Jericho Comes Home

I've never had a cat before but have been looking forward to bringing my husband's cat home. Now that Jericho has been with us and able to settle in, I have a much better appreciation for 'cat people' than I could when I was better defined as a 'dog person'.

lounging Jeri

My husband did a really excellent job with raising Jeri. He tolerates all kinds of handling very well and is a very affectionate cat. He was even very well behaved on the long drive from where he was in New Mexico to where we live in Colorado. He's becoming more playful and energetic as he settles into his new home and I look forward to having him around for a good many years to come.

Having a cat is requiring a lot of learning though...

How do you train a cat? They don't seem to be wired like dogs who will perform a task in order to please or will work for food at the very least.

Connected with training, how do you properly reinforce behaviors and boundaries? Praise, affection, treats that work with dogs can't necessarily be applied to cats.

What ingredients/amounts/ratios are ideal in cat food. How do you know if you are feeding the right amount? How do you determine ideal protein sources for your cat?

What is the best way to introduce Jeri to Ki when he comes home in February? What should we be doing now to prepare for that event?

With my husband's help, and a lot of research, I'll be cat-knowledgeable before you know it. Until then, I'll continue to get used to the differences in dog and cat, and you'll start seeing posts from Jeri!

Snow and Progress

We had a few days of light but steady snow here in Colorado. It made me so excited to have Ki out here soon to run and play. He's going to love it.

We're moving into our rad apartment this weekend and picking up Jeri the weekend after that. So much happening! I'm so excited about all of it. :D

C-BARQ Assessment

I saw Maisy's results on the Shiba Inu Spirit: C-BARQ post and thought I'd give Ki a run.

I made an account on the C-BARQ website (created by the University of Pennsylvania - Veterinary Medicine Department) and I did two runs through the test. One that shows his score based on the behavior he displayed during his first year with me and one for his current behavior levels.

I've included the Score Key below for reference (and color-coded the results for ease of comparison):

  • Gold Star - A score within good-normal range.
  • Red Flag - A less favorable score than at least 75% of dogs tested.
  • Double Red Flags - A less favorable score than at least 90% of dogs tested.

Ki's Old Score (based on behavior displayed after adoption at 1.5 years of age):

  • Stranger-Directed Aggression - Red Flag - 84th Percentile
  • Owner-Directed Aggression - Double Red Flags - 91st Percentile
  • Dog-Directed Aggression - Gold Star - 12th Percentile
  • Trainability - Red Flag - 22nd Percentile
  • Chasing - Gold Star - 71st Percentile
  • Stranger-Directed Fear - Double Red Flags - 95th Percentile
  • Nonsocial Fear - Gold Star - 61st Percentile
  • Separation-Related Problems - Double Red Flags - 96th Percentile
  • Touch Sensitivity - Red Flag - 85th Percentile
  • Excitability - Double Red Flags - 94th Percentile
  • Attachment/Attention-Seeking - Gold Star - 72nd Percentile
  • Energy - Double Red Flags - 94th Percentile

(The rest are based on single questions and may be less reliable.)

  • Mounting - Double Red Flags
  • Begging - Red Flag
  • Food Stealing - Double Red Flags
  • Pulling on Leash - Double Red Flags
  • Marking with Urine - Double Red Flags
  • Hyperactivity - Double Red Flags
  • Tail-Chasing - Red Flag
  • Barking - Red Flag
  • Grooming Self - Double Red Flags

As you can see Ki needed a lot of work. I remember times when I questioned whether it was possible to change his bad behavior...times when I considered whether it would be better to let him live out his days at the rescue because he couldn't really be a good housemate. Ki had 11 Doubles and 6 Regular Red Flags (Maisy has 12 Doubles and 6 Regulars).

But it turns out that sticking with him and learning as much as I was training was worthwhile! While Ki's current scores are still far from perfect, he's made so much progress and is continuing to make even more as time goes on.

Ki's Current Score:

  • Stranger-Directed Aggression - Red Flag - 79th Percentile
  • Owner-Directed Aggression - Red Flag - 80th Percentile
  • Dog-Directed Aggression - Gold Star - 12th Percentile
  • Trainability - Gold Star - 35th Percentile
  • Chasing - Gold Star - 71st Percentile
  • Stranger-Directed Fear - Double Red Flags - 92nd Percentile
  • Nonsocial Fear - Gold Star - 61st Percentile
  • Separation-Related Problems - Double Red Flags - 94th Percentile
  • Touch Sensitivity - Gold Star - 70th Percentile
  • Excitability - Gold Star - 66th Percentile
  • Attachment/Attention-Seeking - Gold Star - 41st Percentile
  • Energy - Gold Star - 73rd Percentile

(The rest are based on single questions and may be less reliable.)

  • Escaping/Roaming - Red Flag
  • Mounting - Red Flag
  • Hyperactivity - Red Flag
  • Tail-Chasing - Red Flag
  • Grooming Self - Red Flag

I want to do the test again in another year to see how the scores change, because I believe we'll see even more improvement. I do know that some dogs have problems that mean they can only really fit in certain homes and situations, but I hope that Ki's progress gives hope to those that are working with a difficult dog. Especially for people like Jen at Shiba Inu Spirit that are going into the situation with so much more knowledge and experience than I had when I started with Ki (and likely more than I have even now!).