Tilly's 10 Month Pupdate

Now that Tilly is 10 months old, she is approaching the end of her time with Josephine, her Puppy Walker. We caught up with her to find out how Tilly is getting on, and she told us that Tilly is a lovely dog and is brilliant to have around; she loves the company of other humans but especially loves being around her fellow canines. This has been a bit of an issue lately as Tilly gets distracted by her doggy friends when she's out for a free run, but Josephine has been working on recall with Tilly, so hopefully this will soon pass. Tilly is having her first season at the moment which has impacted on her training as she's mostly confined to the house, and is getting a bit bored. Her spending routine has also been affected, but this isn't unusual and we're sure Tilly will get this back on track when her season is over. Josephine is especially looking forward to taking Tilly on some long walks so they can both stretch their legs!

Tilly has mastered all of the basic commands and walks very well in the basic guiding position, which is to her handler's left and slightly ahead of them, with light to moderate tension on the lead. She copes well in a town centre environment and isn' t bothered by loud noises; in fact, she likes to calmly sit and watch an ambulance with its siren blaring, or a motorbike with a noisy engine, go by when she's out. Apparently her ears prick up and she's fascinated by them. Tilly has been working on her travel skills and can now confidently travel on the bus, train and tram. She settles best on the train because she has a bit more room to stretch out, and she likes to poke her nose out into the aisle so she can see what's going on. Tilly is the same whenever she goes into a cafe - she sits under the table but still likes to have a good view of everything.

When she's left at home by herself, Tilly is always well behaved. She seems to sense when Josephine is going out though, and will follow her around the house before she leaves. In two weeks' time, Josephine is going away for a short while, so Tilly will be going to stay with a boarder; she'll have a great time though as she'll see her pal, fellow guide dog pup Raffles, and the pair will have a great time together.