Herbie Saucier, also know as Sir Herbivore, Herbalicious, Herman Berman, Mr. Pickles, and more, sadly crossed the rainbow bridge today. The world won’t be the same without his little light.

Herbie was born somewhere in Mississippi, approximately 16 years ago, and stole our hearts about 14 years ago. Not long after his arrival, Herbie was rangled down the aisle by his little niece Alexa in his mother Leslie’s wedding to his father Jarod (he was glad they made him legitimate). Herbie was an only child for several years until he was forced to share the queen size bed, later upgraded to king to accommodate, with Gizmo (aka Gizzy-motto, aka Guazman). Sadly Gizmo, who played Toto twice on stage and could catch a squirrel, crossed the rainbow bridge a few years ago. Gizmo came from a meth house in Louisiana (not surprising if you saw her hair) and was pregnant with one puppy when she was rescued. Once during a walk on the sidewalks of an outlet mall, Gizmo hopped on the lap of a lady sitting on a bench, licked her in the mouth, and went on her way before we could say sorry about the breath! She never met a stranger. Oh sorry Herbie, we won’t let Gizmo steal the show in death as she did in life. This is your obituary. They were later joined by the cats Mr. Darcy and Bing Bing, who Herbie tolerated, but did not encourage Mr. Darcy to style his hair like Gizmo. Bing Bing is the last pet standing, she is attempting to look solemn and mournful.

Herbie was a gentle soul like Ferdinand the Bull, except when it came to Rusty who lived next door to our first house and whose breed I can’t recall, but in my memory was the size between a great dane and a mastiff. Herbie wore a war path in the ground from “running his circles” as we called it. He lost a couple teeth chewing through the fence. He did eventually chew the fence boards enough, where one board hung like a hinge, making a secret entrance to next door. For a little while unbeknownst to us, Herbie would sneak over to the Chancellors and have breakfast with them in the morning, and be back before we were the wiser.

Sweet Nanny Herbie would always lay as near as possible to any crying baby, especially when the human puppies in his family arrived. Even though his life was drastically changed forever, he was not resentful, but let the toddlers in his family pull his hair and scale him like mountain climbers of Everest. His one vice was he Hated, with a capital H, to get his paws trimmed. We once covered Jarod’s arms (or was it my arms, that seems more likely) with peanut butter to distract him. Oh but he sure did love a preppy sweater and looked so dapper in them.

Herbie, you were my best friend. You made the world a better place. I love you and I hope you’re in heaven, running your circles in the sky.