Victory | biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Jul 24

Victory: Looking Beautiful!

Our beautiful Victory got a bath this weekend! She was in desperate need of one, especially with these hot and humid temperatures. It takes both Doug and I to bathe her, and we have a system down now where one of us fills up buckets with water and lines them up in the tub to expedite the bath process, while one of us washes her and keeps her from jumping out; then, we rinse her shampoo and conditioner as quickly as possible working like a little mini assembly line! We do our best to give her a speedy bath! To keep Victory looking her best, I brush her daily; use baby powder around her ears daily (she always smells so good); brush her teeth about five times a week; and we give her a bath once a month along with a monthly visit to the vet for a paw and nail trim! Thankfully, she always does really well at our vet!

I took this image below of Victory earlier this week and I noticed how much Victory has physically changed over the past nine and a half months since she came to live with us. See this image here to see a comparison of how much Victory has physically changed since bringing her home! It is quite amazing. She looks beautiful and healthy! I cannot wait for her one year anniversary in October to see how much she transformed over the course of a year!

Victory’s confidence has also improved and she has less anxiety. She will now even sit under my desk for hours at a time while I work; whereas in the beginning, she would retreat to her ‘hut‘ and she did not like to be on the floor. Biscuit always used to sit near me while I worked, so I am happy that Victory does the same and that she is feeling more secure in her home! She showers us with kisses every night and every morning — what more could you ask for! So, we are making progress and we are so grateful for our beautiful little Victory entering our lives!

Happy Thursday!

Jul 18

Victory: Photography Project — 26

“One of the most enduring friendships in history — dogs and their people, people and their dogs.” ~Terry Kay

Beginning in January of this year, I began a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Doug happened to leave the laptop on the sofa, and Victory hopped up and decided to go to work on the laptop! Victory told us that she does e-mail and she is pretty good at skyping, too! This images of Victory below reminded me of this image of Biscuit.

Happy Friday!

Jul 14

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Victory: Nine Months In

“The more I know about people, the more I love my dog.” ~Mark Twain

Saturday marked nine 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!

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

She continues to enjoy riding in the car!

She loves to go on outings!

Recently she loves to eat popcorn when I make it in the evenings! She runs up to me in the hopes of getting some popcorn!

She loves when Doug grills and she has been going outside on the deck with her sniffer in the air! She even refuses to eat her dinner until she gets some meat from the grill!

It has been a little too warm to take her to the dog park. We plan to return to our weekly visits once the weather cools some.

Victory does not like walking in this heat, but we make her walk so she will go potty — otherwise she will leave us a nice ‘little present’ of poop in the house!

She continues to go out to eat with us since the weather has been so nice! She loves to go on outings!

She loves ribs — Doug made homemade ribs and he made a few unseasoned ones and cut the meat off the bone for little Victory — she gobbled the ribs right up! You can see her looking at her Daddy for more ribs!

She has not been chewing on as many ‘not for chewing’ items! She is sticking with chewing her chew toys that she loves to hoard in her hut! We have a weakness for buying her toys on a regular basis!

She still loves sitting on my hip, especially if we are out and about and she gets a little nervous. Whenever Victory gets nervous, her little paw goes up — Doug says she ‘strikes a pose’ with her paw!

She still has not barked as of yet!

Most of all, we love her so very much!

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!

Happy Monday!

Jul 11

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Victory: Photography Project — 25

“Not every person knows how to love a dog, but every dog knows how to love a person.” ~Unknown

Beginning in January of this year, I began a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Victory loves to eat with us especially if it involves her getting food! Whenever we eat at the dinning room table she wonders from side to side in the hopes that we will give her some food! We know that this is a bad habit — to give in and give her food as this just reinforces the fact that she gets what she wants! When we eat in the kitchen, she wonders into the kitchen in the hopes of getting some treats! She loves when we go out to eat and take her along with us! She is getting more confident and she knows when we go out to eat she will get some goodies! She even used to be afraid to come into the kitchen and now when she smells Doug cooking, she has no problem coming into the kitchen and sniffing around hoping for a treat! On Sundays, while Doug makes breakfast, Victory gets Siggi’s vanilla yogurt and she licks it up in no time flat!

Below are some images of Victory when we went to dinner at Wegmans recently — We wish that we had more dog friendly restaurants near our house!; and an image of Victory getting ready to eat her vanilla Siggi’s yogurt! However, Victory does not mind where we go as long as she can come with us (and get some treats)!

Happy Friday!

Jul 2

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Victory: Photography Project — 24

“Dogs are miracles with paws.” ~Unknown

Beginning in January of this year, I began a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Below are some recent photographs of Victory at the dog park! She loves going to the dog park and sniffing around! Hopefully, the temperatures will cool off some so that we can take her back to the park again soon. Since Victory is covered in fur, she warms easily! Isn’t Victory looking so fluffy and pretty! Doug says everyday that, “Victory is the most beautiful sheltie girl ever!” I agree! She is blossoming more each day!

Happy Wednesday!

Jun 23

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Victory: Photography Project — 23

“Some of our greatest treasures we put in museums; others we take for walks.” ~Unknown

Beginning in January of this year, I began a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Below are a few images of Victory in our bed waking up in our bed! Okay, she really does not sleep on her back all tucked in, but she humored me and Victory let me pose her on a recent weekend morning, when we had good light coming into our bedroom! Of course, Doug thinks I am nuts when I have these photo ideas using Victory, but he is always happy with the results and smiles when he sees the edited images! Thankfully, Victory is so patient with me when I am photographing her and I think that she had fun as well! I think that she is really getting used to the camera, and she is a perfect muse like our Biscuit.

Wouldn’t you want to wake up to this furry goodness each morning?! We do! Victory is just adorable and we love her so much and she is really coming into her own and filling out with her sheltie furs! Doug and I are so happy that we found love again after Biscuit, who is always with us in spirit. Victory has been a true blessing to us and we think we have all bonded and we are Victory’s pack! Victory is our fur girl and she brings us so much joy! We are certain that Biscuit sent us the ‘right sheltie!’ Truth — Victory does sleep with us every night and she usually sleeps above one of our heads and the headboard and she sometimes goes between sleeping above our heads at night as well! I love waking up to her each morning and receiving all of her love and kisses. I love our ‘tuck-in’ routine as well. She is always so excited to go to bed! Recently, we noticed that she likes to go upstairs to our bedroom during the day to rest on the bed! I guess Victory has an affinity for our bed — well, more like her bed!

Victory is going to miss her Daddy as he is leaving for overseas today for work; and I know Doug is going to miss his fur girl as well!

Enjoy the fun photos of the ‘morning faces’ of our little Victory below! Isn’t Victory adorable!

Happy Monday!

Jun 19

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Victory: Photography Project — 22

“The journey of life is sweeter when traveled with a dog.” ~Unknown

Beginning in January of this year, I began a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog! I have also been documenting Victory’s milestones so to speak each month — you can read these here! I think that it is fun to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories.

Last week we got a new car, our first SUV! My car was getting old, and for a few reasons, we decided it was time to get a new car. Once we settled on the type of SUV, options, and color, etc., the dealer needed to get our car from another dealership in Maryland. So, the evening we went to buy and the see the car for the first time and trade in our old car, Victory hopped into the SUV and she did not want to get out, as pictured below! We think she knew it was hers! She approved! Victory has made her mark in the new SUV as her sheltie furs are everywhere! Fortunately, her furs do not cling to the material too much making for easy clean-up, when needed!

Happy Thursday!

Jun 17

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Victory: Father’s Day

Doug had a nice Father’s Day — his first Father’s Day with Victory! We spent a quite day together. Since Doug does the cooking and baking in our household, (I grocery shop), Doug made us homemade buttermilk pancakes for breakfast, and they were the best pancakes that I have ever had — they were delicious, and even Victory loved eating a few pieces! Doug told me that he wanted to grill for dinner on Father’s Day, so I got him some steak and some chicken for myself, which we marinated and Doug applied some rubs to the meat just prior to grilling! We also marinated and grilled fresh vegetables — they were delicious! I helped some — I made bake potatoes! So, Doug grilled everything on his Big Green Egg and the food was delicious! Earlier in the day, Doug even made us homemade cheesecake for dessert! With all of this food, it is a good thing we went to the gym a few times over the weekend!

Little Victory gave her Daddy some Father’s Day gifts, shown below: a sheltie Father’s Day card; a personalized coffee mug with a photo of Victory with her Daddy with a Father’s Day message; a personalized travel mug to take to and from work; and a personalized mouse pad with photos of Victory and her Daddy together to take to work! I gave Doug a framed print of a recent image of him and Victory together to take to work! Doug was pleased and his desk at work should be looking more spiffy!

Happy Tuesday!

Jun 13

Victory: Video 3

In addition to photographing Victory on a regular basis, I also want to make videos of Victory, and my goal is to make one video a month to preserve memories with our beloved Victory! This video of Victory was taken at the lake! She is beaming and smiling ear to ear! Victory absolutely loves the water! You can also watch other videos of Victory here and here.

Victory is all ready to celebrate Father’s Day on Sunday — she just has to wrap her gifts up for her Daddy! Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Friday!

Jun 12

Victory: Eight Months In

“If you don’t have a god at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you. But there may be something wrong with your life.” ~Vincent Van Gogh

Today marks eight 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!

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

She continues to love to ride in the car!
She continues to go out to eat with us since the weather has been so nice! She loves to go on outings!
She loves rice cakes and quickly runs over when she sees the bag!
She has not been chewing on as many ‘not for chewing’ items! She is sticking with chewing her chew toys that she loves to hoard in her hut! We have a weakness for buying her toys on a regular basis!
She still loves to eat on the sofa! However, she comes into the dinning room and kitchen during dinner time for some snacks and she sometimes eats from her feeder in the kitchen!
She is doing better at bath time! She actually smiled when we gave Victory her most recent bath. However, it still takes both Doug and I to bathe her and prevent her from jumping out of the soaker tub!
She still enjoys her rides around the neighborhood in her Hound About!
She still enjoys going to the dog park, although she likes to stick near us — I think she identifies us as her pack!
She loves sitting on my hip, especially if we are out and about and she gets a little nervous. Whenever Victory gets nervous, her little paw goes up — Doug says she ‘strikes a pose’ with her paw!
She loves the water. She loves sitting by the water and looking at it. It must be calming to little Victory!
She loves going out on the deck with us!
She, thankfully, is waking us up less and less for water during the night!
She gives us kisses each morning when we wake up! She is so affectionate!
She has even begun to lay on her indoor Orvis beds!
She loves her home and routine! On our recent trip, Victory got a little home sick. She developed diarrhea by the time we got home. We took her to the vet who said she had stress-induced colitis. The vet put her on an antibiotic and probiotic and she was on a bland rice/chicken/beef diet for a week. Thankfully, she is doing just fine. The vet said that Victory is a ‘delicate flower.’ We have a probiotic to take with us on vacation and instructions from the vet on how to help prevent this again should it arise again! We hope, in time, she will know that she will be ok in new situations and environments. We know that she will get there.
Her sheltie furs keep coming in and she if filling out well! (We can’t wait to do a before and after photo at the one year mark, in October!)
She still has not barked as of yet!
Most of all, we love her so very much!