OH DEAR

well, my attempts to keep up with posting have failed miserably. I would like to blame it on my inability to arrange a proper, esthetically pleasing layout. I am currently in Halifax and cannot post any photos of Hugues, but I will do my best upon my return to Calgary.

The last couple of weeks have gone by very quickly, of course there is a fair amount of annoying "puppy behaviour" to contend with. But for the most part things are going quite smoothly.
I am very anxious to get her next set of shots done so we can hopefully take her outside. I want her to be trained to be able to go to the bathroom outdoors, not just inside on her newspaper/tray thing. The downside to living in an urban apartment is we do not have a safe, uncontaminated backyard in which to start the outdoor training. That is ok though, we will be able to do that soon enough, and hopefully the weather will improve since gale force winds and freezing rain are not good "potty motivators" for a little puppy.

We started puppy classes last thursday. First it was puppy play time, it took Hugues about 5 minutes to stop being shy and then she was bouncing all over the place having a good time. When we got home we gave her a bath. Which she seemed to tolerate pretty well.
This last saturday was the first bright puppy class where we get started on the basic training. Unfortunately she didn't seem to care about the treats we were using, so getting her to respond to the clicker was futile. Slightly frustrating to have the only puppy that could care less about a treat. Although, considering there were only two other puppies i don't feel too bad. So we are just trying to practise at home a bit and see what treats motivate her. Little tiny bits of hot dog definitely motivate her, even though it is kind of gross. So we will be working with that, and also i mixed up some old cheddar with some of her kibble, so we can use the "smelly kibble" for training and she wont get too rotund by the time she grasps anything.

Leash training is another learning curve. Hugues mostly just wants to eat the leash, so i am going to pick up some bitter apple, and continue with letting her wear the leash loose on the floor, but distracting her with training and treats so she forgets that she wants to eat it.

It is a lot of work, we are definitely going to be busy this summer, but she is SO cute, and likes to have nap time with either of us. I never thought i'd be ok with sharing a dog-nap, but since she is so cute and will sleep for an hour of two on the couch with us, i will let it slide.