Any kind of discipline is more effective when the one being disciplined
recognizes a gesture as being discipline.  For instance, grounding a
two-year-old from the telephone is a lot less effective than grounding a
teenager from the phone.
 
With that in mind, I'm reposting an excerpt from "Curing the Incurable
Biter":
 
"All I have to do is say "Scruffy!" sharply, and my 2 year old wannabe
alpha male will immediately stop harassing semi-hairless Snoop.  Why?
Because I "hissed" at him (or what he has learned is my equivalent of
hissing at him specifically).  He understands that I am above him in the
pecking order.  It took 4 months of pulling him off Snoop, scruffing,
scolding, dragging, and swats on the flanks (short & fast but no harder
than you would lightly applaud or tap an elderly lady on the shoulder) to
convince him that I was serious and would not change my mind.  What!!???  I
HIT him?  Yes.  The purpose is not to inflict any degree of pain.  The
purpose is the sudden, aggressive movement.  If you've ever watched a
dominance struggle between two ferrets, have you noticed how they'll turn
sideways and "bodyslam" the other, or, when they're serious about biting
each other, how quickly their heads lunge?  My version of "spanking without
the sting" is more or less that equivalent.  Their bones are really very
fragile in spite of the nonchalance with which they ricochet off solid
objects.  Tapping a nipping young kit's nose accomplishes a similar
purpose.  Not thumping, or hitting, or causing any degree of pain or
stinging!  Not even enough to make it's head move, only touching.  Just
the sudden, aggressive gesture establishes dominance.  Again, there are
no instant results.  It takes time and consistency....
 
This is by no means meant to imply that those who flick noses (stinging),
or pull whiskers (again, producing discomfort), or hit to cause stinging or
slight pain are being abusive.  I do realize that they see an apparently
effective result.  To be completely objective, there are, in fact,
ferrets that do not suffer any undue ill-effects from slight physically
uncomfortable discipline.  But given the ferret's inability to communicate
whether or not it is one that can take it, I personally prefer to err on
the side of caution.  In my experience, the gesture, without the
discomfort, is sufficient although it may take longer.
 
Ferrets perceive pain as a threat.  They don't have the capacity to regret
they did something that got them hurt.  Whatever hurt them is perceived as
a source of fear.  If that fear source has also established dominance the
ferret may appear to have "learned" not to do what got him hurt... to that
dominant fear source.  But when someone else does it, the ferret's first
response is to get in the first shot in this new battle for dominance.  The
ferret has not "learned" not to bite.  It's only learned it's below the
dominant handler in the pecking order.  Anyone else is fresh meat.  "
 
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home
[Posted in FML issue 3064]