Today marks the one year anniversary of the day Macho was rescued! On July 22nd, 2009, the house in Dearborn, MI was discovered. The very next day, over 100 live chihuahuas were taken from the home to the Dearborn Animal Shelter. One of those dogs was Macho :)
The local news station had a short segment about the anniversary, the video is below. A short documentary about the Dearborn Chihuahua Rescue is a couple posts below, posted on June 3rd, if you'd like to see the entire story.
Happy Anniversary, Macho!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Quick Pics of Macho
Last night I put Macho on the leash and had him lay on the bed with me. He was too cute, so I snapped a couple pictures of him with my phone camera. On a leash, sitting next to me, and letting me pet him- he sure has come a long way!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Did You See the Today Show?
This morning on the Today Show, they did a segment to discuss the new Animal Planet series about animal hoarders. Since Macho was rescued from the home of an animal hoarder, this is obviously a topic that is close to me. In case you missed the segment this morning, the video is below. I believe it says that the series begins tomorrow. Recognizing that a friend or family member may be hoarding animals is a major key in helping them realize that they have a problem. Don't let it get out of hand, as that is how the hoarder continues to adopt animals. The family of Macho's previous owner admitted to knowing that he had a problem, but never checked up on or visited him. If a family member had monitored his condition, his animal hoarding may have never gotten as out of control as it was, and 300 chihuahuas may have had a better life.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Busy!
I apologize for the lack of updates lately. It's been busy in the Macho household!
We're currently in week four of Macho's training, and I think it is going quite well. We work with Macho (almost!) every day on his leash. When we put him on the leash, our goal is to get him to stop fighting, and once he does, try to get him to come to us. He has been doing great at coming to us. When he does, we praise him and can pet him. It's been really great being able to pet him outside the cage. It makes me feel like we're doing the right thing even when he hates being on the leash. He still tries to back away and get the collar off of him, but it's becoming less and less.
I discovered a handy product that has been great. It's called Bach Flower Rescue Remedy- ever heard of it? You put a few drops of the liquid either right into the dog's mouth or you can put it on their food or in their water bowl. It helps the dog relax and lower their stress. The first day I put a few drops in Macho's food, then gave him about a half hour. I bought it to try to clip his nails because they were so long that they would get stuck in the links of the chain on his collar. Clipping his nails this time was actually worse than the first time. Nick couldn't get a hold of Macho very well, and he was fighting so hard. I thought the Bach Flower didn't work at all and was a bit disappointed that I spend $21.00 on it! But the next morning, Macho was very relaxed. When I fed him again the second night, I put a few more drops of the Bach Flower in his food. When I went to put the collar on him, he laid there without fighting. I couldn't believe it at all. Also, whenever I put the collar and leash on Macho, his first reaction would be to run away and then fight when I held the leash and prevented him from running away. Now when I first start to work with him, he is very calm. He walks out of his cage slowly and will walk right up to me for pets. He'll fight occasionally, but it's not as severe as it has been.
The only other major change in Macho's life is that we moved his cage last night. We decided to put it in our bedroom so he can be close to us and so we don't have to check on him during the night. Lately we've been having thunderstorms at night, and we want to make sure that Macho isn't terrified in the living room by himself. Last night was the first night we tried it. At first he was nervous to be close to our bed, but he eventually came into the bedroom and laid in his cage. He slept there all night, but if one of us moved too quickly, he would run out of the cage. I think he will get used to it in time, and I'm sure it will be better than sleeping in the living room by himself. While we are home, we are going to take his bed out of the cage and put it in the living room so that he isn't in our bedroom by himself.
I think that Macho is really making progress since we've been working with the trainer. He has come a long way with toileting, as he pees on the pads about 80% of the time. He was using the pad that was near his cage, so my new fear is that he won't know where to go now that his cage is in our bedroom. I put one pad right in front of the cage and one right next to it. Hopefully he will use them if he has to go during the night, and then when he is out in the living room with us, he will use the same one he used before. I just don't want to ruin the progress we've made so far!
I have been a major slacker at taking pictures of Macho, and I blame it on my camera. A few months back my camera broke, and I still haven't gotten it fixed. Once I get it fixed or get a new one, I'll be back to posting some pictures and videos of Macho Man. He is just so cute :)
We're currently in week four of Macho's training, and I think it is going quite well. We work with Macho (almost!) every day on his leash. When we put him on the leash, our goal is to get him to stop fighting, and once he does, try to get him to come to us. He has been doing great at coming to us. When he does, we praise him and can pet him. It's been really great being able to pet him outside the cage. It makes me feel like we're doing the right thing even when he hates being on the leash. He still tries to back away and get the collar off of him, but it's becoming less and less.
I discovered a handy product that has been great. It's called Bach Flower Rescue Remedy- ever heard of it? You put a few drops of the liquid either right into the dog's mouth or you can put it on their food or in their water bowl. It helps the dog relax and lower their stress. The first day I put a few drops in Macho's food, then gave him about a half hour. I bought it to try to clip his nails because they were so long that they would get stuck in the links of the chain on his collar. Clipping his nails this time was actually worse than the first time. Nick couldn't get a hold of Macho very well, and he was fighting so hard. I thought the Bach Flower didn't work at all and was a bit disappointed that I spend $21.00 on it! But the next morning, Macho was very relaxed. When I fed him again the second night, I put a few more drops of the Bach Flower in his food. When I went to put the collar on him, he laid there without fighting. I couldn't believe it at all. Also, whenever I put the collar and leash on Macho, his first reaction would be to run away and then fight when I held the leash and prevented him from running away. Now when I first start to work with him, he is very calm. He walks out of his cage slowly and will walk right up to me for pets. He'll fight occasionally, but it's not as severe as it has been.
The only other major change in Macho's life is that we moved his cage last night. We decided to put it in our bedroom so he can be close to us and so we don't have to check on him during the night. Lately we've been having thunderstorms at night, and we want to make sure that Macho isn't terrified in the living room by himself. Last night was the first night we tried it. At first he was nervous to be close to our bed, but he eventually came into the bedroom and laid in his cage. He slept there all night, but if one of us moved too quickly, he would run out of the cage. I think he will get used to it in time, and I'm sure it will be better than sleeping in the living room by himself. While we are home, we are going to take his bed out of the cage and put it in the living room so that he isn't in our bedroom by himself.
I think that Macho is really making progress since we've been working with the trainer. He has come a long way with toileting, as he pees on the pads about 80% of the time. He was using the pad that was near his cage, so my new fear is that he won't know where to go now that his cage is in our bedroom. I put one pad right in front of the cage and one right next to it. Hopefully he will use them if he has to go during the night, and then when he is out in the living room with us, he will use the same one he used before. I just don't want to ruin the progress we've made so far!
I have been a major slacker at taking pictures of Macho, and I blame it on my camera. A few months back my camera broke, and I still haven't gotten it fixed. Once I get it fixed or get a new one, I'll be back to posting some pictures and videos of Macho Man. He is just so cute :)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Macho Man Training: Week 1
Last Saturday we met our trainer for Macho! We sat down to talk for a while about Macho's habits, how we "work" with him, his schedule, etc. I assumed she would tell us that we need to be the pack leader, and that is exactly what she told us. She realized right away that Macho is the dominate one in the house. He is in charge of when he eats, comes out of his cage, where he goes to the bathroom, and his attitude when we put him on a leash.
We're working now on becoming the dominate ones in the household. We now only feed Macho twice a day instead of leaving his food out all day and letting him eat whenever he wants. The first couple days were tough because he didn't eat at all. But on Wednesday, I woke up, put his food outside of his cage, and got into the shower. When I went into the living room, he had finally ate. He didn't eat that night, but he did eat this morning again. I'm hoping we can get him to continue this schedule and that it will help him realize that we are the ones who feed him.
The toughest part so far has been working with Macho on the leash. He HATES the leash! When our trainer, Maril, was here, she was able to work with me to actually put the leash on Macho. Then she showed me techniques to get him to calm down instead of just freak out the entire time he's on the leash. My major problem before Maril was that Macho would freak out so bad that I would just give up. Now I realize all of the problems that giving up causes, and when Macho is freaking out, I know what to do to make him stop. When Maril was able to get Macho to calm down and just sit with the leash on him, I couldn't believe it! He had never done that before.
Since Saturday, we leave the leash on Macho whenever we are around him. This way he gets used to having it on him. We work for him for about 5 minutes, then we'll give him an hour or so to relax. We try to work with him on the leash by calling to him to get him to come to us. The first few days we couldn't get him to come up to us. But then one day I was working with him and he slowly came up to me. Then today I was holding the leash, and every small step he took towards me, I gave him praise. Then when he got close enough, he just walked right up to me. He did it another time after that, too. I was pretty excited.
I'm seeing very small changes in him, and that gives me hope that Maril will really help us get Macho to be a better pooch. We'll see what happens this Saturday when she comes again and checks our progress :)
We're working now on becoming the dominate ones in the household. We now only feed Macho twice a day instead of leaving his food out all day and letting him eat whenever he wants. The first couple days were tough because he didn't eat at all. But on Wednesday, I woke up, put his food outside of his cage, and got into the shower. When I went into the living room, he had finally ate. He didn't eat that night, but he did eat this morning again. I'm hoping we can get him to continue this schedule and that it will help him realize that we are the ones who feed him.
The toughest part so far has been working with Macho on the leash. He HATES the leash! When our trainer, Maril, was here, she was able to work with me to actually put the leash on Macho. Then she showed me techniques to get him to calm down instead of just freak out the entire time he's on the leash. My major problem before Maril was that Macho would freak out so bad that I would just give up. Now I realize all of the problems that giving up causes, and when Macho is freaking out, I know what to do to make him stop. When Maril was able to get Macho to calm down and just sit with the leash on him, I couldn't believe it! He had never done that before.
Since Saturday, we leave the leash on Macho whenever we are around him. This way he gets used to having it on him. We work for him for about 5 minutes, then we'll give him an hour or so to relax. We try to work with him on the leash by calling to him to get him to come to us. The first few days we couldn't get him to come up to us. But then one day I was working with him and he slowly came up to me. Then today I was holding the leash, and every small step he took towards me, I gave him praise. Then when he got close enough, he just walked right up to me. He did it another time after that, too. I was pretty excited.
I'm seeing very small changes in him, and that gives me hope that Maril will really help us get Macho to be a better pooch. We'll see what happens this Saturday when she comes again and checks our progress :)
Monday, June 14, 2010
Trainer!
As Macho's improvements seem to slow, I started researching dog trainers online to see if I could find someone that can help him adjust better. I finally found a website that looked promising, so I spoke with the woman on the phone. I felt like everything clicked. She was saying everything that I was looking for and was answering all my questions the way I hoped they would be answered. I decided that this was the right thing, and we are scheduled to have her come meet Macho this Saturday! I am very excited and hoping that it all works out. Of course I don't expect Macho to be completely trained after one meeting, but I am hoping that she will teach us how to work with him so he can get better. I told her that our goals for now are to just get him more adjusted and to get him to go to the bathroom only on the pee pads. If we can get him to do this within a month, I'll be happy. Anything else will just be an added bonus!
Keep your fingers crossed for us this Saturday, and I'll update shortly after :)
Keep your fingers crossed for us this Saturday, and I'll update shortly after :)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Short Documentary About Macho & Friends' Rescue
The Dearborn Animal Shelter, where I adopted Macho from, had this short documentary about the Dearborn Chihuahua Hoarding case on their website. It shows the story of the chihuahuas and their rescue last year. Although it can be sad, it shows all the positives that came out of this case. While the video gives you insight as to why Macho doesn't act like other dogs, it also shows what Macho and the other chihuahuas have overcome. At the Chihuahua Reunion, I saw that many of these courageous dogs are doing great. This gave me hope that Macho can join them one day.
Please watch the video and pass along to others. Part of the reason I started this blog was to show that adopting a rescue animal is a rewarding experience that can save the lives of many animals in shelters. This video helps me show that :)
Please watch the video and pass along to others. Part of the reason I started this blog was to show that adopting a rescue animal is a rewarding experience that can save the lives of many animals in shelters. This video helps me show that :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
