Tammo Eases Some Grief

First Post of the Day

Yesterday morning I was with the dogs in the back yard when my next door neighbor Nan came out onto her patio with her daughter, Ellie, and began walking toward me.

"This may be bad news," I thought. And I was right.

After a long battle with cancer, Nan's husband Bob had been in home hospice care for about a month and so when Ellie and her brother Dan's cars had been parked in the driveway overnight, I suspected that I knew what Nan wanted to tell me.

Tammo, Bob, and Nan had really liked each other. More than once when they were sitting out on their patio, Tammo had gone gleefully running over for a visit. He was always welcomed and got lots of pets and scritches. "Don't worry about it!" they'd say as I'd come over to retrieve him. "We love Tammo!"

Nan on our patio last August feeding treats to the dogs.

For years she'd been trying to get shy Molly to accept one, and that day it finally happened. Nan was thrilled and so were we.

"Bob died this morning," Nan said softly. We hugged and then she knelt down and something unexpected happened. She began hugging Tammo and telling Ellie how much she loved him, that if we ever had to give him away, she wanted him, what a nice dog he was, etc.

Then she turned to me and said through her tears, "I really need some Tammo hugs today" and that good boy sat there and let her grieve over him.

"I need a Tammo hug, too," Ellie said suddenly. And she knelt down and together the two woman grieved their loss while holding onto Tammo.

Tammo may not be a trained service dog like Pepper, but that doesn't mean he isn't empathetic or can't sense when he is needed. That sweet boy seemed to sense their grief, their need to hold him, and he loved on them right back, bringing smiles through their tears.

It was beautiful to watch, and I am so glad that Tammo was able to help ease Nan and Ellie's grief for a few moments. 

Tammo and Nan on a walk down by the lake last summer.

Thank you, Tammo. You are a very sweet and kind boy. It's no wonder you are loved by so many people. You did something good today, something that Nan and Ellie will never forget. 

Neither will I. Good boy.