Victory: 12 Months In

“Nobody can fully understand love unless they are owned by a dog.” ~Unknown

This past Sunday, October 12, 2014, marked twelve months since we adopted our little Victory!  To honor Victory’s one-year mark with us, we added her to the blog’s header!  You can read more about the previous months’ milestones here.  The time is just flying by and Victory is blossoming and it is difficult to believe that she has indeed been with us a full year now!

We decided to make October 12 Victory’s birthday — the day we went to Michigan and adopted our sweet girl, and we took the same approach with Biscuit for determining his birthday!  Victory was likely one to two years old when we adopted her last year.  Thus, we are making October 12 her third birthday, which we celebrated over the weekend!   Stay tuned — we are sharing more about Victory’s birthday celebration this week on the blog!

Reflecting on our first year together with Victory, Victory has really come a long way since we adopted her and met her a year ago, as evidenced by the photographs below showing such a marked change in her physical appearance, not to mention her emotional growth.  She has grown in numerous ways and she continues to enrich our lives each day.  Her physical appearance has changed.  She has put on some weight; and her fur coat has come in and she looks stunning!  From an emotional perspective, she has much more confidence from when we first met her.  She went from being easily startled and staying put in one spot of the house to following us around our home.  When we take her to the dog park, she prefers to stick by our side, while mingling with other dogs!  Although, she has a mind of her own.  There are times that she ‘bucks’ on her leash while we are on our walks — insisting on going another way — back home!  However, once we get started, she finds her grove and she begins to smile!

She give us so much love.  Our night-time ritual will never be the same without our Victory running up and down between us and giving us kisses.  What is better than having your pup’s head next to yours on your pillow when you wake up each morning — this is what we wake up to each morning with our Victory!  We love coming home to see her and we love taking her on trips and adventures!  Vacationing to Quebec would not have been the same without our Victory!  We feel very blessed that Victory has entered our lives at just the right time.  We look forward to making many more memories with our Victory!

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

• She started following us around the house!  This is huge progress for Victory!  She used to be content staying in one spot of the house while we moved around, and now she is following us!  She has made great strides!  She wants to be included and not left out, which is positive!

• She consistently loves to be under my desk when I work at the computer.  I love having her near by me while I work.  She usually takes a snooze by my feet while I work and seems to be quite content.  However, previously, when I tried putting her in my office while I worked, she ran out of the office to her ‘hut!’  Now, she spends more time outside of her ‘hut!’

• She still loves to go for rides in the car and for outings.  She continues to travel very well, and we got really lucky in that respect.  We love taking her to dinner with us and to the dog park among other places where furry friends are permitted!

• 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!  We are not sure of the attraction there!

• Most of all, we think that Victory is getting more comfortable and she is gaining her confidence.  She is truly ‘coming out of her shell.’  We look forward to many making many more memories with our fur girl, Victory!  We really feel grateful that Victory entered our lives and we do believe that Biscuit sent her to us.  She has been a wonderful gift.  She is the perfect fit for us and we love her dearly.

The image on the left below was taken by Victory’s foster mom last October; the image on the right  below was taken by me on Sunday, marking her one year with us!  You can see such a positive change!  I hope that people realize how important dog rescue is and what a positive impact you can make in one dog’s life.  Please consider dog rescue!

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!  (Another video is coming soon marking Victory’s one year with us!)

Happy Tuesday!