Porker Puppy, as Kelly and Derrick called him due to being the biggest puppy of the litter from Traverse and Belle, was the puppy who decided that no matter what, he was going to stay with us! He was a shy puppy who stayed as far away as he could from anyone who came to see the puppies. He was never shy around any of us, only around strangers. Once it was decided that Porker Puppy was going to stay with us the Porker name had to go! We decided on his name being Tyler. This choice came from him being conceived on the day we were packing to go camping at our usual Memorial weekend camping place, Tyler Creek! Tyler also fit with our rhythm of “T” names for our boys!

Once Tyler had realized that he had succeeded in choosing his forever home, he began fitting right in with his dad Traverse and life long friend Teak! He began losing the porker fat when he decided he loved to run! Tyler forgot what walking was, everywhere he went was at a run! He loved chasing his dad and Teak around the yard and began paying attention to his dad catching the frisbee! Tyler wanted so bad to be able to catch the frisbee, that it became an obsession with him and he tried and tired and watched his dad Traverse show him how over and over. As soon as we stepped out in the yard Tyler would bring the Frisbee. He finally caught it once and then his life became dedicated to catching anything he could get us to throw. Tyler grew tall and soon he became a lean mean frisbee machine! He was, and still is fast and can jump high. I have seen his head clear our 6 foot fence while jumping to try and catch a squirrel running along the top of the fence!

Tyler’s life with us was not all fun and games from the start, he had some times as a puppy when we considered giving him to Kelly! From puppy hood through his first 2 years he spent a lot of time crated, because we worked and he was not showing us he was trustworthy to have the run of the house like Traverse and Teak. Tyler was destructive whenever he was unsupervised out of the crate. When we would give him short time spans to see if he could be trusted at night or while we ran to the store, we always found chewed up $80.00 remotes, destroyed new shoes, shelves he could reach would get cleared and contents would be shredded, table cloth’s would be drug off the table and anything that hit the floor would be destroyed and on and on! Fortunately for Tyler he was a cuddler and a lover, because he would make up for any damage he did! Shortly after his 2nd birthday he finally decided to become trustworthy and all his destroying habits disappeared! He started having the run of the house unsupervised for longer periods of time and soon the crate stood empty all the time!



Tyler learned his place in the pack very quickly. He has never attempted to challenge his dad or Teak to move his position up in the pack. He always waits patiently for his turn at everything from treats to getting his leash on for walks. If you try to hand him a treat before Traverse or Teak get theirs he won’t take it until they get theirs first.

Tyler has always been a very smart boy. He will attempt to do whatever you tell him to do even if he has no idea what you want he will go see if he can do it! He is very good about fetching something for you and will usually find the object you want him to bring. He also has assigned himself as the official watchdog of the house! He will tell us when the mailman has come, the garbage trucks are on our street, a squirrel has invaded our yard, or a leaf has decided to blow through the yard! He feels it is his job to be where ever one of his humans are to make sure they are always okay!

Tyler has become less shy over the last year or so. On walks he always let Traverse and Teak approach strangers and he stayed back from them, and now he has started to approach once he sees Traverse and Teak getting petted. He has found that he likes the elderly people at the nursing home when he goes to visit grandma! His expressions on his face are a big attraction to him by people who see him, and he uses those expressions to make people smile! Tyler is certainly a “happy feelings” spreader, and a gentle boy who just wants to spread love and be loved back! He has made big strides in overcoming his shyness and he walks away from people with his head up and tail wagging and proud of himself for his accomplishment of getting petted by a stranger! He always has a smile on his happy face, even during his recovery from his 2 recent major surgeries, he always had a smile and a wagging tail!

Some of Tyler’s loves are going for walks, playing frisbee, car rides, playing frisbee, going camping, playing frisbee, and he loves to play and run with other dogs, oh ya, did I mention playing frisbee! He has his own unique personality as do all dogs, and has become a very important member of our family! When you look into his eyes all you see is a desire to please, and a feeling of love! Sympatheque Tyler Un Devoyer, is slow to warm up to people, but once he does, he won’t stop giving you kisses and if your hand isn’t doing anything he will keep nudging it until you are petting him! He then starts living up to his name, Sweet Tyler the Womanizer! Tyler grows on people fast, and his sweet gentle ways are why he has his forever home here with us!

Graphical collages courtesy of Mo van den Tillaart.