Busy Summer!

I haven't posted in forever even though I have so much to update on!

I mentioned in a post that I wanted to take Macho on my family's vacation weekend up in Northern Michigan.  I was nervous because there would be approximately 25 people and 3 other dogs up there for the weekend, and I didn't know how Macho would act around them.  I had the dog trainer come out a week before I left to see how Macho is doing and give me some tips on getting him to go into his carrier.  She said that she thinks it would be great for Macho to go and showed me some easy ways to get him used to the carrier since he would have to go in it for the 4 hour car ride.  I worked with Macho on this for the next week, and then we were off for the trip....

That morning, while packing up my car, I was super nervous just to get Macho into the carrier because he hates going in it.  But that morning, he walked right in!  I didn't even have to use his leash and pull him into the carrier through the front door.  He had no problems at all in the car and just most of the way.  I parked the car at a park right by the cabin so that Macho could go to the bathroom without everyone crowding around him.  He loved being out in a new place and didn't want to go back in the car even though it was only for a minute.  I was nervous to take him out, but there were only about 15 people at the cabin so far, and there were no other dogs yet.  I saw a different side of Macho in these moments, that is for sure.  He got out of the car on his leash and just walked right up to people wagging his tail.  We sat on the front porch of the cabin, and Macho would just sit there with us like it was no big deal or walk up to people for sniffs.  

As more people came to the cabin, Macho got a little more nervous.  That first night he parked himself underneath a chair in the kitchen and just watched everyone.  This didn't surprise me, but I think he was still enjoying himself (especially because he got a lot of table scraps that way!).  The next day there were 3 other dogs, and I was really only nervous about my sister's dog who is a crazy pug who acts like a puppy even though she's 8.  Macho definitely did not like her dog.  I put Macho in his cage, but he would still show his teeth.  Daisy (the pug) didn't care, until Macho really started to show his teeth when Daisy was sticking her face into the cage.  This is when they started to go at each other even though the cage was between them.  But Daisy had this affect on one of the other dogs as well, so I knew it wasn't too big of a deal.  I just had to keep watch on Macho whenever he was outside and Daisy was as well.  Other than that, he enjoyed the weekend and did so much better than I anticipated!

Macho is still his goofy self back at home.  The other day I walked into my bedroom to find a ginormous spider crawling on my curtain.  I got a shoe to kill it, but it took a minute to get it off my curtain because I didn't want bug guts on it.  After all of that, I find Macho hiding in the corner of my bed.  I had to kill the spider, yet Macho is more afraid of it than I am.