Victory: 11 Months In

“A dog is one of the few things in life that is as it seems.” ~Mark J. Asher

Last Friday marked eleven months since we adopted our little Victory!  You can read more about the previous months’ milestones here.  The time is just flying by and Victory is blossoming and it is hard to believe that she has been with us almost a year now!

Below are some things that we learned about Victory this month:

• She travels really well.  She was a trooper in the car both ways to and from Quebec!  She did really well.  She sat on my lap the entire drive (both ways) and Doug, fortunately, did all the driving for us!

• She loves the beach!  At first, we were not sure whether Victory would like the water of the beach for that matter since she usually is trying to escape her bath!  (She is getting better, but she would rather not be bothered with a bath — however, we gave her a bath this weekend after arriving home!)  However, she dabbled her paws in the water and she went deeper and deeper into the water!

• She likes to go boating!  We went boating and canoeing on our vacation and Victory loved it!  We did not tip the canoe during the times we went canoeing!  She gladly wore hew new life jacket!  She looked adorable in her new life jacket!

• She enjoyed going on all of our adventures and outings during our vacation!  Everyone loved her and said plus beau chien (most beautiful dog) when they saw her!

• She loved riding in her Hound About in Montreal.  Since Montreal is a big city, the Hound About came in really handy because otherwise, with all the people, Victory would not have been able to handle the sensory overload and it would have frightened her.  So, she rode along in class!

• Victory now sleeps on her new Orvis bed (she recently picked one out while we visited the Orvis flagship store in Manchester, Vermont) in my office next to me!  Prior, she got really scared and would run out of my office to her ‘hut!’  Now, after vacation, she seems to have even more confidence and I am happy to have little Victory keep me company while I work!

• We are convinced that bedtime is her favorite time of day.  It is when she is very lively!  Doug says it is when her “pack” is all together!  She loves playing before bed and giving us tons of kisses and now she loves it when I put my hand in her mouth and she tries to catch my hand!  And yes, she still likes to Doug’s armpits — every night!  Doug woke up with wet armpits this morning!  We are not sure of the attraction there!

• Most of all, we think that Victory is getting more comfortable and she is gaining confidence.  She is smart, too!  Even after a long ride home from Quebec, she knew when we were within a few miles of the house!  She popped up on my lap, looked out the window, and she knew home was near, which is her usual response when we drive home with her after an outing, etc.

If you have not already, be sure to check out the six month video, our second video, and our most recent video of our little Victory!  (I hope to make more videos soon!)

Below are a few photos with our precious Victory!

Happy Friday!