Only Time Will Tell.

Good things come to those who wait. That's what I keep telling myself with Macho! I like to think about how he will be in a year. Two years. Five years. It makes me excited. When I am trying to be patient and let Macho come out of his shell, it can be really hard and sometimes frustrating. But I keep giving him time and let him grow on his own.

As you can tell, Macho has not made too much progress since I last updated, but he is still doing great. Trying to get him to let me put on his harness is still a struggle. I know I should just be more confident and make him put it on, but it's hard to see that he is scared and know that I am the person making him that way. He still has not been outside, but it is something I try to work on every day.

It seems as if Macho is starting to trust me more than Nick. He comes up to me a lot and sniffs my legs or hands. But he will not come by Nick at all unless he has cheese, of course! Macho also runs away whenever Nick gets off the couch or comes into the room. Surprisingly, the other day when I laid on the bed, Macho hopped up and laid right on my legs. I couldn't believe it. I let him lay there for a couple minutes, and when I tried to pet him, he jumped off the bed. But then he came back and laid a little further away so that I couldn't reach him. I was excited that he actually came and cuddled on the bed with me though. I know it shows that he trusts me a little bit more each day.

We are more than happy to give Macho a loving home where he can grow, but one thing that is driving us crazy is the peeing in the house! We are really excited to get him to go outside just so he can go to the bathroom out there too. I know that he doesn't know any better, so it's no big deal to clean up his pee. But when he pees on things in the house, it gets frustrating. We came home from the gym this week only to find that Macho had gone pee right on our bed! I had to wash the comforter and bed sheets. We also will clean the house and find that he has peed on other things- pillows in the spare bedroom, legs of the furniture, it's everywhere! For now I know that we just need to get him out of the house, and he will start to learn. The shelter also gave us this thing they call a "peeny wrap" to help with house training. It's one piece of fabric that wraps around the dog's body with velcro, you put a panty liner inside, and then when the dog pees, it will absorb it. Then you can just change the panty liner out. It would help a lot so we want to try to use it, but I'm more worried about Macho not even letting me put it on him! It is something we are going to try out.

Nick is going to see his parents next weekend, and unfortunatly I won't be able to join him since I'll have to stay home to watch Macho. I am hoping that it gives Macho and me a weekend to bond. Since he is sometimes afraid of Nick, I'm hoping he will be able to relax. If I can get him outside next weekend, it will be a major accomplishment. I think he would absolutely love it.

Although it can be frustrating to let Macho grow at his own pace, it sometimes becomes worth the wait. Last week, Nick caught Macho playing and running with a bone. He even saw him wagging his tail. We have only seen him do this one other time, so to see that he is somewhat happy makes me want to give him all the time in the world. It has only been four months since we adopted Macho, and if he only gets better with time, I cannot wait to see him in a year. Or two years. Or five years :)