Our little man is growing up. He recently turned six months old, and is coming along brilliantly for his age.

He’s supposed to be a labradoodle, but I’m not so sure he’s not a bit of ‘catadoodle’. His coat is so soft. It’s tempting to stroke him like one would a cat rather than give him a doggie type pat, and rough and tumble.

He loves to sit on the back of the couch to look out the window, just like a cat would. Sometimes he drapes himself over with his hind legs resting on the lumber support. Other times he perches himself on the top to get a really good look.

We have a cover over a seat on the couch, which is supposed to be his seat. But if there’s cushions on the couch he’ll make the most of them.

He loves his daily beach walks. Some dogs recognise the ‘walk’ word, and it can only be spoken if the leads about to come out. For Mr Tilly it’s the ‘beach’ word. Any mention of the word has his ears raised and he’s watching with eager anticipation for the signs to follow. Once Paul dons his hat there’s no chance of him containing his excitement.

Currently, of course, I can’t go with them both,  but I look forward to getting the daily report of who they met at the beach, and what antics Tilly managed to get up to.

I have to say, this little boy doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his 7.5 kilo body. We’re grateful when we meet up with an older dog who isn’t aggressive, but also isn’t into, ‘meet and greet’ with every canine he meets up with. Mr Tilly’s learning from these non-aggressive, growly warnings that sometimes it’s best to only give a bit of a tail wag and a friendly look, then walk on by.  Those dogs are teaching him that caution’s sometimes advisable.

Sometimes of course, his lessons of needed caution are re-enforced when he meets up with a dog that is mildly aggressive. Recently he crossed paths with a rather large Husky type pup of a similar age to himself. The dog bowled him over and had him by the throat.  Paul thinks it was extremely rough play rather than real aggression. I’m told Tilly immediately rolled on his back in complete submission and screamed blue murder. And when I say screamed, I gather it was loud and clear, and caught people’s attention over quite a distance.  Paul, and the other dog owner returned the situation to a stand off, and Paul carried Tills up to a seat on the beach to give him some time out. When they continued their walk, apparently many of our regular beach acquaintances expressed concern as to Mr Tilly’s well being. Even a few hours later, a car pulled up in our driveway, with the gentleman occupant having sought us out to check all was well with our boy.

Although the above situation possibly sounds like we’re not watching out for him, believe me we do watch out for him. Had the dog been a full grown dog that could have given more than a bit of a good scare, Paul would have had Mr Tilly back on the lead long before their paths crossed. We both carefully assess any dogs we don’t know, taking into account, age, size, and the general demeanour of both dog, and owner. Although it scared the hell out of Till’s, he didn’t come to any harm, and lessons of using caution were re-enforced.

It’s unusual for him not to meet up with one of his doggie friends on the beach and to enjoy a romp of some sort. There’s Mavarick, a gentle Great Dane the size of a small pony. And there’s his best friend, Jimmy. Jimmy’s two weeks older than him, and is a full sized Labradoodle. He’s a bit rough because of his bigger size, but they work it out. When they see each other coming from opposite directions they’re both soooo excited. We love Jimmy.

Daisy’s the same age as Jimmy, and although she’s only a medium sized labradoodle (same as Tilly), she’s much, much bigger. Daisy’s mum and dad love meeting up with Tills as Daisy’s still learning how to socialise and gets a bit heavy with her paws. Tills gives her some play time off the lead, and is so fast that Daisy doesn’t get much of a chance to stand on him.

And then there’s Zulu. Zulu’s a bittsa that resembles a Schnauzer. He’s about the same size as Tilly, and is around two years old. He has so much energy. The two of them play chase, each taking turns as to who’s the chaser, and who’s to be chased. To say they run their feet off is an understatement. Tilly runs so fast and so hard he usually throws up,  but he won’t give it up. He does have a great time with Zulu, and it seems he willingly pays the price of losing his breakfast for such a great romp.

And when he returns to the home front, if he’s not watching what’s going on in the neighbourhood – he still loves his soft toys and teddies, and plays with them often. He retrieves balls in the house or garden, and brings them back for us to throw for him again. On the beach he has no interest in balls though yet – there’s to many other things that need exploring there.

Although we’ve bought him two beds since his first little puppy bed, it’s his first little bed that he won’t part with. He drags it around, and despite having had the snip when he was only seven weeks old, he tries to practice becoming a ‘big daddy dog’ with his bed. When we tell him to stop that game, he squeezes himself into the bed, curled up like a cat, and sucks at the soft sides of the bed while petting away (like a cat does). He doesn’t care how he’s going to love his little, old bed, but love it he’s definitely going to do! And when outside he loves to chase butterflies in the garden. Paul calls him a ‘big girls blouse’.

We’re so pleased we finally committed to getting ourselves a dog, and so pleased that dog’s, Mr Tilly. He’s such a pleasure!