Tommy’s family adopted him from a shelter when he was around a year old. Initially, the family had been looking for a girl dog and had set up meetings with a few potential matches. While they waited for those dogs to arrive from their foster homes, one of the staff members asked if the family would like to meet Tommy in the meantime. It was love at first sight — for both the family and for Tommy.

“When it came time for him to go back out, he laid down on the floor trying his best not to leave us; she had to literally drag/slide him on his belly out of the room,” Jenna Termolen, Tommy’s mom, told The Dodo. “He had chosen his new family and was not willing to give us up. After meeting the other dogs, the boys all decided that he was the one.”

For most of his life, Tommy lived with his family in Illinois, until 2015, when they moved to a neighborhood in upstate New York. Tommy had a lot of dog friends back in his old neighborhood, and seemed to be missing them after the move — until he met Jackson.

About a week after the family moved into their new home, Termolen was out running errands when she got a text from her youngest son saying that a very large, very shaggy dog with no tail had suddenly appeared inside their house.

“I immediately called him to see if everything was OK,” Termolen said. “He relayed that Tommy and the dog were getting along just fine; the dog seemed friendly, and Tommy was taking him on a tour of the house.”

After finally locating the dog’s collar under all his fur, they discovered that his name was Jackson, and he lived right down the street. Termolen and her son walked Jackson home, and while his family was embarrassed that he had somehow found his way into someone’s home, they were not at all surprised that he was out and about trying to make friends. Termolen and her son said goodbye to Jackson and headed home — and soon realized that Jackson’s visit that day had certainly not been his last.

Now, Jackson comes over to visit Tommy almost every day. The first few times, Termolen and her family walked Jackson back home, but have since realized that he totally knows the way on his own. If the family’s garage door is open, then Jackson just lets himself into the house, and no one in the family is ever surprised to see him anymore.

“Usually when he comes for a visit, he stops by the front door first and gives one or two polite barks,” Termolen said. “If no one answers the front door, he will either try to go through the garage if it is open or go around through the backyard to the back deck, and will give barks at each door. I usually just let him in the house or let Tommy out.”

While Jackson is around 5 years old, Tommy is now 16 — but despite the age difference, the pair are still the best of friends. When Tommy was a bit younger and healthier, he and his best friend used to run and play in the yard all the time. Now, they just like to hang around the house or go on leisurely walks together. Even though he has a lot more energy than his aging friend, Jackson is always happy to slow down for Tommy.

“Now it is more like a wellness check as Tommy is really starting to show his age,” Termolen said. “Jackson comes in, has a drink, checks to see if Tommy has leftover food, they follow each other around the house and basically just hang out for a bit. They have a nice, sweet friendship. It will be heartbreaking when it is over. I am not sure I will able to maintain composure when Jackson visits and Tommy is no longer here to greet him.”

Tommy has been suffering from some health issues over the past year, and his vet is amazed that he’s still here. The sweet senior dog is still as happy as ever, though, and his family has taken to calling him Tommy Timex.

“He gives a licking and keeps on ticking,” Termolen said.

Even though his energy is limited these days, Tommy’s friendship with Jackson keeps him going, and he loves going on his daily walks just so he can check to see if Jackson is home and down to hang.

“He whines at the street hoping his buddy will make an appearance,” Termolen said. “When he does come out, Jackson usually accompanies us home. Maybe, since Tommy can’t always make it all the way down to Jackson’s house now, Jackson comes by to check in on Tommy.”

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10 amazing facts about dogs

We all know dogs have been ‘man’s best friend’ for thousands of years, but there’s loads more to our four-legged friends which makes them really amazing.

We’ve put together some of our favourite canine facts so you can learn a little more about your pooch.

1. Their sense of smell is at least 40x better than ours

The area of cells in the brain that detect different smells is around 40 times larger in dogs than humans. This means that your dog can pick up on way more smells than we ever could. This is why dogs are often used to sniff out people, drugs and even money!

In fact, a number of our own hero hounds were awarded PDSA medals for their noses! Arms and explosives search dog Buster (pictured above) was awarded his PDSA Dickin Medal in 2003 for his remarkable service in Iraq – he located a large amount of weapons and explosives linked to an extremist group, saving the lives of many civilians and service personnel.

2. Some have such good noses they can sniff out medical problems

Yup, medical detection dogs are a thing. Because their sense of smell is so great, some dogs can be trained to sniff out medical conditions. They are used to diagnose a particular condition or to alert their owners if they need more medication. Some are even being trained to sniff out Covid-19!

One of these incredible dogs is Medical Detection Dog Pal (pictured above), who was awarded the PDSA Order of Merit. Pal played a vital role in diabetic owner Claire’s life by alerting her of changes in her blood sugar. If not caught in time, these changes could have killed her.

3. Dogs can sniff at the same time as breathing

Dogs rely a lot on their sense of smell to find food, potential dangers, and friends, so needless to say they sniff a lot. Their noses are designed so smells can stay in their nose while air can move in and out of their lungs at the same time, which means they can breathe freely and still work out what that smell is!

4. Some dogs are incredible swimmers

So, not all dogs like water, but the ones that do tend to be pretty good swimmers (but again, not all are so always keep an eye on your dog in case they decide to take a dip out and about).

Newfoundlands are so good in the water that for years they’ve been used as water rescue dogs. In 2016, a brave Newfoundland called Whizz was awarded the PDSA Order of Merit for saving nine people from the sea over his career as a water rescue dog.

5. Some are fast and could even beat a cheetah!

Most dogs could easily outrun a human – they’re built to run and chase! The fastest breed of dog by far, though, is the Greyhound. These speedy sight hounds can reach a top speed of 45mph within seconds of starting to run

‘But how does this beat a cheetah?’ we hear you ask. Well, while a cheetah can get up to almost 70mph, they can only keep this going for around 30 seconds. Greyhounds, on the other hand, could easily run at speeds in excess of 35mph for seven miles. So despite the cheetah’s head start, they’d soon overtake!

6. Dogs don’t sweat like we do

While dogs do sweat, don’t expect them to be getting damp armpits any time soon. Where humans sweat watery liquid to cool down, dogs produce a pheromone laden oily substance that us humans can’t detect (dogs know it’s there because of that great sense of smell). The only place that dogs sweat like us is on their paws, so instead they pant to cool down. This is why it’s so important to keep your dog cool on those warmer days to make it easier on them.

7. Your dog could be left or right-pawed

There have been a few studies around this and it turns out that just like us, dogs have a preferred hand (well, paw) to lead with. You can find out whether your dog is left or right-pawed by giving them their favourite toy or interactive game and seeing which paw they use to help them first.

8. Along with their noses, their hearing is super sensitive

We all know dogs can hear much higher frequencies than us, but did you know they can also hear further? Generally, dogs can hear much softer sounds than we can, so they can hear things that are much further away.

This is another trait that makes them great search and rescue dogs. While they will mainly use their nose for tracking, their hearing can also be a real help (especially as they get closer to whatever they are looking for!). Dogs like K9 Killer (pictured above), who was awarded the PDSA Gold Medal for helping to track down Rhino poachers, are excellent at tracking using both smell and hearing.

9. Dogs have 18 muscles controlling their ears

If you have a dog, you might notice that their ears move around a lot. They actually have around 18 muscles responsible for moving their ears. These help them to change the direction of their ears slightly to hear noises around them better, and play a really big part in telling us how our dogs are feeling. A lot of a dog’s body language is expressed through what their ears are doing so a dog’s ears are vital in helping them communicate both with us and other dogs.

10. Dogs are about as intelligent as a two-year-old

Studies have shown that dogs can learn over 100 words and gestures, which puts their intelligence and understanding of us on a par with a two year old. However, dogs are much easier to train than a two year old! They’re used for all sorts of jobs, from military roles to assistance dogs, because they’re both clever and extremely loyal animals.