Hugo Update!

It has been a great first month with Hugo, so I figured it is time for an update!  Theo, Hugo, and I have settled in to our new apartment - we love it here so far!  Theo and Hugo play all the time, and when they aren't playing together, they like to curl up on my bed or on the couch and snuggle.  We have gotten to work on lots of fun training stuff lately too; I have been focusing on "get your bowl" with Hugo a lot because he doesn't love the metal touching his teeth.  We are making good progress, so I hope by the end of the semester, he will be reliable with bringing his bowl to me.  I have been filming some of our training sessions, so maybe I will share them at some point.  He LOVES shaping, so we have been doing lots of that as well with all sorts of different behaviors.  I even used him in my Animal Behavior class to demo a fun shaping exercise involving putting a paper ball into a cup!

I have not had the chance to take Hugo to any other classes this semester unfortunately.  He went to a couple classes with his other trainers in the first couple weeks, but then we moved all online for two weeks and haven't been able to go to in-person classes since.  Even our ADEPT class had to meet online for the past couple weeks (although we are hoping to be back in person next week!).  He has been coming to work with me a ton though, and he has been rocking it!  At first, he would sometimes whine during the longer shifts, but he has been at the desk with me for 3-6 hours chunks pretty regularly lately and just power naps through the whole shift!  We have been working a lot on "go to your mat" and "stay" at the desk, so he doesn't have to walk around the whole desk with me while I am cleaning and potentially risk getting the chemicals on him.  He is great!

My friend, Hannah, came to visit recently, and we got takeout pizza to eat in the park.  Theo and Hugo both got to come along, and we enjoyed sitting outside in the beautiful fall weather.  Hannah was also nice enough to take some really cute pictures of Hugo, Theo, and I at this really pretty bridge in town.  After that, we took Theo back to the apartment and then went to Target.  Hugo rocked that public access, and we had a good time at one of our favorite places.

This past weekend, I took Theo and Hugo to my parents house with me.  Hugo got to meet my cat, Percy, for the first time and did awesome (he pretty much just ignored him).  He also got to meet my parents and brother, and they all loved him.  At one point over the weekend, we were all sitting on my bed playing a game of SkipBo, and my dad said, "Well, these cards aren't good!" and  Hugo responded by kicking the whole pile over!  Perfect comedic timing.  We also got to go hiking one day, and Hugo did really well with all the smells and stuff going on at the trails.  I was a little worried that he wouldn't like going on such a long hike since he is such a laidback guy, but he kept up the whole time and seemed to enjoy it.

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We've been on a couple public access trips these past few weeks but have definitely been trying to limit the amount of exposure we have when going out and about.  The few trips we have been on have gone really well though!  Hugo has definitely found his stride with me by this point in the semester, and he is such a smart pup.  I can't wait to continue getting to know him these next couple months and see how much he will continue to learn and mature!  Until next time, stay pawsome!