Dear Ferret Folks-

I have received (I should say that Ping received) many gracious words
of concolence upon his untimely death. I thank you kindly for them.

I have also had a question or two regarding dogs. Some of you may
remember that a few years ago I lost Switch the Kit to a dog. That
dog, Holly, is a dim-witted Labrador that belongs to my sister in law,
Jennifer. When Switch was killed we lived in the same house with Holly,
but on a different floor. A door that was supposed to be closed was
left open by a careless hoomin, and Switch snuck through it and down
to Holly's floor. We have since moved to another town in Massachusetts
about twenty five miles farther west. Holly is not welcome here.

Ping was killed by my companion of eleven years, Allis Chompers, who is
a short haired Border Collie mix. In eleven years Allis never harmed a
ferret, although she was provoked, many times, almost always by Ping
who was completely fearless. He liked to bite her feet. He thought it
was fun. He would come up to her when she wasn't looking and nip. I
witnessed this half a dozen times in the three and a half years that
we had Ping. Allis would say something terrible in wolf, but she never
reacted with violence until the morning she took Ping from us.

In her defense, it is known via a number of scientific studies that
dogs have a keenly felt sense of injustice. They know when they are
being "ripped off." Allis felt "ripped off" the day she attacked Ping.
She had been promised a ride. (She knows and understands those words
well.) And due to hoomin error, she found herself left behind in the
house. She was whining with frustration and dismay, looking out through
the glass of the front door at her hoomins loading up into her van
without her, jumping up against the glass. And that is when Ping zipped
out from behind a chair and bit one of her feet. Further, it was a
cold, damp morning, and her old car-accident damaged leg pains her
first thing in the morning. It was a little before seven AM.

Allis bit back.

Once, in eleven years, Allis attacked a ferret. And Ping was lost to
us.

I know it is often difficult to keep all of the postings we read on the
FML straight over the course of years. What happened when to whom. But
please do not confuse Holly with Allis. No, it is not true that I live
in a household with a dog who kills a ferret every few years. Allis has
lived (over an eleven year period) with ducks, chickens, hedgehogs,
potbellied pigs, sheep, cows, cats, and ferrets. Ping is the only one
of our companion animals that she has ever injured.

When Holly attacked Switch a few years back Allis did run down stairs
to look and she got very excited, barking and leaping. It was a
"wolf-pack" moment and I found it hideous, but no, she did not harm
Switch. Holly killed her.

I hope that clears up any confusion that people are having. It does not
offend me that I was asked what was going on. I am very glad that the
truth is what it is. I feel bad enough about what happened to Ping. I
can't even imagine how I would feel if Allis were a "serial killer."
And no, Puma never interacts with Allis if she can possibly help it.
Puma reasonably hates and fears wolves. That's a good thing, when the
wolf outweighs you twenty five to one. I wish that Ping had understood
that. But he was fearless.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 6078]