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.
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Bench pillows and cushion purchased on eBay!
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Here's one of my helpers - Gracie
Hello there Gracie! What a sweetie!
Here's one of Honcho relaxing in a fashionable USPS lounge ...
You are right, pre. We do have a beta tank, actually, two (maybe three). We were so sad when Alexander died, it's been hard thinking about getting another. 😢
We have been contemplating getting a kitten. I have had cats all my life, up until the last few years. Also talking about another doxie, but I really don't know how Bits would take to either one.
She seems content being an only pet. Up until now all my previous dachshunds wanted other doggy companions. I've always had dachshunds in pairs.
When Lucy passed last year, I watched for Bits to feel down, depressed, lonely ... it just didn't happen. Which is we started thinking about a kitty, since their interaction with other pets is different, thank Day, the interactio, between two dogs.
Here's a recent picture of Bits. I think this one turned out well. Looks more planned, than many shots I get, where her head is slightly out of focus, from turning away from the camera.
This is Max.
Jean
Gracie, before and after.
I am loving all the pictures. A good looking bunch! Thanks everybody for giving me big smiles. 😁
I wanted to leave a note about how upsetting fireworks can be for pets. If you plan to go out, I hope you have a safe place for your babies. Fireworks are legal here, so it's been going on since Friday, with today being the absolute worst.
Bits is very frightened by loud noises, with thunderstorms normally being the freaks her out the most. That is, until the week of the 4th. It's the intermittent setting off of one here, a few more there, a bunch later, then back to one that causes the biggest problem. No predictability, so she gets on hi alert waiting for the next boom or pop, even though it may not happen again, for hours.
We have a thunder vest for her, which I just put on a little while ago and that seems to have helped, for the time being. I found this info graph online for people who haven't bought a thunder vest. I tried it last year, so thought I would pass it along.
Savanna, thanks for sharing the thunder vest and body-wrap tip to calm dogs who are fearful of loud noises. Glad to hear the thunder vest helped Bits get through the 4th.
Annika is unusual in that she has no fear of fireworks. Incidentally, she was born a week prior to the 4th of July -- maybe that explains her atypical (non) reaction to fireworks?? This year, the city enacted a "Safe & Sane" only fireworks ordinance, but nobody seemed to care. Illegal aerial fireworks were going up all around the city.
Annika didn't seem to mind. Despite the explosive commotion, she just went about her usual business catching Frisbees, playing ball, and sometimes just sitting down for a break to watch the fireworks. Her brain must be wired differently or something. 
She is a very intelligent dog -- knows the names of her 20+ toys and will bring the correct toy on command. Unfortunately, I have not trained her to put away her toys in her toy box. But there are Australian Cattle Dogs I've seen on YouTube that are trained to do just that -- pick up and put away their toys. Annika must be a step ahead. She knows if she puts away her toys, the games are over. So why would she be duped into stopping the fun? 
Our youngest kitty (turned 11 in April).
Lucy, (Goofer). Is a very silly kitty.
She runs, and jumps / bounces on the wall.
A lot of hopeful parents showed up at the shelter to adopt her. They drew our ticket.
Jean
We have decided to quit watching the political fighting, and the sad news.
Jean
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.
@katzcats wrote:There would be a huge ebay buyer-fire, ya think?
Max is looking rather lonely up there ~ so if anyone else would like to share their personal pet pictures for our pleasure and their 15 minutes of fame, please feel free to add a picture!
How about my old cat waiting to go for a ride! My son-in-law left his bike at my house one day when he borrowed my truck and my cat, Mr. Gray, decided he wanted to try it out.
Well besides my clowder at home ... there are also 2 office assistants.
The big guy up top is TunaMan and the baby girl down the bottom is Mz Monkey.
Keeper seems to have adopted my photo area for his nap.
Radine
Hi, all*about ~ thanks for sharing ~ purrrfect picture!
fly ~ Adorable kitties ~ and somehow I just knew that your office would
be totally organized and neat!
Radine ~ It's so nice to see you in this neck of the woods ~ for those of that don't know, Radine is an expert on packing breakables.
Visit with her on the NTE Board. Love the picture of Keeper!
Hey V ~ Really nice to see Leo again ~ do you call a male cat handsome or beautiful? Whatever, Leo fits the bill!
Twotoys ~ Ditto what fly said about the neutral, but your kitty looks like he is worth it! Some people just have no sense of humor!
OK, fly ~ I am feeling better about your office now!
Beautiful kitty pictures ~ we seem to be missing one that gave Leo a run for his money ~ just sayin!
Dogs? Anyone? Max needs some friends on this thread!
