Tilly, Yellow Labrador Retriever, 1.5 Years Old

October 9, 2018

We’re surprised that Tilly is still looking for her furever home.  She’s  a sweet girl who is going to thrive in a quiet setting, getting exercise from good walks and tug and chase sessions with a canine buddy.  And foster mom reports that she is an awesome foot warmer when it’s time to come inside and rest (well foster mom has to work but Tilly and her buddies get to rest).  Tilly will make the perfect companion for the right family.  She is shy and gets a lot of confidence from having another dog around,  but once she warms up, she’s the best!

September 16, 2018

Tilly is a precious girl who must have had a horrific start because she was so scared and shut down when she came into Brookline.  She has made great progress, but I do think she will continue to blossom for many years to come in the right home.  She loves the outdoors and if you’re looking for a walking or hiking buddy, look no further.  Tilly is good with all dogs she has met but wary of people she doesn’t know, but she is not confrontational (although she will bark).  Rather she will stick like glue to whoever is walking her and  prefers not to meet the person.  In the home, she is a delight and we have really have come to love her.  She is very affectionate and loves to sleep at your feet or have you nearby,  She does have a fabric fetish; we haven’t found a stuffed animal she can’t/won’t destroy.  Needless to say, the few that are left have been put away until we are Tilly-free.  Socks are her favorite item to shred so the house has to be puppy proofed. For this reason she still needs to be crated if her people are going to be away for more than an hour or two.

We still feel strongly that she needs another confident happy dog in the house to model, and they will in turn enjoy her.  Tilly needs a quiet home without a lot of coming and goings so we don’t think she will necessarily do well in a home with young kids.  We are recent empty nesters so it’s pretty quiet here, save for the fact that we currently have five dogs in the home.

If you have any questions about Tilly and whether she’s the right dog for your home, please contact info@brooklinelabrescue.org.

August 25, 2018

The plan is to make Tilly available soon.  While I think she may be a “work in progress” for a few months at least, she is a delightful dog in our home, and we feel it’s time for her to be bonding to her new family.  Yes she may regress temporarily, but I have faith that in the right home, she will continue to improve and thrive.  Tilly absolutely needs another young or medium aged dog to play with and whose happy behavior she can model.  Eventually she can be an only dog, but for her confidence and security, she needs another dog at this point in her life.  Tilly loves go for walks but she is happier on quieter streets and paths in the woods than she is on busy streets with lots of activity.  She is a country or suburban girl for sure.  Tilly loves playing ball although she is still learning to drop it to continue the game.  We’re not recommending young kids just because they can be loud and unpredictable, and I think it will make for a rough adjustment.  At first she growled at our resident cat who is old and crotchety but now she is absolutely fine, so cats are no problem with a proper introduction.

If you think Tilly might be just the pup to complete your family, please go to our website (www. brooklinelabrescue.org) to learn about our adoption process.

August 14, 2018

Tilly goes on vacation: the plan was for Tilly to stay home and be dog sat by another foster, but Tilly made it pretty clear that she wasn’t ready for not being with the people she is learning to trust, so she joined us on our road trip for a long weekend lakeside in New Hampshire.      This proved to be a good thing for many reasons.  One, she got some more time getting used to being in a car.  She had gone to the vet once since we got her to get microchipped and she was nearly impossible to get in and out of the car; she was so scared.  But now she is beginning to realize that being in a car can lead to fun.  She did quite well riding with the other three dogs.

They had the whole rear of a Honda Pilot so they rode in the lap of luxury.  It was also good to test Tilly out in a new home and with new people.  She had at most one number one accident, but I’m convinced it wasn’t the resident Yorkie letting us know he wasn’t happy to have four large labs in his house.  But ‘m happy to report that Tilly did great with Ollie the Yorkie. Furthermore people always often ask me if my foster likes to swim.  I can now say that while she loves to wade and splash and frolic, she isn’t a fan of swimming yet.

She did fall off the dock twice though so we know she can swim!  With time I think she’ll be swimming with the best of them.  But perhaps the best thing was the fact that Tilly learned to use the stairs!  Here she had the advantage of having the stairs covered with plush carpeting and a landing and a turn half way up.  She is now a pro.  As we’re en route home, the jury is still out whether she’ll attempt our stairs at home (they have non slip mats on the treads but are a rather steep straight shot up.  She loved sleeping with the pack at night  though so I’m fairly confident she will figure it out.

Tilly still needs time to decompress and learn that people are her friends.  She’ll even still run from us when it’s time to leash up and go outside.  However once you get her on the leash she willingly follows.  When we’re out on walks, vehicles scare her, as do loud kids and activity (a happy surprise is that some impromptu fireworks by some neighbors over the late didn’t phase her one bit, even though it did terrify one of our resident lavbs).  She is also not a good eater, and she regressed a bit owing to the new surroundings, so after basically snubbing three meals in a row, I added a few enticements again (scrambled egg, chicken) but still she isn’t eating well. It’s probably the reason she is now a svelte 70 pounds (she weighed in at 78 pounds the day she was pulled).  She looks great, but we don’t want her losing any more weight.

Stay tuned for more updates.  Tilly is a great dog.

August 2, 2018

I never cease to be amazed by the resilience this wonderful breed demonstrates when they’ve had a rough start like Tilly has.  Tilly continues to make progress every day, and I’m even starting to see “Silly Tilly.”  She is learning so much from the resident labs, and her tail is starting to wag as much as theirs when they’re excited.  Tilly is choosing to be out of the crate 100% of the time when we’re home and can watch her, and nine times out of ten, she is touching one of my labs.  Most specifically she has attached herself to our goofy 6 year old male chocolate, but that may be because he chooses to have his people in sight, so she is getting the best of both worlds -her people and dogs!

We are now walking twice a day and Tilly is getting more confident, going in straight lines (mostly), and really is starting to enjoy sniffing and seeing what the other labs are up to.  I tend to crate her after a good walk since she is tired and sleepy and relaxed anyway and that’s the time I’ll run errands or schedule meetings and appointments outside the home. She is doing great with the house training, but she’s not ready for free roam.  For now she is also attempting to rip/shred toys so she needs to be supervised.

Still not a fan of the crate at night, Tilly nonetheless has not been willing to attempt our stairs.  I predict it will happen pretty soon, and we’ll all get more sleep 🙂  If she doesn’t figure it out by the weekend, I’ll have foster dad walk the resident lab and try another liverwurst trail going up the stairs.

She’s eating chicken and all the kibble (a full portion now), but only if I hand feed her in the crate.  She literally won’t eat anything but a few pieces of chicken unless I “help” her.  For now I’m accommodating her, although we make a funny sight with my derriere sticking out of her crate and her sitting on her derriere facing me with both her front legs outside her rear legs (hardly lady like for either of us).  She’s fond of giving me what I’ve dubbed as kibble kisses in between bites.  So cute but a little stinky first thing in the morning.

For more info on this pup and when she might become available, please contact info@brooklinelabrescue.org

July 30, 2018

Just a brief update to say all is going well with this sweet girl and she’s making great progress in the 4 days she has been here. Tilly went for her first wood’s walk yesterday and did much better than she did wandering around our yard where she literally goes in circles and circles around me (and always counterclockwise).  I think the narrower trail prevented her from circling which suits me fine.  She was literally making me dizzy.  She is doing well with all the dogs now and is already starting to choose to be out of her crate if we are hanging out in the kitchen and family room.  If you get up or move quickly, she goes flying back into the crate though.  She doesn’t drink much so it’s hard to make much progress on the house training because I’ve had so few occasions to praise her.   She did start to piddle in the house once but I couldn’t really correct/startle as I would like because she scares so easily.   Regarding coming out of her crate,   this morning was the first time that I didn’t have to tug and instead she followed us out as soon as the leash is attached.  Progress.  She loves the chicken I cooked her but she is starting to eat the kibble too, so I’m optimistic I’ll be able to forgo the chicken in another week or so.

She does NOT like being in the crate at night because the other three dogs go upstairs with us.  I don’t think she is ready for the stairs though.  I might be able to get her up with liverwurst, but then I think she’d be stuck upstairs.  She weighs 78 pounds (although she must be dense because she looks smaller than that) and I can’t carry her.  So I’m having to put up with a lot of barking at night- a few times a night. Luckily our neighbors aren’t close, but I closed the windows just in case .. I will be very happy when she can navigate the stairs and I can put a crate in the bedroom and we can all sleep the night through.

Tilly is making great strides and loves to be pet and she is starting to give little kisses too.  It is so cool watching her come out of her shell. The site of her spay and hernia repair surgery looks great and she hasn’t bothered with the area at all.

July 27, 2018

After 24 hours Tilly had still not left the crate and I worried in particular about her having to do her business!  So a neighbor came over to walk my other three (foster dad was away on business) and I used another volunteer’s great idea of making a liverwurst trail.  Check out the video to see how it worked out!

July 26, 2018

 Tilly came into foster with us today.  Young and sweet, she’s probably my most frightened, shut down foster dog so far:(   It’s going to take time and patience but we will earn your trust, and I promise you will have a wonderful life.  Tilly was spayed a few days ago, and it’s all up hill from here girl!

Stay tuned to updates and she learns that the world can be a pretty great place for a lab!

July 21, 2018

This very scared, but oh so sweet girl just got sprung from the farm. She is approximately 1.5 years old. She had a bath and will be spayed soon. Her new life starts today! Stay tuned for updates.