TILLEY
a 14 year-old Labrador Retriever cross, is the recipient of the
2012 Clancy "Service" Award.
Tilley was a loyal and hard working partner of Gary Fleiger.
It’s hard to resist someone that is cute and goofy, let alone being a dog.
Gary Fleiger looked at over 100 dogs to become his ‘drug’ dog, but for one reason or another, none fit his requirements until in 1998 when he met Tilley, the one year-old Lab-cross at the Fredericton SPCA. Tilley had an intense high drive with a comedic side to her – a combination hard to resist. It was love at first sight and it turned out that “pretty is, as pretty does.”
Tilley underwent 17 weeks of intensive narcotic and weapons training by the head trainer for the RCMP and went on to become one of the most successful drug dogs in the Maritimes, creating precedent setting laws in search and seizure. Tilley had over 100 narcotic and weapons seizures and logged over 5,000,000 km during her searches of people, ships, vehicles, and planes.
During her off-duty hours, Tilley found time to strut her stuff in a fashion show to benefit charities, besides doing numerous demonstrations with the Brownie and Girl Guides.
The little dog that would break in the middle of her training to snap at flies and then turn around with that certain ‘goofy’ look on her face, went on to become Gary’s dependable working partner for 11 years. "The Tillster" showed that, as with people, trust, respect and consistency will always get the job done.
We got to meet Tilley at last year’s Clancy Awards but sadly she passed away last December, close to her fifteenth birthday.
