Kathie is approaching the mark of her third week home. She continues to do well with brief periods off leash. She is extremely excitable, and I am learning to recognize when she is reaching her limit of tolerance for stimulation. She needs these periods of fun and exercise, but it will be some time before she is ready to handle herself responsibly at all times. Everything, and I do mean everything, is fair game for her attention. This means anything from my husband putting his coffee cup down to me shifting in my chair at the table to the kitten running across the room. She is learning to look instead of jump up and run to investigate–looking is fine. Jumping up and running is not.
In light of so much energy and low tolerance for extra stimulation, I have instituted a complete no-petting policy, even with my family and close friends, for the time being. Kathie goes with me to the door, and I hug my family/friends, or greet in whatever manner we prefer, and we proceed on with whatever we have in mind to do. I have asked that no one speak to or make eye contact with her since it encourages her to initiate play. Normally, I ask these things only when she is in harness. Some of my previous dogs have been able to handle friendly relations when out of harness. I think that Kathie will be able to in time; but it will have to wait until she matures a bit. This was a hard thing for me to ask of people, especially since I know that some of my family and friends love her so much–and she them.
I often have to remind people, especially when I am following them, not to call Kathie when they change direction but instead to tell me where they are going and allow me to give Kathie the directions. Kathie is the guide; but I am the controller. It is a complex relationship to explain. If people call her, she will begin to defer to their direction. If I decide for some reason to stop following someone and she has been taking their directions, she will no longer take mine because that person has become her director. It is always important that I am the person she takes her cue from.
Today Kathie and I ran some errands, and she encountered something very new and different: automatic inside and outside doors separated by a railing. She approached the outside door, and it did not open. Someone was with me and explained the way the doors worked to me. I asked her to back up and work to the doors again in the same way that we work a barrier. She did, and the second time she approached the other door. It opened, and we went inside. Of course, we had to do this again going out; and she made the same error. I think that eventually she would have learned it; but it seemed to really stump her.
I mentioned the kitten… We have introduced a new family member during the last week. I had some trepidation about this since Kathie was so new; but it has gone much better than I expected.
The loss of my 17-year-old cat, Inca, in late April left a very noticeable hole in the relational fabric in the house. The humans were certainly affected. Both Kevin and I believe that Sierra and Sable also felt Inca’s absence. Sable looked for her in her game-playing spot out in the garage; and Sierra became clingy with me.
So I located a well-mannered kitten and arranged to pick her up after coming home from training with Kathie–by that time I estimated that she would be five to six months old. My original plan had been to look for a cat who was a little older. But the kitten stole my heart and I had never seen one as well mannered as she. Her name is Kira.
She amazed the vet on her vaccine visit by purring while he cleaned out her ears. She has done the work of teaching Kevin to pick her up: a task which Inca tried valiantly to do but was not able to complete. She has been sleeping next to Sable, the resident grump. And at the end of the first week, Sierra has lost her fear of her. I really could not ask for a better cat; and I think she will integrate nicely into the family.
One of the things I discovered about Kira after I got her home is that she has the same scratchy meow that Inca had. I nearly cried when I heard her meowing. She talks frequently and at oddly appropriate times; and she is bringing a lot of laughter and smiles to my life.
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