Tillman the Skateboarding Bulldog (person) by Spifficus Rex

Tillman the Skateboarding Bulldog is arguably the most famous professional skateboarding dog in the world and, as of June 30^th, 2009, holds the Guinness World Record for "fastest skateboarding dog", skating 100m in 19.768 seconds.

The five-year-old Tillman, named after the late N.F.L. player and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman, lives in Oxnard, California with his owner Ron Davis, a self-professed "beach bum", and his family. Initially a Mother's Day gift for Davis's wife Erika, Tillman and Davis soon became inseparable best friends. Tillman's obsession with skateboarding began at around ten-weeks-old; by nine months, he'd mastered standing on the board with all four legs and, by fifteen months, turning, pushing and cruising. Also around this time, Tillman developed the pre-skating ritual of chewing his skateboard's wheels. Davis provided additional instruction to the young pup, though, despite his role as a trainer,—and a training regimen which currently amounts to between 10-20 hours a week—credits their overall success to Tillman and his love of skateboarding. Simply put, according to Davis, "He's an adrenaline junkie⁽¹²⁾."

Tillman's first taste of fame came with a YouTube video posted in early 2007, featuring the bulldog skating at a park near Venice Beach; by June, Tillman hit what Davis calls "rock-dog status", when the video was featured in a YouTube-themed iPhone commercial⁽¹⁰⁾. On March 29^th, 2010, the video was named YouTube's 47th Best Video by Time magazine, who credited the video as having "been viewed more than 10 million times" (currently more than 13.5 million, to be precise)⁽⁹⁾.

Following his commercial success, Tillman and Davis were selected by the CBS reality show Greatest American Dog, competed against eleven other pairs for a prize of $250,000. Within a half hour of the July 30^th, 2008 broadcast of their elimination in the 4th episode, the outpour of e-mails from dissatisfied viewers overwhelmed Tillman's homepage, crashing it.

After the program aired, Davis was approached by Joey Herrick, president of Natural Balance Pet Foods, who was interested in hiring Tillman as a "spokes-dog" for their products—in essence, sponsoring his skateboarding career. In 2009, Tillman appeared in the 120^th Tournament of Roses Parade, skating with a dog named Tyson around an oval track circling a 16' tall bulldog, set to the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Despite not winning any formal awards, the float was understandably a crowd pleaser.

Intent on achieving even greater success in the 2010 Rose Parade, Natural Balance devised a far more ambitious design: a 113'8'' long float (later inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records as the "world's longest single chassis parade float") with the appearance of an alpine snowboarding slope, complete with a lodge and dog-sized "ski lift". What's more, Tillman would be accompanied by four other bulldogs in "snowboarding" down the 60' ramp. With the first two dogs already chosen—a younger female named Rose, who had been too young to skate the year before, and the newly discovered Lyle, belonging to entrepreneur Lexi Beermann—Natural Balance held an open casting call on November 9^th, 2009 for the last two spots. Among the 63 bulldogs that auditioned, two dogs (Niko and Tank) were picked to begin training. Adding to the publicity, a call-in contest was held to choose the name of a sixth bulldog puppy. The float, "Hot Doggin'-Going for the Gold", its five snowboarding bulldogs, and little Sully (named for pilot Sully Sullenberger, who served as the parade's grand marshal) were once again fan favourites, this time backed by a remix of the Baja Men single complete with yodeling.

A month later, during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tillman, Rose, Lyle and Sully were sent as ambassadors of Natural Balance, where they skated the sidewalks of Vancouver, Tillman complete with a tiny Canadian flag cape fastened around his neck.

More recently, the four dogs, along with Davis, Beermann and crew, have been travelling across the nation in an R.V. (furnished by Natural Balance and featuring a giant, painted image of Tillman skating on either side), appearing at various events and pet store openings to showcase the skateboarding dogs and the Natural Balance product line. In Arlington, Texas, the group took part in the Ranger's Dog Day event, with Tillman delivering the opening "pitch" in front of a crowd of Rangers fans, including former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura. The "Bark in the Park" campaign, organized by Natural Balance and Major League Baseball, took Tillman and company to New York, where Tillman skated Times Square and, with 207 other dogs, helped set the Guinness World Record for the "most dogs in baseball uniforms at a major league game" at Citi Field, on April 24^th, 2010. Tillman also visited the New York Public Library, where he skated to drum up publicity against proposed library budget cuts, for which he was awarded an honourary library card.

These, along with his other public outings—including a commercial for Armstrong Flooring, segments on ABC News, the NBC Nightly News, Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and even an appearance at the X-Games—have more than earned Tillman the title as "the Michael Jordan of skateboarding dogs"⁽¹⁴⁾.

Aside from skateboarding (atop his "Natural Balance old-school style pool deck with soft 75mm wheels"), Tillman enjoys skimboarding, snowboarding, surfing and tetherball. His favourite foods are Natural Balance A.M.P. Ultra Active Dry Formula and Tillman's Training Tips (naturally), as well as apples; his favourite books are alleged to be Clifford the Big Red Dog and Voltaire's Candide. Tillman's nicknames include "Pot Roast" and "Da-Bow".

Sources

Bulldog	THE IRON NODER CHALLENGE 3: THIS TIME IT'S MARTENSITIC	iPhone	Pat Tillman
Skateboarding is not a crime	Guinness Book of World Records	November 13, 1999	Vancouver
skateboarding	New York City