>From:  (Gary Holowicki)[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>To:  JMarch
 
>Hi  Jim;
 
>This isn't worth saying on the fml, but the term dance for joy is preferred
>"in public" for political reasons, if you get my drift...  There are
>political people that get printed copies of the fml, as well as F&G
>people, I'm told.
 
(This is a reply to a private EMail I got this morning, and I think it's
worth responding to in public.)
 
Gary, I agree that the "joy version" of the wardance is *way* more common,
and that most owners never even see the "violent version".
 
But I don't think anyone can or should deny the "combat ability" of our
house-weasels.  In fact, I honestly believe it's what makes them superior
pets - their total lack of fear and timidity which we find so endearing
directly stems from their self-confidence.
 
Why do you think little timid scared toy poodles and other "ankle biters"
bite so often?  Zero self-confidence!
 
Stranger still, they appear to be able to develop new styles and strategies
for dealing with new situations.  Felix was raised by a decent sized
cat-parent, and for a year or so they were the only critters in the house.
Felix is *tiny*, under two pounds, and he needed a way of controlling the
movements of an 8 pound cat without hurting it.
 
So he developed the "head grab".  He'd wait till kitty was on it's back,
rush around to it's head, and grab it with his front paws, no biting
involved.  He'd lay his head beside kitty's nose and use his neck muscles to
help control the cat's head.  The cat's paws couldn't get "up there", and
the cat couldn't roll out of it with his head stuck...drove it nuts
sometimes, but not too bad since there was no pain.
 
Now, when Mikey joined up, he may have been much bigger than Felix, but
Felix used the same grab on him.  Plus, the cat had a much easier time
pinning and controlling Mikey because Mikey had no experience with cats.  He
learned pretty fast though; never did pick up the head-grab trick.
[Posted in FML issue 1577]