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

Dec 26

Victory: First Christmas

Victory had a wonderful Christmas! A few photographs are shown below of Victory on her first Christmas! The first image is one of my favorites of Victory sitting by the Christmas tree! I think that we will get a photo ornament made for our Christmas tree next year!

On Christmas we took Victory to go see a light display and she loved the car ride and the lights! A photo from the Christmas light display is shown below!

Victory also has received some very nice gifts shown below! It was a nice surprise to receive some gifts from a blog reader! Thank you!

On another note, anyone who has been to our home knows that Doug has a menagerie of “friends” (stuffed cheetahs and pandas). We have more “friends” than we know what to do with. Our entire guest room has hundreds of “friends” all of whom have names! However, while we were visiting family this past week, in a moment of weakness, we rescued a friend named “Buddy,” pictured below! Buddy is a 4.5 foot tall panda, our largest friend yet! Victory even posed with Buddy, shown below!

Happy Pawlidays!

Dec 23

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Victory: At the Pond

Victory traveled really well in the car on our recent drive to visit family! She sat (and slept) on my lap for nearly ten hours! Thankfully, Doug did all of the driving for us. Victory met her other set of grandparents for the first time! Victory is having a good time and she is acclimating to her new surroundings. Victory still prefers to be on furniture versus the floor! She has found her favorite chair to sit in! Victory now comes and hops into my lap — hopefully, we are getting more bonded with each other each day! She is our precious cuddle bug!

From our own neighborhood walks at home, we know that Victory really likes looking at water. There is a pond behind the house and she is mesmerized by the water! Below are a few photographs of Victory on a recent walk near the pond! Victory is looking so happy and beautiful! Victory’s sheltie furs are coming in more each day! Victory is ready for Santa!

Dec 16

Victory: Exuding Confidence

Victory is beginning to really come into her own! Over the weekend, Victory got a bath and we took her to get her nails and paws trimmed! Victory did try to jump multiple times out of our soaker tub! It takes both of us to bathe her! However, it was worth is as she looks great and she is ready for Christmas! Victory’s fur feels so soft and silky! Her sheltie furs are also beginning to come in! Victory, pictured below, is striking a pose for the camera! She looks confident and beautiful wearing her new Christmas collar! Every time Victory moved, she jingled!

Also, over the weekend, Doug and I made eggnog sugar cookies pictured below. Doug really enjoys cooking and baking! In honor of Victory, we made dog and dog bone shaped eggnog sugar cookies! We need to get a sheltie cookie cutter. We had bought a sheltie cookie cutter previously, but I think that it got misplaced/lost during one of our recent moves!

The winner of the ASPCA Giveaway is Nancie McClendon! I along with the ASPCA will be in touch with you shortly! Thank you to all of you who participated!

Happy Monday!

Dec 13

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Victory: Getting Ready for Christmas!

If you have not already noticed from reading the blog, Victory is our little fur baby and she will always be treated as a family member! As such, we wanted to get Victory ready for the Holidays — her first Christmas!

We purchased some items for Victory, which are shown below!

1. Ornament: We had a custom ornament of Victory made by Helen Greenstein, Eleni Creative, who previously made our Little Felt Family! I love working with Helen!

(The above photographs of the little felt Victory are courtesy of Helen Greenstein, Eleni Creative.)

Below is an image of our expanded Little Felt Family!

Also, shown in the image immediately below, on the right, our beloved Biscuit was featured in the American Craft 2013 Holiday Look Book!

2. Stocking: We had a custom embroidered stocking made for little Victory from Pottery Barn, pictured above! (We had the same custom embroidered stockings made for all of us for Biscuit’s first Christmas in 2011.)

3. Christmas Collars: We purchased several Christmas collars shown above. Victory is wearing her sparkle collar below!

4. Tartan Antlers: Victory is using Biscuit’s Tartan Antlers shown below. Victory looks so cute wearing her tartan antlers and her sparkle collar!

Victory is ready for Santa to visit her! Thankfully, Doug and I have finished (just about) everything for Christmas!

Happy Friday!

Dec 12

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Victory: Two Months In

“A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding for it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.” – E. B. White

Today we have had our little Victory for two months! The time has really zoomed by quickly! Victory is doing really well. She had a great Thanksgiving and we are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas together! Victory loves to go for rides in the car, so we know that she will travel well over the Holidays! We are excited for her to meet more family!

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

She loves to cuddle — she is a cuddle bug!
She loves to come jump on the sofa as soon as a human sits on the sofa!
She knows when it is bed time. Victory on her own proceeds up the stairs and jumps into bed squarely in the middle of our bed abutting the headboard behind all of our pillows!
She loves to sleep with us (this is not new to us, but continues on!)
She loves chicken breast, cheese, Cesar Softies, Cheddar Biscuits, and vanilla Chick-Fil-A ice cream (like her brother Biscuit)! We are sure that there are more food items that she likes, but for now, she is venturing out!
She loves to lay in our bed when we get ready in the morning. She loves our bed so much that she does not like to leave the bed when I make it each morning! I am constantly putting her on the floor and then she runs around the bed and jumps on the bed again and again!
She likes car rides! We hope to go on many adventures when the weather warms up! We are also planning a fun trip with Victory this summer!
She likes to wake us up during the night to get a drink of water in bed, as she will not leave the bed to get a drink of water — we know, she is a spoiled princess! However, she is hydrating more, which is good! (We hope to soon get her to drink water in our master bedroom bathroom!)
She loves to sniff — everything. She sniffs us all the time, especially before bed! She sniffs so much that she leaves marks on my glasses trying to sniff my eye lashes!
She likes the snow! She had fun earlier this week walking in the snow!

We know in time that Victory will make even more progress getting acclimated to her new home. We plan on doing dog training with Victory after the new year!

Enjoy the images of Victory taken just before dusk and before the snow hit here — she looks absolutely beautiful!

Below is a side-by-side comparison of Victory — look how much Victory has changed in a relatively short period of time — from the first photo we received of her from her foster Mom in September (left) compared to the photograph taken of Victory this past weekend (right)! She looks beautiful and her precious sheltie furs are coming in!

Additionally, we were at the vet last night for a heartworm check, which was negative, and Victory is now a healthy 22 pounds, which is so much better than the mere 14 pounds she once was when she was found in the hording situation this past summer. At the vet’s office last night, in the waiting room, she hopped right up on the chair like a human! We really do think Victory thinks she is human as outlined above!

Happy Thursday!

Dec 10

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Victory: First Snow!

This past weekend was our first snow with our little Victory! Victory had a good time in the snow! She wore her new pink fleece from her Grandma and Grandpa to keep her warm and to protect her little sheltie furs! (We might have to find some matching little pink boots and see if Victory will tolerate wearing them!) While we were outside in the snow, Victory put her little snout in the snow many times to sniff around and she also licked the snow!

Enjoy some photographs below documenting Victory’s first time in the snow! It is really snowing here today and we are sure that she will like walking in the snow again today! We are so happy that Victory is part of our little family!

Speaking of snow, you can view Biscuit’s first snow and one of my favorite images of Biscuit in the snow from earlier this year!

Happy Tuesday!

The snow was a little too much that Victory had to close her eyes!

Nov 25

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Our Little Victory

Our Little Victory,

You have only been with us a short time and you have stolen our hearts! We love you more than you know! You are a gorgeous and smart sheltie! You have truly been a blessing and we are so grateful that you are a part of our family. Your brother Biscuit sent us the right furry family member! You are making good progress and you are beginning to get your confidence. Your golden furs are coming in nicely and you have a beautiful fur coat! Thank you for letting me brush your sheltie furs; give you a bath (even if it takes the two us to prevent from you jumping out of the soaker tub!); brush your teeth; and for being so good at the vet’s office for check-ups and nail and paw trims! We know that fast movements and loud noises still startle you and you prefer not to share the sidewalk with anyone else! We especially love your cuddles, sniffs, and kisses. We love waking up to your warm golden body beside ours. We would not have it any other way! We know that you are mesmerized by water, as you love going to the little pond pictured below! We look forward to many adventures and trips together! By the time the weather gets warmer in the spring, you should be able to go for some fun outings with us! We are planning a fun trip with you this summer and we hope that it is a first of many to come!

Love always,

Your Mamma

Nov 22

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The Best Rain Coat!

If you are in need of a raincoat for your furry family member — I have a great recommendation! While we were in Nova Scotia for vacation during the summer of 2011, Doug and I discovered RC Pets, a Canadian company that makes dog and cat apparel and other products. We liked Nova Scotia so much that we returned again during the summer of 2012. Since Biscuit had issues with arthritis and he was very particular about anyone manipulating his delicate paws and legs, the RC Pets’ Metro Slicker Rain Coat worked really well for him because it is very easy to get on without slipping any dog legs through the raincoat!

Biscuit had a red RC Pets’ Metro Slicker Rain Coat that is too large for Victory. Also, even Nick (my parents’ Papillon mix rescue dog) has a red RC Pets’ Metro Slicker Rain Coat — Nick and Biscuit got matching rain coats from Nova Scotia! Along with Victory, Biscuit and Nick are pictured below in their matching rain coats! Thus, we needed to get Victory a raincoat and we ordered Victory a pink RC Pets’ Metro Slicker shown below! She seems to enjoy wearing it — she keeps adding to her ‘pink outerwear collection!’ Her raincoat comes in handy for days like today when it is sprinkling outside!

Thus, if you are in need of a raincoat for your dog, I highly recommend this product! RC Pets also has many other jackets and outerwear for dogs as well!

Happy Friday!

Nov 15

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Victory: Clean Bill of Health!

We recently took Victory to the vet and her exam went well and Victory’s labs came back normal! Doug and I were so relieved! We had a tricky time doing a free catch urine sample this week, but Victory fortunately cooperated with us — but it took the two of us to get her urine sample!

Victory did really well at the vet’s office and she likes her new vet! After much research and interviewing, Doug and I found a vet that we believe is a good match for us and Victory! Doug and I believe that it is very important to have a vet that we can trust and work well with. However, we hope that our vet visits will be infrequent and only for well visits! While we were at the vet’s office again earlier this week for Victory to receive her Lyme vaccine, Victory again hopped up onto a chair in the waiting room like a human! She did really well again at the vet’s office and she has gained some weight which is good. When Victory was found and rescued late this summer by the Michigan Sheltie Rescue, Inc., she was a mere 14 pounds and now she is 20 pounds! While at the vet, Victory also had her nails and paws trimmed! She is looking good!

Victory is doing well and we are so happy that Biscuit sent Victory to us! Each day she is gaining confidence. She is still giving us licks/kisses and she loves licking ears and eyelashes — who would have guessed! Earlier this week, minutes before Doug’s alarm went off, he was greeted with warm licks in his ear from Victory! Victory might be Doug’s new alarm clock!

Happy Friday!

Nov 14

Now and Then

Prior to our move to our new house, we typically visited the home construction site on a weekly basis on the weekends to see the progress of our new home being built. Biscuit loved going and walking around the construction site; and he liked sniffing around the new neighborhood. Thankfully, before Biscuit passed away, Biscuit was able to go inside our home just after the drywall was put up. We wish that he was able to move to the new house with us. I think that he knew that we were building a home for us all.

The builder is still building homes in our neighborhood, and this weekend we took Victory around to the portion of the neighborhood that is under construction (the construction workers were not working). She does enjoy her walks — she is a speedy little walker!

Below are images of Biscuit and Victory at the construction site on the same street facing opposite directions, taken approximately six (6) month apart.

Biscuit is pictured below.