The email yesterday concerning you can't teach a ferret by throwing
it in a carrier I feel is all wrong after 18 years of having my own
ferrets and running a rescue.

OH YES YOU CAN TEACH BY DISCIPLINE but it has to be the right
discipline.

First above all, know why the ferret is biting and by the time its a
pet in your home, you pretty well have a good idea if it is scared,
bitting when picked up or when you are invading its cage or bitting
because it wants to be put down or thinks it is playing. Best way to
train the scared is by putting a bottle of ferratone in its face while
picking it up - soon he/she associates hands with good things. If it is
just being demanding, putting a ferret in a carrier (NOT THROWING IT)
with nothing in there to occupy its mind - for 5 to 8 minutes NO
LONGER, let it out and try to tease it into doing it again, if it does,
a good hissssing in its face and back into the carrier for another 5
to 8 minutes NO LONGER, and it is rare you can get it to repeat the
procedure a third time. THEY HATE TIME OUT. they really do just like
kids and they know, they reason. If you leave them in there for a
longer time or put them in a cage with all those play pretties, their
mind forgets but when they realize they will get put up if they do such
and such, its amazing how quick they learn. It works 9 out of 10 times.
But again, you have to know why they are biting. It does no good to do
that with one frightened of your hands, or one that is blind or deaf
that is being yanked up. The ferratone/pick up is really a great tool
along with time to realize no harm is going to come to them. I
understand you say you are blind, makes it a little harder to see what
the ferret is up to but yet you get a 6th sense and feel the emotions
coming from the ferret that usually is more on target than those who
have sight but don't see.

Millie and her ferrets and Danes
www.txferretrescue.org
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[Posted in FML 6808]