Dog abandoned on roundabout in Dartford in Crufts final

KentOnline / KMTV

Tilly and her owner, Emily, joined the Kent Morning Show to talk about being up for the award.

Transcript

00:00Good morning.

00:02Yes, looking very chipper this morning. So take us back to the moment you met Tilly.

00:08So what was it like to bring her home, especially after such a tough start in life?

00:13Yeah, so she'd been through a tough time, Blessa. It wasn't me that found her, it was

00:17a member of the public. So she was around eight weeks when she came to me. She was tiny,

00:23she could fit in the palm of my hand. But yeah, she was technically on foster, she wasn't

00:29supposed to stay. But as soon as she arrived, I knew she was never going anywhere.

00:36What was it about her that really warmed your heart and why you wanted to take her in and

00:43have her part of your family?

00:46She just fitted in from the second she came through the door. She got on well with my

00:50other dog. She was so confident, so happy, so funny, such a little character. I just

00:57knew she was perfect. Anyone that knows me straight away was like, she's your kind of

01:02dog, she's yours, she's not going anywhere.

01:05And she's very well behaved. I mean, there is a saying, you know, don't work with children

01:09and animals on telly. But she is being very, very well behaved this morning. She's an absolute,

01:15absolute sweetie. We heard about that she's been nominated for this award. Tell us a little

01:21bit before we go into the award itself, a little bit about Crufts for our viewers that

01:26might not be aware of this competition.

01:30So Crufts is run by the Kennel Club and it's the biggest dog show in the world. It's famous.

01:38There's thousands upon thousands of dogs showing, competing, taking part in agility, in all

01:45kinds of dog sports and discover dogs so people can go and meet different breeds if they're

01:50considering getting a dog or a puppy. And she's part of one of the awards that they

01:56do every year.

01:58And so what inspired you to train Tilly as a therapy dog?

02:03It was something I'd always wanted to do. My other dog, he's very shy and quite sound

02:10sensitive so he wouldn't have enjoyed it. With her, from the get go, she was so confident.

02:17Nothing worries her, nothing bothers her, nothing fazes her. She's so happy to meet

02:22anyone and everyone. I just knew that she would enjoy doing it. So she took the behavioural

02:29assessment at nine months old, which is the youngest they can do it, passed straight away.

02:34And we've been visiting Mid Kent College and Horshall Mother Care home since.

02:39The training process to be a therapy dog must be really different to some of those competitions

02:46that we see in Crufts where you walk around the paddock, I guess it's called, and you're

02:51jumping through hoops and all the agility course stuff. For Tilly being a therapy dog,

02:58what was that training process like? What did that involve?

03:04The therapy work is more about their temperament and how they are with new people, in new environments,

03:12how they respond if there's funny noises and things like that. So it was really easy for her.

03:19She's just not worried at all. They do need to have basic obedience, so they do need to

03:24be able to not jump up, not pull on the lead and things like that. So going to training

03:31classes, and she does take part in other sports as well, so she's very responsive to me and

03:37generally what I ask of her. So she found it really easy, but it's much more about their

03:43temperament and how they are with people and their behaviour.

03:48Yeah, and so can you tell us about some of the places she's visited and the impact she's

03:51had on people? Maybe any memorable moments?

03:56Mid Kent College was a fairly recent one. So we started going because they have a lot

04:03of mental health events. So it was to help the students if they were struggling, if they

04:10were having a bad day, if they were just feeling a bit low, then they absolutely love her.

04:15They will come and find her wherever she is and she loves the attention and will play

04:19with people, just bring a smile to their face. Our longest placement has been Hawthorne Manor

04:25residential home. So we actually started there with somebody that I knew through dog training

04:31was actually there after a really tough time. And I knew that she would miss her dog and

04:37she actually lost her dog while she was there. So that's what started that visit. But there's

04:42been moments where there's been people in there that maybe haven't been interested in

04:49taking part in activities, feeling a bit low, and when she walks into their room, it all

04:55changes. They smile, they laugh, they'll talk to people, they'll talk to her. And that's

05:02the reason why we do it. People absolutely love seeing her because she's so small and

05:08so cute. She just makes people forget about the worries in life for all of maybe five

05:13minutes, but it's definitely worth it.

05:16How can people at home support Tilly and vote for her in the competition?

05:22It's all open to public vote now. So the winner is announced at Crufts on the 9th of March,

05:26but it's all public vote. So if you go onto the Kennel Club website, there'll be a video

05:31of all the finalists on there. So her video is on there telling her story of what she

05:36does and how she does it. And then you can just click on underneath that on the bit to

05:41vote for her.

05:42Oh, well, she'll be definitely getting all our votes here at KMTV. Thank you so much

05:49for coming on, Emily, and for bringing Tilly on. I hope she gets loads of lovely treats.

05:53Yes, thank you very much, Tilly.

05:55Oh, she's definitely being spoiled.

05:57As she should, yeah.

05:59And quite right too. All the best to you. Like I said, you'll be getting our votes and

06:04good luck in a few weeks' time.

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