at her owner.

Some people may know Canela Gearou from seeing her walking around with her dog, Delilah. On the outside, it’s a cute and simple pet and owner relationship, but truthfully, “She’s the closest thing to me.”

To start off, Gearou has lived with a dog before, and that influenced her decision greatly on top of naturally being an animal person. On that car ride back, her friend chose the name Delilah, “And so it felt like this kind of, uhm, just an homage to my time spent in Oklahoma.”

Delilah is very integrated into Gearou’s hobbies and interests too. She brings her to her coed soccer team, and Delilah really brings the energy at those games, and, “She’s just one of people’s favorite dogs, ‘cause she’s constantly roaming around to all the teams.” 

Towards Gearou’s teaching, “I didn’t know I wanted to teach Spanish until I was teaching Spanish.” She’s gone through many different similar jobs, from PE to preschool. None of them felt right to her until she kept experimenting.

“It all came together, all of a sudden, and I was like, oh, this is the perfect fit for me,” when experimenting with different teaching styles, Gearou incorporated many of her past experiences into her classroom, which made it unique and memorable for all of the students she teaches. Delilah is also brought in occasionally to help engage her pupils and is a calming presence for them.

“Teenagers are always looking to have a good time. I love having a good time,” she claimed as her favorite aspect of teaching.

Plus, when she teaches, the spirit goes both ways, “It’s the enthusiasm and the willingness, right?” She creates this welcoming atmosphere in her classroom which makes her students feel motivated to learn.

Gearou and Delilah are so deeply connected that if you’re going to bring up one of them, they should both be mentioned. Delilah constantly brings a wonderful mood to anywhere she is, whether it’s in the classroom or on the sidelines. There’s a quote by Robert Breault that Gearou holds close: “‘Friends are people you invite into your company, and dogs are animals you invite into your solitude.’”