Santa Lab

Merry Christmas!

It's Official

We're Maryland bound!! Though this is no excuse to ignore the blog as much as I have over the past month  or so but I've been busy job searching and interviewing. As many of you know I am from Baltimore, MD and left Charm City 8 years ago when I accepted a lacrosse scholarship to play lacrosse at the University of Connecticut....long story short, although CT has been great to me...so many friends, two degrees and a husband later I'm super ready to return to my roots. 

I have been fortunate enough to be offered a position as a Physical Education teacher and head varsity lacrosse coach at Holton Arms School in Bethesda, MD. I am super excited to not have to sit at a desk everyday and can't wait to play with little mini's (aka kids) all day. Plus what can be better than being a head lax coach in Maryland!!The sad news is that I'm going to have to leave the girls at Hotchkiss School where I coach now. And PS we're having an unbelievable season...and are ranked 3rd in New England!

More sad news... we'll be leaving our best friend(s) Tarra and Maya. Although they are moving too so at least we'll be able to visit them in their new home...I've never actually traveled to the mid-west so now we have a great reason to.

And the last of the bad news is that we are going to have to give Tripper up before we leave the state. I only received this news last night...and yes I cried. I always knew we'd have to give him up...but I'm not ready yet. Fidelco promised that they would find a great Foster Family to keep Tripper until he is ready for his formal training....but still super sad. 

If you haven't checked out my facebook page yet, be sure to "like" Preppy Puppies. http://www.facebook.com/preppypuppies

DJ Duntz

Happy (belated) Birthday DJ!!! Hope you had a great day. Tripper says that he can't wait to visit you again at Extras and thinks he might be as big as you now!!!

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

Ears Up Boy!

Today was the day...Tripper's ears were BOTH up today...all day. If only we had soccer practice, as I know the team would be really proud of him. One of the boys, Tanner, has been giving Tripper a hard time that he looked ridiculous. While I couldn't disagree, I kind of liked the awkwardness of his big nose and one up ears.

In other news, he is now as tall as Rocky...weighs more than Rocky and is starting to get into the trash. I mean I can't blame him, with the amount that I bake there is always something really good in there. Recently, it's been butter wrappers. But between Rocky, Mike and I we're trying to keep him in line.

Otherwise he's as sweet as sweet can be. So far aside from the trash his only annoying habit has been barking at the dogs when he wants their attention. And for all of the things that Casey and Rocky have taught him, this doesn't seem to bother them. So it's up to us humans to distract and quiet him...so far we stink at it.

 

I know a bunch of you are shaking your heads at the last three pictures...but I couldn't help it. After Casey put it on everyone was so interested so I had to!

Happy Halloween

Just a quick post to show you how the McCormicks spent Halloween!!

 

 

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

Big Boy

Sorry I haven't been writing a lot these past days apparently getting a puppy at the exact same time as the weather decides to plummet 20 degrees doesn't agree with my immune system.

A couple big things have happened in the last few days. The biggest and most important thing (at least to Mike) is that for the first time Tripper lifted his leg to pee. While I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, Mike was ready to throw him a party!

Aside from becoming a "big boy" Tripper has had an eventful couple of days. After having a great first meeting with Maya, Tripper has met a couple other campus friends and really hit it off with everyone! He's just starting to come out of his shell a little and rough house, play with toys and take an interest in something other than food and sleeping.

Rocky has continued taking a selective interest in Tripper. Those times include when he's outside and she wants to play sticks or when she steals his toys. Today actually she stole a kong out of his cage and went and put it in her cage...she also really likes his squeaky toys!

oh yea...today I taught Casey how to walk Tripper. Pretty cute huh?

Day 10