I'm back...

My apologies for not being on in a while. Thanks to the wikileaks all google aps had been down. Anyway I've been keeping up with my blog via word so you'll have to read back a couple days to read all of the posts.

As for now, here is my response to Jayme's e-mail...


 Dear Jayme,

Thank you for your post and concerns about my husbands well being. Let me start by saying that since you have visited Mike and I have moved…actually we moved the day we got back from our honeymoon, talk about poor timing. Now we have enough rooms that we could get 5 more dogs and they could each stay in their own room. So space is not so much the issue.

The issue I would argue is not the ticking or tocking of my biological click, but my husband’s inability to say no combined with my love of animals. Exhibit one…when Mike and I first got together…he bought me a Chinchilla, Dusty (RIP) for my bday. Exhibit two…Casey. Exhibit three…Rocky. And finally exhibit four…Tripper. Just be thankful I didn’t start a blog about dusty…but I guess aside from Shannon no one would have read it.

And yes, maybe Casey sometime joins us in bed…and maybe on occasion I wake up and Rocky is at my feet. But to my defense Tripper isn’t allowed on the bed and we do follow that rule. And hey...that’s why we have a king size bed anyway.

So I’m terribly sorry to make you all wait, but while I do love babies…I’m not ready for one. And though I will really enjoy taking really cute pictures of my kids and probably will make them hate cameras…that’s what’s so great about dog, they can’t tell me not to take their picture or not tell the embarrassing story about them, like how Tripper kind of pooped in the mall.

But hopefully this blog is about more than just my desire to share my life with my pets. The experience of being a foster for Tripper has really taught me a lot not just about working and training dogs, but the affect they can have on a community. 

So for now I hope my clock doesn’t keep you up at night, because it will be ticking for at least a couple more years. And hey if Mike can sleep through it so can you…if not I suggest investing in ear plugs.

Your Friend,

Janet

I just peed my pants

OK...so I just got one of the best e-mails from a friends from Baltimore. Before you read the e-mail (yes Jayme I'm posting it) you have to understand something about my friend Jayme. We love each other dearly but would never let an opportunity to give each other a hard time pass us by. So as you can image starting a blog entirely about dogs leaves a lot of room for Jayme. With all of this being said enjoy the following e-mail (Jayme, I did have to edit it slightly but hopefully kept it true to form) *Please be sure to read my response to Jayme tomorrow*

To: Janet McCormick
From: Jayme
Date: December 2, 2010

If I were a blogger, I decided that I would blog about your blog.  Here is my sample blog:

Poor Mike.... I hope the sound of the clock isn't getting to him.  He knows what clock I'm talking about.  It is the tick-tock of Janet's very loud and public biological clock.  In fact, this clock is so loud that I can hear it all the way in Baltimore.  The sound becomes shrill every time Janet posts to her "Preppy Puppy Blog." 

That's right-- Janet has been blogging about her 3 (yes, I said 3) dogs for the past 4 or 5 months now and I will make the statement that anyone who takes the time to blog about their pets, really wants to be blogging about their not-yet-created baby's poopie diaper, first tooth, or first step.  The puppy blog is the ultimate public biological clock.  It is just 2 short steps away from putting the skeletal face of a squirrel in a bassinet and calling it your baby (I just couldn't resist a LOST reference.)  It is the ultimate declaration to the world, "I want a baby to write about and until I have one and can blog about it, I'm going to blog about my dogs instead!"

I've seen where Mike and Janet live.  It is not a huge place.  Plus, I've seen Janet's Disney Movie collection.  Add that in with the dogs and you have to wonder if Mike gets a space of his own.  I think it is safe to assume that he has to share his bed with not only Janet, but at least 1 if not 2 or maybe all 3 of the dogs.  Poor guy.

Now, not only do I feel bad for Mike who has to sleep next to this very loud biological clock, but I feel even worse for Janet's Mom Pat and Mike's Mom Linda.  Every time Janet calls and goes, "Guess What?" you know that they are both just dying to hear "You're going to be a grandma for the 1st time!"  Instead, these poor women get "Guess what! You're going to be a grandma AGAIN! We're adding another dog to our family!"  The women just sigh and offer their congratulations and wish that they were getting a cuddly baby to hold instead of another dog to buy a Christmas bone for. 

I do get it.  I like dogs as much as the next person.  Puppies are cute and bear some remarkable similarities to babies.  They are small and cuddly.  You have to clean up their poop and bathe them, but unlike babies, dogs will never be able to wipe their own ass or repeat something they overheard at the most inopportune time as to embarrass you and make friends (like me) roll on the floor dying from laughter.

Just do us (me) all a favor and start working on having babies. The always dull and sometimes shrill sound of your biological clock is beginning to give me a headache.  Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

*Disclaimer, this was intended to be funny and in response to one of Janet's blog postings.

--End E-mail--

So you'll have to check back tomorrow and see how I respond to Jayme.

**Day 1 Contest Results**

Leah:
7 Comments + 1 follower + 1 vote = 12

Laura:
2 comments + 3 followers + 2 friend post + 1 vote = 16

OK Mom...you win.

I have no excuses or even a good story I made up....I'm just slacking. I guess that's not entirely true, I've started making dogs collars (Web site coming soon!!) so I've been spending my very limited free time trying to finish the 35 orders I already have!

So Thanksgiving came and went...my family came up to visit, bringing their two dogs Riley and Maya. I must have been in a turkey coma because I didn't take any pictures of the group!! I do have a great video of them meeting but I'm in the process of editing it. I promise I'll get it up soon.

Other than responding to my Mom's cries for more posts...I really needed to post today, December 1 to announce a contest between my friends. On my most recent trip to NYC to visit Laura and Leah we were talking about how the blog provides them a nice study and work break. Of course I gave them a hard time for never commenting and hardly voting. I mean how do I know that anyone even looks at the pictures none the less reads what I write? So they decided that during the month of December they would have a contest to see who could generate the most comments and posts.

So consider this the official first day of the contest. I'll sort of make up the rules as we go but the winner will get an entire post...pictures and all...just about them. I'll obviously count comments and voting but they'll get 2 points for every time a person posts something and references them and 3 points every time someone "follows" the blog because of them. So we'll see how it goes...Good Luck Ladies!

Oh yeah...I invite anyone who wants to join the contest to please step right up. I mean who doesn't want me to blog about them???

Thinking of You...

Every so often when I can't think of anything to write on my blog, my inner nerd kicks in and  I check the "site stats". They are pretty unimpressive, I mean once you take out all of times I visit the page in a given day. But the stat that I've looked at every week for the past month isn't how many times someone has visited the site or voted on the Tripper Picture of the Month Page (which if you haven't done already please do so) but it's been how many times "someone" in Australia have been visiting the site.

I've really enjoyed the e-mail updates I've been getting from my friend Emily and it makes me smile to know she is thinking of me too. But this weekend in particular, while Tarra was taking the McCormick's family picture and I was surrounded by my pups and Mike, I was again reminded of Emily and her unbelievable journey in Australia.

It is easy to forget the weight of the world when you eat, sleep, work and live at a school. Between the beautiful surroundings and small town feel, Salisbury can often feel like a different place all together.

Though the reality of the world is not often seen on the Hilltop, it doesn't mean that it doesn't touch us everyday. And though we are worlds apart my heart reaches out to you.

VB Family...our love, thoughts and prayers are with you.

A Light in the Tunnel

This weekend Tripper and I traveled down to Darien, CT to visit Emily. Thankfully the weather broke and we spent an amazing sunny Saturday together.

Tripper did a great job in his box for he entire long drive.  When we arrived we were greeted by Emily, her Dad and their husky Baloo. Thankfully Tripper is very familiar with Huskies, our neighbor Mark has one named Moko, so he just rolled over and let Baloo check him out. Baloo wasn't too interested as long as Tripper stayed away from his bones....something he's pretty use to living with Rocky.

 With only an afternoon to spend together Emily and I headed on a walk with pups to catch up, chit chat and enjoy the fall sun. As we strolled we took in the beautiful sights of Darien and Tokeneke (her neighbor) Emily made a comment about the start of fall, I laughed becuase as you can see in my last post, we're in the middle of fall in Salisbury. Almost all of the trees have good color and we're already seeing a ton of leaves on the ground.

So Tripper and I enjoyed the chance to see so many green things...especially all of the beautiful flowers!

 

We walked 2 or 3 miles to the near by town of Rowayton to grab a deli sandwich and sit by the water.  It was the perfect day to sit back and catch up on old times. 

Labor Day

 The McCormicks had a heck of a Labor Day Weekend. Actually it was one of the most eventful weekends we've had at Salisbury since last August. To kick things off Laura came to visit :) and spent Thursday and Friday with us. Since Thursday was gorgeous (probably the last hot day of the year for us) we headed down to the lake to catch some rays and float.

Sadly a mouse had eaten a hole in my float leaving us one float short. So while Laura floated around with Tarra and our friend Tim I dragged Tripper into the water for this first swimming lesson. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Williams/McCormick method of teaching a dog how to swim, I'll start by explaining the two step process.

This highly scientific method has worked for 5/6 dogs (Casey and Rocky McCormick, Riley Miller, Maya Rawdon and Bauer Will... thank you Maya Miller for ruining the perfect score) Step #1- Take puppy to shallow lake, stream or reservoir. Carry the puppy out a ways, put them down and let them swim.

Step #2- After the puppy is a little older and has proven their swimming ability in step #1, take dog to dock* and throw him in. *If you do not have access to a dock simply walk in with your dog and give them a good chuck. Please do not be concerned as this experience is not as traumatizing as it may sound.  Even Bauer in the picture below was jumping right in after two more throws. 

Anyway, Tripper responded wonderfully to step 1. He enjoyed being in the water on the hot day and was very relaxed when he had to take a couple of swimmie strokes (as my Dad and I like to call them). He was a little nervous when Casey would swim by, but I can't really blame him bc when Rocky was little Casey would tackle her in the water and dunk her under....I guess human and dogs siblings have something in common.

Tripper had swimming lesson #2 on Sunday while our friends Martha, Mike and their cock-a-poo Winnie were visiting. He did a good job but was but more interested in playing with someone his own size for once.

It was a busy and tiring weekend for all of us. But Monday was spent in the true Labor Day spirit...by attending our Fantasy Football draft. While Mike brought magazines full of highlighted notes and scouting reports...I brought Tripper.  And throughout the draft, while everyone was eating pizza, drinking beer and trying to keep track what round we were in or how may wide receivers they had already drafted, Tripper just sat next to me watching.


Day 21

Too Long...

So get ready for the longest post yet. I've been the worst blogger over the last week and haven't updated anything. But don't worry...I'm still taking lots of pictures, just slacking on posting them.

While I was away in Saratoga over the weekend, spending some much needed time with my gf's from UConn (and wishing Tori farewell on her move to Florida) Mike was 100% in charge of Tripper's training program. Let me take a second and mention that the last time that Mike was in charge of one of our dogs training, Casey learned how to drool on command...a trick she still displays anytime you eat peanut butter or pretzels!

But before I left I reminded him that he needed to be on his best foster parent behavior and made sure to tell Casey to keep an extra close eye on Tripper while I was away.

Obviously when I got home everything was just how I left it. Except that I would swear that Tripper doubled in size in 48 hours.

So we picked up where we left off in our training and since have been focusing on learning the names of commands (instead of using a lore or treat) and the beginning stages of stay...not the easiest thing for a 9 week old puppy. But he's slowly getting it.

Now that all the faculty are arriving back on campus (sports start next week with school starting the following) there are a bunch of kids running and riding their bikes around campus. This was a great opportunity for Trip to get use to the sights and sounds that come with kids. In the picture above two of the girls who live on campus (Emma and Cate) stopped by for a quick visit. I'm happy to report that not only was Tripper really good with them but when he did start to put his teeth out the girls did a nice job of correcting him and he stopped. I was pretty proud.

I'm sure you've been wondering if Rocky has stopped being a biatch...the short answer would be no. But the longer answer (which I'm obviously sharing) would be yes, much better. So using the  following pictures and descriptions I'll try to explain their relationship as best as humanly possible...and if I do say so myself I think I have captured it beautifully!!

Rocky- "OMG look how close that dog is getting to me. Doesn't he know I don't like him."
Tripper-"Look at me...I have a rope!

Rocky- "ooohhh Rope! I like rope."
Tripper-"If I share my rope will you be my friend?

Rocky-"Yeah sure, whatever now give me my rope!"

Tripper- "Moooom, Rocky stole my toy, I'm going to go take it back!"

Rocky- "Back the f-up!"
Tripper- "But I thought we were friends"
Rocky- "NEVER!!"

So needless to say, we're still working on the whole Rocky thing. But the happy puppy is doing great and is as cute as ever!!

Tomorrow's a big day for the family...we're going to Tripper's first training class! He'll get to play with his brother's and sister's and we'll get to see what everyone looks like!! It'll be fun to see how he shapes up next to everyone.

day 18

New Best Friend

Tarra and Maya came back from Iowa today!! I wanted Maya to be the first dog (out of our family) that Tripper met. I knew that with her gentle and submissive disposition it would be the perfect first friend....and I was a little too right.

Maya was very sweet and Tripper really enjoyed playing (and biting) her. As cute as they were playing together I was really impressed when Maya corrected Tripper for biting (and therefore yipped...if I haven't mentioned it yet Tripper is the biggest baby ever!) anyway after Tripper started yipping Rocky came running over to see if he was ok!!!

So the interest in Tripper only lasted a second...but at least she was concerned! Rockey has actually been getting so much better. Every day she really wants to play sticks with Tripper but he runs away from her. It's sad that he's that scared but I can't really blame him at this point. It'll take time, but they'll get there.

TRAINING CHALLENGE: So one thing that they've asked us to teach Tripper is how to "go" on cement instead of the grass. This is just in case he goes to a city home he won't have any trouble adjusting to life without a lot of grass. While this doesn't sound like a difficult task...it is.
It's a big waiting game. If we wait long enough he'll go. But if we're in a hurry or just plain impatient as soon as we take him to grass he'll go.

So for right now we make sure that when we know he has to go...like after waking up from a nap or after eating...we make him go on the cement. That seems to be working...for now.

PUPPY PROGRESS: Withing a weeks time he's really improved in his skills. He's able to do his sits and downs no problem and is really getting much better with target/touch and leave it/take it. I've started to challenge him a little by keeping my hand open on leave it and on target really moving it around.

He still sometimes does a drive by on target and doesn't actually touch my hand and when he's really hungry he'll steel a bit of food before leaving it alone...but he is only 8 weeks old!!

Day 8