Hugo is one of two Patterdale Terriers on Graduate's working K9 team. Patterdales are small working terriers bred to go to ground, and Hugo works the way the breed was built to: nose down, into the cover, and on the animal until the job is done.
Hugo works both sides of the job. In detection, his value is in the places an inspector cannot see into: groundcover, ivy, planters, the space under a deck, and the edge of a foundation all hide burrow openings, and across a large facility he narrows the building down to where the activity is. In abatement, he works the burrow system he has found and removes the rodents living in it.
Hugo was trained by Ryan Katz, who handles him in the field. Early in that training, Hugo and Mia spent two months with Kimberly Camera at Coastal K9 & Pest Solutions, whose guidance shaped the program. The standard is simple: the dog locates, the handler confirms, and the finding drives the work that follows.
Hugo's first job alongside Kim was rodent abatement at a Brooklyn apartment complex. The grounds were planted in dense vegetation, and the burrows under it could not be found by people working the site on foot. Hugo found them and worked them.
The dogs worked detection across a 1.6 million square foot facility in Pennsylvania, covering ground that a visual inspection could not cover in the same time.
The first job Graduate's team ran without Kim on site was a large single-family home. Working with Ryan alone, Hugo located a nest in the yard and the rats living in it.
Consulting · Rodent Detection · Abatement