Tommy (Thomas, Tom-Tom, Thomas O’Malley, Thomas-a-Stinkus-a-Lickus-a-Wiener, Tomasiato, Handsome) Dog Lindsey.
Tommy passed away peacefully on the morning of July 1, 2011, three months after being diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma in his front right leg. He will be greatly missed by his first and second families. He is survived by the members of his first family as well as the members of his second family: mother Melanie, father Ryan, human sisters Charisse and Krista, and dog sisters Chloe and Baytor.
Tommy’s life was full and happy, a life that all dogs would love to live. For his first ten years, he lived with his “first family,” which included two small boys who loved him so much. Those boys continued to visit with him whenever they were in Ventura, and Tommy looked forward to their visits. Because he was raised with kids, Tommy had an easy-going disposition and tolerated everything from kids tugging on his ears and tail to smaller dogs biting him in the armpits in order to get him to play. He rarely growled, and only barked when he heard someone coming into his home. He probably would have never bit anyone, even if they were bad guys, but he thought barking was enough to keep the family safe.
During his last three years, Tommy led a relatively lazy but highly content life. He loved taking walks, spending time with his family, regular visits and sleepovers with his first family, opening screen doors and trashcans with his pointy snout, and chewing the fuzz off of tennis balls. During his walks, he was known to do silly things, like bark at other dogs and once he even peed on Chloe as she walked under him. On his last walk, he peed on every tree and bush he walked past, making it known one last time his territory. He also loved breaking into wrapped and sealed packages that contained any kind of chocolate. He demolished several boxes in one sitting near his first or second Christmas with his second family, and one year he nosed out some pink, chocolate chip pancake batter and scarfed it down, staining the carpet pink. When he wasn’t sneaking into the secret stashes of forbidden chocolates, he loved to lie on anything that was on the ground — sheets, stray blankets, pillows, and he especially loved to curl up on beds that belonged to other dogs, no matter how small those beds were (and how big he was).
His favorite foods were anything he could get his paws on (pun intended), but he especially loved chocolate, steak, and cottage cheese. One of his last treats was a chocolate mint candy because Charisse wanted him to have good breath when he met God. Unlike his dog sisters, he didn’t like ice cubes and would turn up his nose when he was offered them. He was known to much on carrots when offered, and rarely said no to anything if offered. For his last dinner, he had a few pieces of kibble, a hamburger patty, a piece of chicken, and a slice of rainbow cake (with the frosting on the outside cut off). He wolfed it down so it must’ve tasted okay by him.
Tommy was always a funny dog. His best “trick” was sneezing on people if they were doing something to him that he didn’t like. And those were big sneezes. He let you know if you were doing something he liked — as soon as you stopped doing it, he pawed at you to do it again. Sometimes the sneezes and paws were mixed together, but it was always funny no matter which one he did. While his sister Krista lived with the family, he greeted her every morning after eating breakfast with his cold nose and a healthy burp in the face. He was a very affectionate dog. He loved to come over to whoever was sitting on the couch, drop his head against the sofa, and wait to be pet. Naturally, his family always always obliged him. He really loved his ears to be scratched and rubbed. His family knew he was a lover boy through-and-through. Often, while they were sitting on the couch, his family would yell, “Toooommy!” and groan because he had let loose one of his very stinky farts. They loved to joke he was rotting from the inside out.
His family would like to thank him for the last three years and are honored to have made that time good, and were happy to be with him in his final moments. Thank you, boy, for the love you showed us, the kisses you gave, the laughter your caused, and the stinky farts you made often. You are the kind of dog every family wishes they could have in their life. You are so loved and will be missed more than we ever thought possible.
[...] dog, actually!). He loved walks and playing with tennis balls. You can read more about him in the doggie obituary I wrote for him. (Awww, I just read this again for the first time in a while and it makes me miss him. He really [...]