Ed Lipinski wrote,
 
>Third, put the ferret into a figure-8, single buckle harness, and cinch
>the harness up so tightly that the ferret begins to choke.  Loosen the
>harness by one buckle eye-hole, thus leaving the ferret very, very
>tightly harnessed.
 
I completely disagree with this advice.  There are dozens of people on this
list who have rehabilitated vicious biters and turned them into loving
ferrets completely without the use of a semi-torturous method like this.  If
this method worked to endear ALL humans to the nasty biter I'd be impressed,
but your description leads me to believe that you're initiating bonding
between one person and the ferret.  Does each new person need to choke and
tightly harness the ferrret?  What happens when someone misinterprets this
advice and chokes the ferret too much, permanently damaging it or killing
it?  Do you honestly feel good about giving advice TO HURT FERRETS to people
on this list?
 
I believe in trust and displaying affection as a method of curing ferrets of
biting, not an old-fashioned method of depriving or hurting an animal so you
can later 'rescue' it.  Better a few holes in my hands than a ferret who
won't trust a harness again or a ferret who has been hurt AT ALL (and for
doing diddly-squat).  Mind you, the first two pieces of advice were sound,
but the last is ridiculous and dangerous.
 
Melissa
 
 __ Melissa Litwicki ____ [log in to unmask] __
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 2135]