RIP Tillman the skateboarding bulldog

There seemed to be no balance-based sport this stout Renaissance pup couldn't master. He snowboarded, he surfed, and, most famously, he skateboarded.

But on Tuesday, Tillman flipped his last board. At 10 years old, the English bulldog died of heart problems on the way to the veterinarian. His owner, Ron Davis, wrote in a Facebook post that Tillman was his best bud. "We shared so many memories skating, surfing, and hanging out together. No words can truly describe how much he'll be missed."

Tilly was more speed demon than trickster and could be seen flying confidently across the rolling cement hills of local Southern California skate parks. He showed an early interest in skateboarding and, in 2007, after Davis posted a video of Tillman hitting a Santa Monica skate park on YouTube, the laid-back pup was catapulted into the limelight. He went on to star in his own commercial, achieve honorary U.S. Marine status, and earn a Guinness World Record for the fastest skateboarding dog.

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Tilly may not have been the first dog to skate, but, in the YouTube era, this beloved "ham" was by far the best and most charismatic extreme sportsman on four legs. Lauren Hansen

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.