Töfra Tumi Arnór

Tumi was a wonderful dog, calm and gentle, and exceptionally polite.

We lost him far too soon, close to the age of 7 years. An underlying illness emerged that gradually extinguished everything. It only took half a month, and it wasn't until the last two days that we realized he couldn't be cured. The grief of losing him was great and deep. I still miss him very much.

We have a wonderful Icelandic dog that we got three weeks after Tumi passed, but I always say, no one can replace another, and even though another wonderful dog has come along, one still misses the other all the same.

Tumi, as I mentioned before, was calm and gentle. He formed a strong bond with the grandchildren, especially the younger child who was just two years old when we got Tumi. He took very good care of that child and was always nearby, as most of their pictures together show.

Tumi was the most obedient of our dogs. For instance, it was safe to leave the door open, and he wouldn't move if told to stay. The other dogs would have dashed off, happy for the freedom. When the grandchildren, who live in Sweden, visited us, I set up a corner in the living room as a "playroom" for them. When there were lots of toys on the floor and it wasn't good to have a dog to step over them, we placed a thin floor strip in front of the playroom, and it never occurred to Tumi to cross over. He would lie down and wait to be invited in.

Tumi was quite a teddy bear aficionado. For example, he wouldn't go out to pee in the evening after it got dark unless he had at least one teddy bear with him. He was very fond of his plush toys, but not to the point that he didn't try to take the stuffing out of them. When that happened, I would say to him, "Now we need to sew." He would then run to where my sewing machine is and wait with a worried look for me to fix the teddy bear. The joy was immense when the teddy bear was whole again.

Tumi was very afraid of heights. When he was a puppy, one had to support both his hind legs and bottom if he was picked up. Yet, he enjoyed resting his head on my shoulder, just like a little child, and I made sure to support both his hind legs and bottom.

He loved apples. One time, when I was getting ready to go to work, my bag was open with an apple on top that I intended to take for lunch. Tumi jumped up, grabbed the apple in his mouth, and ran out into the garden with it, very pleased.

Tumi was the greatest sock thief I have ever known. He was so quick to snatch socks and run with them into the garden. Once, he had gathered 5 socks that he had set aside in the grass. I let him fetch the socks, and he brought them back one by one. Of course, he was praised for this because Icelandic dogs are not retrievers. We have not yet found all the socks he took to the garden but believe he buried them by the trees in the flower bed at the property line, and it's not easy to access that bed. He was always very polite, and when one of us was spreading cheese on bread, he would sit and wait without making a sound because he knew that eventually, he would get a little piece of cheese. Tumi had a very good friend, a Labrador, who was 5 months older than him. They played a lot together, and when they parted, they kissed each other.

Töfra Tumi Arnór, born on January 25, 2010 - died on November 8, 2016.

Breeders: Monika Karlsdóttir and Rúnar Tryggvason.