Judith - wonderful post!  You said it all:)
 
Jean and all her helpers - way to go!  Glad to hear some positive news and
see the judge et al do the right thing.
 
Training ferrets: I personally don't have much interest in training my
ferrets to do anything (they poop on papers in their favorite corners and
thats fine with me).  However I know some people have trouble with litter
training, carpet digging, nipping etc.  Just to throw this out there for
any really enterprising soul there is a sort of new type of training that
has really really picked up steam in the dog world - Clicker Training.  It
was apparently borrowed from people who train dolphins etc.  I have heard
some people are now using it with cats and in a sort of test case an
elephant.  Also one guy is trying it with an iguana.  It is strictly a
positive reinforcement type training, called "operant" training using a
clicker (a little noise popper).  It also involves some elements of
"shaping" where each desired activity is broken down into its tiniest parts
and each step rewarded and added onto.  If anyones interested there are
numerous web sites with info and 2 e-mail lists.  Supposedly it can have
quite amazing results.
 
Pet Stores: I'm truly sorry about the pet store manager that felt offended.
However I stick to my opinion that pet stores aren't appropriate places to
retail companion animals regardless of the quality of care.  You mentioned
how busy you are.  Yes, and because you have to make a profit its hard to
add extra help simply for socialization and education, help turnover is
also a problem (just get em education and off they go).  I commend you for
doing your utmost to run a good store however its just not the way to go.
 
Mary
 
P.S. BTW, AKC papers are in no way indicative of the quality of animal your
getting.  You don't have to be a puppy mill to turn out an improperly bred
dog.  Anyone can breed a registered dog to another registered dog and get
papers no matter how poor the specimen.  AKC doesn't check.  And as with any
piece of paper, well they can be forged, bought or traded.  Finding a good
(dog) breeder can be amazingly hard.  Do they do eye cerfs?  OFA or PennHip?
Breed to standard, breed for temperment, get CH's on their dogs before
breeding, guarentee health, sell on spay and neuter contracts, understand
the genetics of their breed - the list goes on and on.
[Posted in FML issue 2236]