Welcome to the November 2023 ZENFULdog of the Month featuring Tilly! Neale and Jill’s first dog, 36 years ago, was a standard poodle named Tess. They missed having a poodle in their family so they adopted Tilly just over a year ago. Tilly has been a challenging addition to their family at times but has added immeasurable joy to their lives.
Tilly
Birthday: August 4, 2022
Age: 15 months old
Meet Tilly’s Family
(Jill & Neale—Tilly’s pet-parents): Jill and Neale love the outdoors and plan to bring Tilly with them on their camping and hiking adventures. Neale plays fetch with Tilly every morning and then they share a morning routine.
(Liam & Emma—Tilly’s siblings): Tilly is very close to Liam and Emma and she goes bonkers when they come to visit. Emma and Jill spend lots of time working with Tilly on skills during walks.
(Andrew—Tilly’s half-brother): Tilly and Andrew have a special bond and love to play chase and hide-and-seek.
(Charlie (Andrew’s cat)—Tilly’s cousin): Charlie hisses at Tilly, but Tilly still wants to be friends.
Jill and Neale describe Tilly's Personality: Tilly has a big heart and is very loving with lots of energy. She is very ‘bouncy,’ but can also be shy at times.
Jill and Neale Share The Most Unique Thing about Tilly: Tilly’s most unique trait is the big, fluffy poof on the top of her head! She can also jump very high and run very fast.
Tilly's favourite Treats/Foods according to Jill and Neale:
Hot dogs
Hamburgers
Liver treats
Chicken
Salmon
Bacon
Beef
Jill and Neale Describe Tilly’s Favourite Activities: Tilly loves chasing her ball, dropping it in the pool and asking for one of her family members to get it out. She loves upholstered furniture and feather pillows.
Tilly also adores to:
Swim
Go on play dates with Georgia (her best friend)
Spend time with her family
Eat treats
Jump up on people
Play hide-and-seek
Do parkour
Get belly rubs
Chase squirrels
Jill and Neale Describe how Tilly Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: “Tilly is slowly getting better at unwinding, and sometimes she will lie on the couches in the family’s sunroom.”
If Tilly had a human voice, which celebrity would she sound like?: Jill and Neale think that Tilly would sound like the queen of pop—Britney Spears!
Tilly’s Training
Tilly is a master at Parkour and enjoys it immensely. With her parents, Tilly has completed 3 levels of skills and socialization: puppy level 1, adolescent level 2, and C.L.A.S.S. curriculum level 3, puppy parkour and adolescent parkour. Tilly also participates in ZENFULdog Training’s canihikes and caniwalks.
Jill and Neale Tell Us How Training Has Shaped Tilly: “Tilly has learned loads at ZENFULdog Training. She has worked on basic skills like ‘sit,’ ‘stay,’ ‘come,’ and ‘leave it.’ She is trying to work on ‘down’ and ‘no jumping’...stay tuned!”
Tilly is also working on playing nicely (and gently) with other dogs, and she is making good progress!
Jill and Neale Describe Tilly’s Biggest Training Challenges: Tilly is full of energy and can sometimes lose focus on her trainer if something
else is more exciting (which is pretty much anything). It has also been challenging helping Tilly to calm down and learn to settle.
Jill and Neale Name Tilly’s Biggest Training Successes: Tilly’s biggest success has been rising to her most significant challenge to be more calm and in control. She also excels at technical skills in Parkour such as ‘tic tacs’ and ‘see saw.’
Jill and Neale Describe Tilly’s Most Rewarding Training Moments: Jill and Neale have seen many improvements in Tilly since training. She makes them proud on the parkour course, playing nicely with other dogs, behaving well on her pack walks and learning to relax!
Kendra adds: “Tilly is such a beauty and walks like she knows it! Even as a puppy, Tilly was a majestic mover, which is wild as puppies usually do not have the best movements while growing. Thankfully she has the brain to match, as she is very intelligent, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get distracted having classes with her BFF Georgia!
Her pet-parents are absolute gems, they are patient and so good at supporting Tilly as she grows and learns. Truly everyone in class loves their positive natures. She loves to play with her friends and it's been awesome that she continues her training and her socialization. She performs great skills/obedience in classes and walks in a relaxed and happy manner while on our adventures with the canisport and trail club.
Tilly truly shines in Parkour—she is a natural athlete and, thanks to her ongoing training, she has focus and engagement so that she can get the best out of the sport. She loves to jump and be up high so she loves the Tic Tac behaviour, though we spend much of our training on low obstacles to truly get focused behaviours. Since she is still young and growing, we take sports training particularly seriously to be sure they do not get hurt. Thanks to training, she can settle while waiting, listen to cues so she can learn and do her job and demonstrate controlled and focused obstacle performance while her pet-parents focus on handling. I am excited to see her continued journey!”
A very special “Thank You!” goes out to Jill and Neale for providing so much fantastic content for this feature. Don’t forget you can also followZENFULdog Training on Facebook to stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day!
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