His official name is Kloofbear’s The Head and the Heart. We call him Hugo because the name means a combination of intellect and emotion; not as many people assume, because he is going to be huge.

The first few weeks home were a blur.  Housebreaking, having to carry Hugo up and down stairs to protect his connective tissues as he rapidly grew, starting basic commands, and hardest of all, dealing with his relationship with our two year old Shih Tzu, Rufus. There was no denying Rufus was jealous, and that was normal and expected. What we hadn’t but probably should have anticipated was the problem of having a large puppy and a small adult dog.  In the past, when we introduced new dogs to the  one or two adults dogs we had at the tiime, nature prevailed.  When the pup got annoying or disrespectful, the adults corrected him, at first gently and then not so gently.  But correct they did, and the pup learned.

But we brought home a puppy who was already larger than our adult dog and he kept growing, to the tune of five pounds a week. What was first a five pound difference in weight, became 10, 20, and now 30. Hugo wanted to play with Rufus as he had with his littermates, jumping on them and generally roughhousing. Rufus tried valiantly to fend him off, getting nasty in a way I never imagined he could, growling and snapping like a rabid squirrel. Hugo would retreat initially but then go right back to his annoying behavior.  We knew we had to closely supervise them until Hugo was mature enough to be gentle.

It’s coming along.  Hugo is doing very well with housebreaking for a not-quite-four-month-old, but we still have to take him out about every 2 hours during the day and whenever he is let out of the crate. During the night he is now good from 10pm  to about 6-7 am, which is a blessing. About three weeks ago, after conferring with the breeder and vet, we started teaching him to go up and down stairs because it was going to be unsafe to carry him. We have a lot of stairs and Newfs are innately clumsy, so we still have to hold him with a harness to ensure he doesn’t hurt himself. And we try to limit the stairs to once a day.

He just had his last puppy vaccines today so in about two weeks, his world will really open up.  I have been working with leash walking in the yard and in the house and when we have had visitors, making sure he knows not to jump on them. It will all take time, of course, to reinforce these behaviors.  And I can’t help feeling under the gun a bit because, as he grows (Five pounds a week!!!), it is vital he learns to walk with a slack lead and does not jump on people. We were able to do this with our first Newf, so are confident we can do it again. Oh and, for a few brief moments, Rufus and Hugo played tug of war together. Hope the link works: https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/gonihwgSSv6IeEuTPpgQIQ.iqyqkatrpT-ehzcycP1dLU