I had a 3 week week regimen of pill administering with one of my ferrets.
It was so much fun.  (sic)
 
Garret was to receive (RIGGHHHTTTT!) 1/2 pill, twice daily.  First, I would
get his interest by letting have a lick at the Ferretone bottle.  Then, I
would flip him on his back and get him to yawn.  Once his mouth was open, I
would carefully drop the pill into the back of his mouth and immediately
offer the Ferretone bottle again.  This worked 80% of the time.
 
If the pill wasn't dropped just right, it was ejected vehemently.  (Batrill
is awfull tasting!)
 
Well..the little guy quickly learned not to yawn when upside down!  The yawn
reflex was there, but the little mouth would start to open and he would
suddenly squint and clamp the jaws closed, faster than a snapping turtle
nails your finger!
 
Time for ~new~ approaches....the old 'tried and true', 'finger in side of
mouth' and pry open jaw trick.  Ok, Garret finally resigned himself to the
pill regimen, or so I thought.  One morning, he actually opened his mouth
for me, then, after the pill was 'plopped'.  he gleefully attacked the
Ferretone bottle.  After a minute of good licks, I closed the top and let
him 'clean up'.  When this project was accomplished, it is normally 'off to
explore'.  This time, it was different.  Garret stopped, looked up at me,
and opened his mouth and went "SPITEWY!"...the pill flying past my ear and
'thunking' against the back wall.  WHOA...I had misplaced the pill and
Garret had tucked it safely away.  Now it was fun administering a wet,
soggy, bitter pill.
 
OK, that night, same thing..open mouth, drop the pill, lick the Ferretone
and "SPITEWY!" New ferret trick!  He was very pleased with himself.  It is
called behavioral modification.  No, not his, MINE!  I now had to do a mouth
inspection after pill insertion and before Ferretone administration.  Much
easier said than done on a tiney mouth!  THAT was not accepted with a great
deal of understanding!
 
I won...I am bigger than Garret.
 
***********************************************
 
RE: MURPHY BROWN
 
Was that a play on words...??
 
>Phil Jr was dressed as a ferret and when some children came in and saw him
>they ran out screaming.  Just FYI.  <<<<<<<< That is the name of the news
show on which Murphy Brown is a reporter and anchor.
 
Lastly.....Ferret chat every Sunday night on IRC.QUARTERDECK.COM, port 6667,
room is #ferret.  Time is 7 pm, Pacific time.  Everyone is welcome.
(Needless to say, you must have one of the myriad IRC programs that are
available...I use mIRC32, but Pow Wow and PircH work well.  (All are
available for free download on WWW.TUCOWS.COM) Global Chat from Quarterdeck
Corp. works too, but is not as comprehensive.) (Unfortunately, I won't be
there is this Sunday as I am going to be out of town......no computer in the
hills, but lotsa nice German Brown trout!)
 
MC (Joe)
Garret:  I LOVE training Dad.
Snorkle:  Wanna play.  Wanna PLAY!  WANNA PLAY!
Garret: Dad, lose him, will ya..this kid is driving me crazy!
[Posted in FML issue 2049]