Spring is here, and the weather today was glorious ~ 79 degrees in No. Calif! My dog, Max, found a comfortable landing spot to view the birds and the bees in my back yard.
Spoiler
Bench pillows and cushion purchased on eBay!
We have decided to quit watching the political fighting, and the sad news.
Jean
That is such a great picture, Jean...I think I will have a kitty in my future very soon!
My son goes to Montana every summer for vacation and he takes his two very large dogs with him. Fenway, the Bernese Mountain Dog has a new nickname "moola" because of the dollar amount spent on her vet bills. She has undergone 2 surgeries during the past 6 months and is now on chemo.....Zoe, the Old English, seems to sense that something is wrong and is always by Fenway's side....dogs are so cool! Here they are taking a break on the back deck:
Zoe
Have you ever seen a dog laugh? I asked my son for more pictures so he sent me a selfie wearing his golf hat! 
...then he sent me this pic of Fenway, aka, Moola, wearing his golf hat...Fenway got the joke, lol .....
Bits is one lucky doggy to have a mama like you...as Jean stated, there really isn't anything that we wouldn't do for our pets....love me, love my pet...got rid of a few dates using that rationale!
hidy, thank you. We do love this little dog to pieces. She's a rescue from a puppy mill and had a hard life before making a home with us.
The breeder was a nasty piece of work that dropped Bits and the other dachshunds she had been breeding off at the Humane Society, emaciated, no vaccinations, run down from over breeding and sick with heart worms.
Of course the first thing was the heart worm treatments, then the rebuilding with healthy foods and regular feedings.
We just finished with the last of her surgeries and medical treatments in January of this year. From having so many litters, poor nutrition, her teeth were a mess, but the vet was concerned about the length of time she would need to be under, so everything else was done first.
She came through with flying colors and once everything was healed, was able to have her first crunchy bite of food. She was so surprised ... smells good, hmm, bite down, wow!
I think the saddest thing of all, was that she didn't know how to sit down. She had two modes, walk and drop over.
We had kept her very quiet during the heart worm treatments, but near the end, they want her to start working up to regular exercise and of course to explore and learn her new home.
I expressed my concern to the vet, and he said it was just nerves, the newness of the situation, to let her go and see what she did.
She would walk around the perimeter of the room, continually, take water, keep walking, with tongue lolling out, until she plunked over on the floor. <<<< That only happened once, it scared the bejeebers out of me.
I told the vets office, I don't think this dog knows how to sit down. So started our routine where I would let her walk off nervous energy, then I would wrap her in a knitted blanket and hold her. She wanted to struggle and get down and if I let her, off to walk, walk, walk.
If we tried confining her to a smaller room, then the circles would get smaller, but the walking would not decrease. All of my previous dogs have been crate trained and I tried that with her, what a nightmare.
Began with a smallish, single dog crate, she would buck inside the crate and move it across the floor. Tried her in a larger crate and same thing. Got a big dog, wire crate, thinking if she could easily see everything around her, no. She would run from side to side in a frenzy.
So holding her, was it. I can't remember now, how long it took, before she got the idea that it was okay to be awake and not moving.
The first time she actually sat down on the floor, I felt like throwing a big celebration! Even to this day, when I see her sit down, I feel a thrill!
Here's a picture of her getting blanket therapy:
You can see, even here, that she's not up to a normal weight, yet, because her nose looks so oversized.
Oh my, Savanna...that is a sad story. Bits had to have PTSD if there is such a thing as that for animals and I bet there is. I say hallelujah too when she could finally sit down!! You have been what this little dog needed 
{{{Savanna}}}...such a great story and thanks for sharing! Although pets can be time consuming, to me they are always worth it if you are a real pet lover. One of my favorite sayings is...I rescued my pet, and my pet rescued me.....so true!
Max was also a rescue and when my ex and I split, Max was the subject of a custody dispute....it was a long and hard fought battle but I prevailed when I agreed to give up the season basketball tickets..just goes to show ya what he really wanted! Pet lover? I think not!
Ugh - that's horrible of your ex, Hidy. Well, I guess that's why he has the "ex" title and not the "SO" title.... 
