Smokin’ Comment: Gerbils on Dogs

October 27, 2010 in Smokin' Comments

We haven’t had a Smokin’ Comment around here since the summer.  Everyone loves a Smokin’ Comment, right?  For any newbies , it’s our way of paying tribute to a particularly witty or wise comment by giving it its very own post.  Today we honor gerbilsinlove for her very touching comment on fashionchallenged’s moving tribute to her beloved (and much-missed) dog, Eggs:

I don’t know who  you are, but you have made me bawl like a big old baby. I had a dog like that, Casey, a once-in-a-lifetime dog. We got her from the pound outside of Jacksonville, FL, flea-bitten, tick-covered, full of worms and earmites, suffering from malnutrition and kennel cough, beaten down by humans. She became my soul mate, my best friend, my go-to to lean on every time I lost another pregnancy, when my depression overcame me, when the doctor said no babies for us, when they found the lumps in my breast. The vet found lumps in her, too, and we had surgery the same week. She was a smart-ass who fussed at me whenever I dared to correct her, but a star in her obedience classes, though “down,” the most submissive command, was something she fought me on every damned time. When the baby finally did come, she was incensed and never once acknowledged the baby’s superiority over her. Come to think of it, she never acknowledged anyone’s sway over her. Everyone loved her, and that was it should be, in her opinion – her fur was the softest of the soft, her face always friendly, her belly always ready to be rubbed.

Casey passed to wherever dogs go (I think she found my grandma, the animal lover) two and a half years ago, and I still cry almost every day. The vet came to our house on a beautiful Spring day, the day Casey let me know it was finally time, and we held her as she went. We have three other dogs, including her joined-at-the-hip companion, Abbey, a dog we found almost starved to death on the streets of Jacksonville, who is now 15 and still going. Our Katrina rescue, Skye, is the one who has come the closest to Casey, but no dog will ever be the same as her. Perhaps there is special playground for dogs like Eggs and Casey and they’ve found each other, the way certain people seem to gravitate toward each other in a crowded room.

My three dogs are nicknamed The Dog Train, as they never let me out of their sight; I don’t mind at all, as a house without a dog nearby just doesn’t feel like a home to me.


  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/blix/ Blix

    No allergies here. You get a pass if it’s about a dog.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/bjonston/ BJonston

    Well, now I am bawling like a big old lady.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/irishbreakfast/ irishbreakfast

    will not cry at work
    will not cry at work
    will not cry at work, dammit

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/blix/ Blix

    Gerbs: The comment was so good I forgot to congradulate you on the award. Comments becoming content is kudo worthy.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/mama-penguino-2-2-2/ Mama Penguino

    Gerbs: This is a beautiful comment, definitely worthy of being considered smokin’. I’ve never been a dog person having been bitten by my own dog at age 12 (and still have the lovely scars on my right thigh to show for it), but between Eggs and Casey, I’m seriously rethinking that. Even as a non-dog person, there’s nothing like a sweet, gentle dog to restore your faith in humanity. I hope Eggs and Casey are chasing fluffy rabbits in doggie heaven.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/irishbreakfast/ irishbreakfast

    Gerbs: what Blix said. (I’m running out of tissues, so stop it RIGHT NOW–oh, god. There’s a giant picture of a beagle on the side-frame. Waaaaaaah.)

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/blix/ Blix

    IrishB: Don’t look at us; we’re hideous !

  • http://www.pennydanger.com Penny Danger

    I agree with Rene Sance and all above, and must say I recognized Gerbs Smokin’ Comment the first time around. A true beautiful display of charity and love, Gerbs!

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/geodejane/ GeodeJane

    Gerbs is the best. I love her candor. Her comments on fashionchallenged’s tribute to Eggs perfectly describe how I feel about my dogs. Appreciation and respect for each individual’s nature. Her awareness that they own us and not the other way around is so true. I have three that I have adopted and a fourth who is a foster puppy in the guide dog program. She will live with us until she is age 14-18 months, then she will return to the guide dog school to train to become a sight companion for a blind person. She is the seventh puppy we have raised for the organization and, at only five months old, she is an absolute star. I have my Eggs, my Casey, in this pack. He is a regal old male and the most devoted and civilized suitor I will ever know. Many years ago he gave me his heart completely and it makes me well-up to see his failing as old age settles in. And yet, right there is one of the great lessons we learn from the critters that we love. Everyday we busy our minds and chase our own tails in the silly human exercises that distract us from our own progression towards death. When I gaze at this old boy who no longer hears me when I get up from my chair and no longer gets off his bed to follow me as I put the wash into the dryer, I am instantly flooded with poignant reminder of the passing of a lifetime and filled with gratitude for the true loves that I have known.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/gerbilsinlove/ gerbilsinlove

    I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much for allowing me to comment here and memorialize my best friend in the company of such a great dog, Eggs. Crap, now I’m crying, too.

    Geodejane: Thank you for your thoughtful and kind comment. Our Abbey is at that age, too, and she only hears what she wants/needs to hear. She’s 15, and still tries to keep up, but I see her slowing down a little more every day. As I was up at 5:30 this morning, cleaning up the nine piles of vomit Lucie had distributed around our room, Abbey slipped off the bed to come stand beside me, and add a retch or two of her own. She is a team player. And keep up the wonderful rescue work; it’s never easy, but so unselfishly necessary.

  • http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/militantrubberducky/ MilitantRubberDucky

    Congratulations, Gerbs! Your comment perfectly illustrates my feelings for my puppehs. I love them.