>From:    Candy Kroupa's E-Mail <[log in to unmask]>
>OK - another vent --- wouldn't it be counter productive to have "fake"
>fingers for a ferret to bite, when the whole point is to KEEP it from biting
>at all?  Wouldn't that make him think it was OK to bite fingers???
 
Not if you think about it.  Remember what I said about the most important
part of working with biters is understanding *why* they bite?  Remember
also, that *biting* is the only way they know to defend themselves against
harm.  With biters, like the two I have here now, who have been thumped or
smacked or worse everytime they bit someone, they come to expect to be
thumped or smacked or whatever by humans, and they never learned why humans
did this to them, the just see humans as *mean* and as a *threat*.  The
first thing you have to do is teach them that all humans are *not* mean.  In
order to do this, you have to "let them bite you" and you have to NOT
retaliate or react adversely toward them.  Instead, you only show them love
so that they come to understand that even if they bite, humans are not going
to hurt them.  This is NOT saying it is okay to bite, only that they are not
going to be hurt again for any reason.  Slowly they begin to "trust" humans
more and more, because they are not being hit or thumped.  If you show them
love everytime they bite, they soon realize that biting is not necessary
anymore, and they'll stop biting of their own accord.  It all takes time,
love, and patience, but it is *well worth the effort*.  Working with biters
is one of the most rewarding parts of the work I do with and for ferrets.
The fake fingers inside the gloves will only spare injury to human fingers
as this whole process takes place.
 
Trish
Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter
[Posted in FML issue 1890]