Maybe it's the "terrible twos" but Baldrick has recently begun to nip
people hard.  (Hard, as in drawing blood.)  He's become sort of a vampire
ferret.  We love him, but it is impossible to get houseguests to wear
cloves of garlic around their necks.
 
The weird thing is, he never bites Scott or me -- we taught him when he was
a kit that we are the "parent ferrets" and that nipping us is a good way to
get hissed at and to get his face covered with sloppy wet kisses (oh the
strictness).  Occasionally we would do the scruff-n-drag thing but the most
effective technique for us was the hiss-n-kiss.  We assumed he had learned
not to nip people hard, but instead he has learned not to nip US hard --
everybody else is fair game.
 
The only thing I've been able to think of is to attempt to enlist
houseguests, friends and family who are visiting, in our hiss-n-kiss
campaign when he nips.  Unfortunately, they have for the most part been
very reluctant to do this; it seems they would rather show how tough they
are by enduring his nips stoically (mostly with good humor) than to
discipline a ferret whom we obviously love.  Maybe they don't want to hurt
his/our feelings, or maybe they are embarrassed to hiss at a ferret, but
for whatever reason he's not learning the right lesson.  I'm worried he
might eventually nip a lawyer or somebody like that.
 
We have some houseguests from England right now; this morning he wandered
into the childrens' room; we found him when their terrified screams began
echoing down the hall.  *Sigh*
 
Any suggestions/support would be welcome.
 
Thanks!
 
Brandon
[Posted in FML issue 3159]