>Make sure not to flick them in the nose cause that might HURT them.  Let
>me ask you, if a dobermin pincher bites another human, what happens???
>They get taught that is bad by a smack on the butt, or mouth, or Maybe
>they get sent to the POUND to be put to sleep.  Because biting your owner
>is WRONG!!  God forbid you repremand your ferret.
 
I think one should differentiate between a ferret and a Dobie!  Yes, no
animal should be encouraged to bite and should be discouraged from doing
so.  But..size of animal is one of the many considerations to be taken into
account.  A Dobie I would smack..hard too..but if you struck a little too
hard, well, chances are no harm would be done (To the dog..I would suggest
if the Dobie isn't yours, you learn how to run fast!!)...a Dobie is big and
can take a good swat...but a ferret is small, and in the heat of pain, one
smacks or nose thumps a ferret a little too hard, and you will have a
crippled or worse, a dead ferret.  You have a ferret latched onto your lip
or your finger and you are in pain, how accurate are you going to be in
thumping the fuzzy's nose?  Not very, I can assure you..so you miss by 1/2
inch and thump..right on the cranium..voila!  A dead ferret.  Yup...you
cured the biting problem alright.  (Again, as in a previous post, 'you' is
generic, meaning all readers, not 'you' singularly.)  Please think on
this...I doubt that anyone would be brave or courageous enough to post to
ANY forum that they killed their ferret while trying to break the animal of
a biting problem, but it has happened.  Just ask your vet.  We are just to
big to be administering corporal punishment to a ferret.
 
Different animals takes different measures to train out of a problem.  I
use No and a reward to train my ferrets.  They respond to treats much
better than other animals.  A rolled up newspaper was the answer for my
dogs.  A glass of water in the face was the solution to my human children.
(Cured all sorts of children's 'problems'..ie: back talking, biting, temper
tantrums, etc.)
 
MC, The Rude One
[Posted in FML issue 2465]