Tilly #3 Black Labrador Retriever Mix Female 6 Months Old ID#2969

Meet Tilly!  Tilly and her two sisters were born in MS as a result of an accidental litter.   Their Mom has papers as a registered black female lab and dad looked very labby and may or may not be a lab mix.  Tilly is getting settled in to her Brookline foster home.  Please read her blog from the bottom up.

March 24, 2022

Tilly is doing great as she passes the six-week mark in foster care!  She went to the vet for a weigh-in and is now a 36.4-pound bundle of glossy black energy.  She almost licked the face mask off the vet clerk she gave her so many kisses.  She keeps herself busy indoors killing stuffed toys, when she can tear herself away from wrestling with foster brother Henry.  She can run like a cheetah while playing tag and keep-away with him.  But her energy isn’t inexhaustible–after 15 or 20 minutes of hard playing she’s ready for quiet time.  She still doesn’t care much for walks in the park.  The smells are fun, but after about half a mile or so she can start complaining.  A different walking companion might change that–the steady plodding of foster sister Nina may not be her cup of tea.  But Henry pulls too hard to manage two lively dogs.

Yesterday while in the yard alone, she displayed her huntress instincts for the first time by stampeding a herd of deer (safely beyond the fence out of reach), charging at them and barking in a very authoritative manner to tell them to vamoose.  Amid the bursts of activity, there are long naps during the day when FM can get a few chores done.  And Tilly’s adjusted to being crated when FM goes out every now and then.  She survived one long (rare) 4-hour stretch, and appeared (via dog cam) to spend most of it sleeping.  All is quiet until the garage door opener starts up signaling FM’s return, then much barking.  But no dice crating her while FM is home without plenty of prolonged fussing.  She wants to be with the pack.

She’s an impatient young miss when it comes to mealtime–excitedly barking and jumping to hurry along the food prep and ignoring commands to be quiet.  The switch to a lamb-based kibble & probiotic powder has completed the solution to her previously runny bowel movements and all has been normal for the past two weeks.  She does eat far too quickly, and tries to chew through dividers in a slow feeder bowl, so FM intervenes to space out the mouthfuls.

She’s a sweet, loving, naughty little pup, who FM would gladly keep if there weren’t already two resident dogs here.  Hopefully the furever family she needs will come along soon.

March 10, 2022

Just wanted to let everyone know that Tilly’s recent fecal test has come back negative for any intestinal parasites, so the medications she recently completed did the trick!

Also, the new prescription powder she’s taking for diarrhea is really working quickly.  The vet said it’s bitter and I might have to disguise it in her food.  Not for this little girl–she laps it right up.  Tilly’s also midway through transitioning to her new lamb-based kibble, so that could be helping as well.  Not that diarrhea ever slowed her down or caused accidents inhouse.   She is one good puppy!

March 8, 2022

Sweet playful pup Tilly turned 6 months old yesterday.  In the past week, she has added ‘shake’ to the admittedly short list of commands she knows and demonstrates it in the attached video.  She’s since gotten a little better at it.  She says she prefers online learning rather than in-person training, and with open-book tests and treats.

Tilly returned to the vet this morning and had some great news– now that her permanent bottom canine teeth have grown in a little more, the vet says they’re fine and just where they should be–what a relief!  She also weighs 35 pounds now.  She does appear to have a bit of seasonal allergy with Spring upon us that is causing some eye goop, but it’s mild and doesn’t require any medication.  The vet gave her some medication for a stubborn case of diarrhea and another fecal test just to make sure that her previous intestinal visitors have gotten the boot.  She’s transitioning to a non-chicken-based puppy kibble and gets a probiotic supplement.  Hopefully all of that will take care of it.  Despite the runny poo for most of the time in foster, she only had one accident in the house a couple of weeks ago. and is on a regular poo schedule 3x a day.  What a good dog!

Tilly and the resident dogs continue to romp and play and keep each other busy.  She’s blossomed into a very friendly pup with the people she meets and laps up all the oohs and aahs from the staff and customers at the vet’s office today. She’s so snuggly at night on the sofa and in bed–although I could do without the little puppy tongue in my ear to wake me up in the morning when I pretend to still be sleeping.

Keeping our fingers and paws crossed that she’ll have some applications soon!

February 28, 2022

Tilly has completed 21 days as a Brookline foster and is looking for that family of wonderful people (or wonderful person) who will give her the loving home she deserves.  She’s been enjoying her days playing and rough-housing with foster brother Henry and building up those little muscles with lots of running and chasing and tug-of-warring.  She also dives right into the muddiest parts of the backyard every time the ground unfreezes.  No dainty diva is this one.  But she loves those long naps during the day and is quite the cuddler in the evening watching Britbox with Foster Mom.  Seems to like those British cop shows.

Tilly usually sleeps through the night, but she is still quite the early riser.  I expect she’ll keep edging toward a more respectable waking time as she (and her bladder) keeps growing.  All but one last dose of her intestinal parasite meds are finished now, and she inhaled all those pills (and her monthly heartworm and flea preventatives) like a champ along with her meals.   Her stools are still loose, so FM is going to try adding some pumpkin to her food.

Hope to be reviewing some applications for this sweet girl soon.

February 25, 2022

The last of the three Mississippi ‘illys’ is ready for her furever home!   Beautiful little Tilly is now 5.5 months old and 31.5 lbs. of scamp/lovebug/gamer/explorer/cuddler/napper.  In other words, a puppy.   She’s made tremendous progress in house-training, but an accident or two should be expected early on, as the lessons of being in foster compete with 5 months of going whenever she wanted.

Tilly is now comfortable meeting strange humans and dogs in the park as she practices walking on a leash.  She does pull and weave but is making steady progress.  She needs daily off-leash playtime–running full-speed, chasing balls, chasing an in-home doggy playmate.  Just taking walks is not enough for this exuberant girl.  She’s a skilled leaper, so a fence 4 feet or higher is indicated for a physical fence.  She may also be a candidate for an electric fence in the right kind of quiet, supervised setting, as she doesn’t seem to have much of a prey drive.

Tilly sleeps quietly in a human bed or a dog bed in my bedroom but does wake early.   She’ll rouse me with a lick on the ear or nudge of the nose if she needs to go outside right now.  She hasn’t developed a daytime signal to indicate that it’s potty time, but she’s been reliable when taken out every two-three hours of waking time, and longer goes when she’s napping.  She is crated (and doesn’t like it much) whenever her human leaves the house because Tilly’s still at the puppy stage of trying to chew inappropriate things.

She will have one last dose of an intestinal parasite med to take in two weeks.  Her diarrhea is thankfully over.  The vet noted that her permanent bottom canine teeth are coming in a bit too inward-leaning.  She recommended ball therapy (mouthing a lacrosse-type ball several times per day) to see if the condition would resolve naturally.  If it doesn’t there is the possibility that one or both of those teeth would need to be removed or temporarily braced so they don’t damage her upper jawline.   Her adopters would need to monitor the situation with their vet until the canines have fully erupted (around 8 months old).

To summarize:

Tilly Needs (in no particular order):

1. Work on commands and good behavior, leash-walking, and reinforce potty training
2. A playful dog companion(s) and plenty of interesting toys
3. Plenty of off-leash daily running exercise (playing ball, playing chase, whatever)
4. A roomy fenced yard (physical fence preferred, but electric fence will be considered depending on surroundings) where she can stretch those legs and run
5. Finish up her last med, evaluate and monitor her bottom canine tooth malocclusion, ball therapy
6. Plenty of love and cuddling from humans who are home most/all of the time
7. Confinement as appropriate when not supervised (gating–with high gates and/or crating, 42″ long)
8. Spaying–preferably before she goes into first heat anywhere from 6-9 months of age (norm is around 8-9 months). She’ll come with a spay contract.

Tilly Wants:

9. A variety of experiences to continue acclimating her to the world
10. Plenty of quiet nap time to recuperate from play
11. Free roam when supervised, with soft sofas and dog beds to lay on
12. Minimal crate time

February 22, 2022

This sweet, mischievous and lively baby has completed her second week as a Brookline, and is on her 11th day as a temporary member of our household.  Tilly has had a grand total of two accidents since she’s been here (at the very beginning of her stay).  This is all the more impressive since she’s had diarrhea on and off almost the entire time.  Not a single #2 accident in the house!

Tilly was incredibly brave when she got her microchip on Wednesday.  The pet store was the noisiest I’ve ever been in, and there were nervous and persistently vocal big dogs in line behind us as we waited for about twenty minutes.  Tilly was frightened and trembling but made no complaints and stuck close by me.  I had to carry her into and out of the store because the automatic doors scared her, as did the parking lot on a loud, busy street.  It was no surprise to learn that she weighed 31.5 lbs. now, as I could barely pick her up.  She didn’t even flinch when she got the chip, and happily accepted being petted and fussed over by the vet staff.

Then the next day we went to the vet to deal with tapeworms that were visible in her stool.  Her fecal test also showed coccidia, a microscopic intestinal parasite, which explains the diarrhea, so she’s getting three different kinds of meds to deal with all that.   And she eagerly inhales them along with her food unlike dogs who can sniff out a pill no matter what it’s buried in.

Tilly has definitely decided she doesn’t care much for being crated at night so I caved on Friday and let her sleep in my bed.   She was quiet as a lamb and slept the whole night through.  She is crated when I leave the house during the day, as she is still far too inquisitive about getting into things she shouldn’t and trying out her incoming permanent teeth on objects better off without teeth marks.

She loves playing and chasing and wrestling and trading bitey-faces and toy-stealing with my resident male dog.  Tilly respects any warning signals from either of my resident dogs when she’s being just a little too puppy-exuberant.  She’s fun to watch as she throws her toys around and pounces on them.  I still catch my breath when she zooms around the yard with the big dogs and bang into each other, but Tilly loves it.  After exuberant play she takes a nice long nap and then is ready for more adventures.

Strange people and dogs are approached warily, but with a lot of interest until she sees they mean no harm.  So far Tilly doesn’t seem to have much of a prey drive.  She’ll run around with the other two when they carry on about deer or foxes beyond the fence but doesn’t seem to focus on what they’re barking at or bark at it herself.

We’re working on her leash-walking skills.  She doesn’t like her Freedom harness very much, but at least now lets me put it on her without fussing.  She definitely could have a bit of sled-dog or plow-horse DNA but has improved a lot since the first walk.  We try to get out to the park every day.  She’s sitting nicely, if very briefly, on command, and that gets reinforced constantly.  And she actually gets into and out of the car under her power now, and rides very quietly.

We’ll soon be making a decision on when this cutie is put up for adoption.

February 14, 2022

Tilly has been so cute in the snow we had over the weekend that I had to post again.  I don’t know if this is the first time, she’s ever seen the white stuff, but she definitely revels in it.  She’s also discovered she loves shaved ice (okay, not really shaved, but definitely ice) and snow cones (without the cone or the syrup) and chasing snowballs along with resident dogs Henry & Nina.

She’s very comfortable in the house and happily lounging on all the sofas and on top of FM, and hoping I’ll let her sleep in my bed.  Unfortunately, that won’t be happening until she’s reliably housebroken.  Tilly is learning how to ‘sit’, and thinks it’s quite an imposition, but she’ll indulge my whim if something enticing is on offer.  She’s playing a lot more with Henry–wrestling all over the living room and enjoying two fun new puzzle toys– a plush log that hides little squeaky chipmunks, and a plush volcano that spews little dinosaurs.   These plush ‘babies’ are treasured by all three dogs, and much stealing back and forth ensues.  It also gives FM a stretching workout to retrieve the little babies when they’re knocked under a sofa or table.

Tilly will be venturing out into the wider world twice this week– once to go in search of a low-cost microchip (assuming we don’t have to flee in mortification if she acts up while standing in line), and then to go to the vet to see if she may have some of the usual puppy intestinal parasites that need treating.

The attached outdoor photo shows artist Tilly proudly displaying her impressionistic piece ‘Mud on the Slider’.   One of the videos shows her playing with a chunk of ice just before big Henry runs over to grab it.

The other shows her trying to insert her little self into a tug of war with the big dogs over a glove that FM foolishly dropped and then spent 20 minutes trying to retrieve.

February 12, 2022

Little Tilly is settling in well entering her third day in our house.   She’s lively and playful but takes long naps in the morning and afternoon and cuddles on the couch at night while FM watches TV.   Tilly is discovering the joys of playing chase with the big dog (resident devil Henry) and fetch with FM.  She actually brings the toy back a good percentage of the time!  Of course, she doesn’t let go of it very willingly.

Tilly had her first walk in the park yesterday, with calm, steady plodder Nina for company while rambunctious Henry was at daycare. This was after a prolonged wrestling match with FM to put a Freedom Harness on her somewhere other than inside in her mouth.  She did well on the 1-mile stroll, with an expected great deal of springing around, zagging when she wasn’t zigging, and eagerly pulling toward all the new smells.  We met a three-month-old puppy on the path, and Tilly eagerly tried to play with her.  Sadly, we walked on as Tilly looked wistfully over her shoulder.  She seemed a little awed by the wide-open spaces of the park, stopping and staring at times and hesitating to go forward.  Or perhaps she was just being a tourist in a scenic spot.

Traffic noise seems a little startling to her, but not overly so, and doesn’t interfere with her enjoyment of the outside   My fenced backyard is well-removed from the busy street where I live, but the car noise still filters through.  Over time, I expect she’ll ignore it the way the other dogs do.  Tilly seems to have a very nice balance of being first bold and then quickly retreating if unsure of herself.  Then immediately advancing to try again.  She’s definitely bolder with Henry, and he has corrected her a few times for bad manners.  She has a healthy respect for the big dogs, which unfortunately for them does not preclude her from stealing their toys at every opportunity.

We’re still working on having Tilly let FM get a full 6 or 7 hours of sleep.  And I’m afraid she’s training my resident dogs to expect to get up in the middle of the night and go outside!  Only one pee accident in the house so far, and she was thoughtful enough not to relieve herself on the immediately adjacent area rug.  She has had a bit of diarrhea since she arrived, probably from stress, but thankfully all deposits have been outside.

I’m looking forward to the cold weather forecast for tomorrow to freeze up some of the mud in the yard, so I don’t have to towel off three muddy dogs every time they come in!

February 10, 2022

It’s been 24 hours since five-month-old Puppy Tilly came to stay due to a change in work schedule for her initial foster.  She was very sad to see Tilly go, and I was very happy to see her arrive.

This glossy black cutie was a little shy at first and had already become attached to her first foster mother after only 2 days, but she soon started chasing after resident dogs Henry and Nina in our muddy backyard.   Sadly, the bath she got upon arrival on Sunday didn’t last long.  After about an hour she warmed up to me and let me pet and kiss her.  She gives the big dogs wide berth if they’re making sudden moves or charging toward her, and I think this is helping Nina tolerate her well enough to let Tilly lay with a paw or thigh actually touching hers.  Henry is the only one who’s growled a couple of times to warn her to back off.  And she does, immediately.  He also wants to play with her, but I think they’re still feeling each other out.

Tilly objected to being crated with the door shut for a while near dinner time and again at bed.  It lasted about half an hour each time.  We got up at 2:00 am last night to go outside, mainly because the big dogs decided to roust me out of bed.  Very unusual for them, so maybe Tilly was sending telepathic messages.

Henry & Nina have discovered that Tilly is a very accomplished filcher of their toys.

She likes to hoard them in her downstairs crate, and at one point had about seven in there.  I held my breath when she grabbed Nina’s favorite, Lambchop, and made off with it.  But Nina didn’t object. When she grabs something that Henry wants, he just moves toward her and she drops it and flees.  She has also proved adept at several Olympic events, including the High Couch Hurdle, the Downstairs Slalom, the Countertop Jump and the Food Bowl Dive.

We need to work on the usual puppy behavior (jumping on everything, mouthing, basic commands, etc.). She doesn’t seem treat-motivated so far, so I’ll have to break out the cheese sticks and see if that makes a difference.  It’s always a little challenging trying to do training here, because Nina tries to muscle in for all treats and if I gate her away, she howls. Creativity will be required!

Tilly was an outside dog for 5 months, and loves being outside and snuggles next to the door leading outside to bask in the sun.  But she’s learning the joys of a soft couch and a bed as well.

Keeping my fingers crossed that tonight we can all get a little more sleep.

February 7, 2022

Tilly did great on her ride home from her rescue ride. She is settling in nicely, keeping close by me as my one resident dog is not fond of her yet. She is going up and down the stairs like a champ and loves to drink water! She only had one accident in the house but that was early in the day yesterday. We went for a walk yesterday and she loved all the new smells. She didn’t do too bad either.She settles nicely in her crate for short periods and slept quietly in the crate until about 4am. Of course she’s napping now. LOL.She’s a real sweetie who loves snuggles.