Where is the cute dog?

Until March 2020, many of my YouTube videos included footage of my service dog. Many of you know already but lot of you have been asking about him. So, I want to answer that question here. This is a difficult one for me. Tomlin passed away from cancer in mid March. He only received his diagnosis a couple of weeks beforehand. His happy-go-lucky personality was in effect until about 48 hours before we had to let him go. A slight droop to his face caused us to take him to the vet. That’s when we received the bad news. Otherwise, you would never know that anything was wrong. He still liked to pounce on his evening bone, bounce on our bed to wake us up and pick up things that I dropped.

Tomlin was my service dog and friend. For 13 years he was by my side. Scooting under the table to pick up pill bottles that I dropped was a giant game for him. Yes, those bottles were sometimes dropped a second time because he enjoyed picking them up so much! He would get my husband when I fell, provided seizure assistance and provided gentle pressure to help steady me if I was unstable. Service dogs normally retire at around age seven. He was able to continue working because the things that he did were part of his personality. You just can’t teach a husky mix not to fetch or get help if a “pack member” was in trouble.

Fortunately, I had already begun researching service dog agencies in the months prior to his decline. The process to get another one began in September 2020. It’s around a two year wait from that point. There is an ongoing jewelry fundraiser on Instagram if anyone is interested. Superchats on my YouTube channel and Amazon commissions are all going to the cause. That’s not what this post is about though. This is to let you know what happened.

Was he a well traveled service dog? Oh my! He has been from Florida to Maryland and from Virgina across the continent to the Arctic Circle and south to Homer, Alaska. Tomlin went on more mission trips, church meetings and nonprofit board meetings than most people. He never met a stranger. When we were on mission trips he made it his business to go to each person and say good night after lights out. (Fortunately, we had very forgiving mission team members!)

Thank you all for asking about him. Tomlin was a super dog. His leaving left a gaping hole in my heart. Even almost a year on this has been a difficult post to write. I really appreciate your compassion, concern, and love for my sweet dog. Here are a few photos of him in better times. I hope that you enjoy them.