Hi all,
 
I imagine some of the stories about ferrets chewing noses and ears of
infants are true, but not because the ferrets are vicious.  I think it has
more to do with what the skin *tastes* like, salty, pleasant, and an infants
inability to protect itself.  Smokey loved to lick skin.  And if we let her
do it, eventually she'd nibble.  And then try to "take" some.  The more she
was ignored, the more she thought skin might be good to eat.  And infants
probably have "milk" breath, which would smell tasty to a ferret.  Perhaps
smell divine.
 
Common sense, people, and the admission of neglect/ignorance on the part of
the humans would go a long way towards stemming hysteria.
 
Babies and children shouldn't be left unsupervised with *any* animal--and
most people know it.  But people feel more comfortable blaming the animal
than admitting they were at fault.
 
I will probably have a baby in Pepper's lifetime--he's young yet.  And it
will be up to me to be smart and protect animal and child, to be sure the
cage is secure and the crib inaccessible.  MY responsibility.  One can't
expect the animals to have common sense--it's their unpredictability that's
part of their charm.
 
To the new ferret owner whose baby doesn't "dook"--there's probably nothing
wrong with him, don't be concerned.  My friend's ferret, Chassidy, "warbles"
constantly, but doesn't "dook" and has never, ever hissed, even at the cats.
 
Ha-ha, Pepper hisses much more than he "dooks" and he never "warbles" . . .
hissing doesn't signal alarm in him, it's just part of his play.  He'll be
hissing as he attacks my leg!  He only "dooks" when he's really wound up or
running at top speed and bumping into things.
 
And that full body fluff (vs tail-only fluff) that I've heard is rare . . .
well, when he and the dog really get going, he's "fluffed" completely.  And
wagging his tail at the same time!  I've heard of tail wagging, but this is
the first time I've ever seen it . . . how much cuter can he get?
 
Ok, one question for everybody: I'm having a heck of a time
shoulder-training him.  He will jump off of ANYTHING, falling off my 5 feet
onto the couch doesn't scare him at all, and he doesn't react to loud
noises.  He even jumped off the shoulder of my 6 ft boyfriend.  I'm mostly
afraid he'll get hurt, flinging himself violently off not only us, but
furniture, too.  So far I've tried bending so he falls onto pillow on the
couch, with a loud "NO", and giving him Linatone while he's on my shoulder.
He likes the linatone, but when he loses his balance he doesn't even try to
hang on, just slides right down my back.  Any suggestions?
 
Thanks much,
 
--Sherri
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[Posted in FML issue 1730]