Lilly

A Top Gun Advanced-Training Graduate

Sweet Lilly has found her forever home! We are so happy for her and her family.

We’ve chosen to keep her profile here because she gives future and returning Top Gun families a real example of what continued puppy development and training can look like.

Lilly completed our 16-Week Puppy Development Program and continued training with us until she was six months old. Her story shows more than the commands she learned. It shows how she handled everyday life, new experiences, and the transition into unfamiliar environments.

Why I Keep Some Puppies Longer

I typically keep two puppies from each litter and continue their training until they are six months old.

Those extra months are valuable to me as both a breeder and a trainer. They allow me to observe how my puppies mature, how their personalities develop, and how the traits of each mother and father show up in the puppies they produce together.

I don’t just want to know what my puppies look like at eight weeks. I want to understand who they are becoming.

Watching their development helps me better understand my lines and make more informed decisions about future pairings. It also gives me more time to learn about each puppy as an individual, including their energy, confidence, learning style, and the kind of household that may suit them.

Lilly is one example of that work.

Meet the Girl Behind the Training

If I had to describe Lilly in one word, it would be steady.

She’s the kind of dog who makes life feel a little easier.

During her time with us, Lilly loved to cuddle, she loved to spend time with people and children, and brought a calm, thoughtful presence to our days. She enjoyed learning and participating, but she also knew how to settle when it was time to relax.

Her personality was just as important to us as the skills she learned. (This is a true representation of our advanced training program.)

What Lilly Learned

By six months, Lilly’s training included sit, down, stay, wait, leave it, take it, paw, and reliable recall during our training together.

She also walked beautifully on leash, confidently used stairs, rode elevators without hesitation, settled in hotel rooms, and demonstrated excellent house manners while in our care.

These were skills we practiced as part of everyday life, not just for a photograph or a training video.

Her Training Beyond Home

During one trip, Lilly traveled 28 hours over three days, stayed in multiple hotels, met a new family, and completed a formal evaluation.

She did not have a single potty accident during the trip.

She handled unfamiliar surroundings with confidence, adapted to new environments, and settled comfortably along the way. That experience gave us another opportunity to see how the foundation we had built together carried into life away from home.

We were proud of what she knew. We were even prouder of how she handled the experience.

A Foundation for Continued Learning

Lilly showed qualities we value when considering a puppy for possible future therapy or service work: a gentle presence, enjoyment of people, an interest in learning, and the ability to settle.

We do not provide service-dog task training through this program, and we do not promise that a puppy will qualify for a particular working role. Our focus is on development, everyday skills, and understanding the individual dog in front of us.

Every puppy develops differently. We discuss each puppy’s current abilities, personality, and ongoing training needs rather than promising that every puppy will become another Lilly.

Interested in a Puppy Like Lilly?

Lilly has already found her family, but she represents one of the paths available through Top Gun: a puppy who stays with us longer for continued development and advanced training.

For families interested in a six-month-old puppy, we welcome a conversation about upcoming availability, your household, and what you hope life with your dog will look like.

Tell us about your family. Let’s talk about the right puppy and the right starting point for you.

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