Squirrel-chasing, for the average canine, is confined to the ground, and many a hardworking hound is left barking up the backyard tree. But Tillie is not your average pup. The swift and nimble 4-year-old mix scales trees in pursuit of the little pests. But she wasn’t always so sprightly. When her human Patty Lanum found her wandering the Highland Meadows neighborhood in Lake Highlands, Tillie was young, skinny and sickly. “As you can see, she has blossomed,” Lanum says. “I discovered her tree-climbing ability one morning when I was looking in the backyard for her. She is deaf so she cannot hear me when I call her. I saw something out of the corner of my eye in the big tree — it was Tillie! She’ll do anything to catch a squirrel.”
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