Re: Hagen Harnesses
 
>How did I resolve the snap-clip problem?  Well, when I used the pliers to
>squeeze the two springy portions of the clip inwards, the center pronge
>broke off.  Easy solution.  Snapped the other center pronge off while I was
>at it.  Contacting Hagen was a good idea.
 
Oh well....we have used Hagen harnesses for some time, as a I prefer them
greatly to buckle harnesses.
 
However, except for one of the first batches to come out, all Hagen
harnesses sold here no longer have the middle prong.  I have 6 or 7 of them -
no middle prong.  One friend of mine left her ferrets here and *their*
harnesses had a middle prong so I snapped 'em out ... because I also
accidentally locked one of her ferrets into the darn thing.  But I wonder if
lots of people did complain, because as I said, they are no longer being
sold with the middle prong.
 
I have also been recently told that Hagen is no longer distributing their
products to stores that do not sell live animals (ie, the local pet feed
store can no longer carry them).  This I find disturbing, as we prefer not
to shop at stores that carry puppies, kittens etc.  I am not sure if this
applies to the U.S.  as well as Canada, but for my fellow Canadians, I
suggest you snap up whatever remaining Hagen products you like at your feed
shop if you don't like giving your business to pet stores.
 
Re: Walking without Harnesses
 
>I had read that ferrets cannot go off the leash as they might dash off
>or not stick by you.
 
I'm glad you have had good experiences with your experiment, walking them
without a leash, but I'd like to share with you some experiences of fellow
ferret owners we have met:
 
:the little boy who called me, in tears, because he was walking his ferret
in the greenbelt near his home.  He had trained his ferret to come to a
whistle but sometimes the ferret wouldn't come back right away.  This time
the ferret never came back.  He ended being dinner for a local cougar, or so
told us a surpried hiker who saw the ferret being carried off shortly
afterward.
:my friend Tom who was walking his ferret *on* a leash, and got distracted -
the ferret shot after something in the bush and pulled the leash right out
of his hand.  We have never seen Chopper again.
:the woman who called me, horrified - she had been walking her ferret in the
local park, on leash, when a dog came whipping around the corner, snapped
her ferret in half and took off again.  Like a bad dream, she said it was -
she barely got a description of the dog.
:my friend Kent, who was walking his ferret in the big park we all love in
Vancouver ... a coyote walked right up to the ferret, who was exploring
beneath some shrubs.  Kent firmly believes that only because he could whip
his ferret out of danger with the *leash* that he saved him from being eaten.
:the teenage girl who called me, desperate for another ferret.  She had two -
great friends, one who was out in the yard with her, off leash.  A neighbor
came by, opened the gate - the ferret bolted and was promptly run over by
the first car coming down the residential, low traffic street.  Her other
ferret, lonely and heatbroken, was starving itself to death.
 
We don't let our puppies off the leash until they have been *absolutely*
trained to the word "Come".  Ferrets, who can't seem to ever be trained to
come 100% of the time, should - in my opinion - be treated like puppies in
that respect and always leashed.  I don't think keeping my young and
excitable and easily distracted puppy on a leash indicates a lack of respect
for my dog - if anything, it means I love my dog so much I won't put her in
unecessary danger.  So a ferret of any age, which is excitable and easily
distracted, deserves the same respect from me.  All my ferrets are leashed
when they go out and all my ferrets come home with me again.  It's a very
satisfactory arrangement on both of our parts, I find.
 
Sheena
Wherret Ferrets Halfway House and Ferretry
Ferret Association of Greater Vancouver
[Posted in FML issue 1636]