harnesses - I really like figure 8 harnesses and urge you to try them if you take your ferret out a lot. I use the kind that are a 1 cm wide strip of leather. I have found this kind of harness difficult to find nowadays. I take Dors and Seldon out twice a week for long walks and Dors in particular wears this harness well during the walk. They do not escape because I used the next tighter hole every time it didn't work until it did work. I also suggest heavy duty ball chain collars. Ed - I have noticed that my friend Ed Lipinksi keeps ruffling a lot of feathers on the list here. I have known Ed for years; he comes off much better in person than he sometimes does in e-mail. He cares a great deal for his ferrets and has singlehandedly done much to raise awareness of ferrets in the Seattle area, plus taking in ferrets (in the role of shelter). He's certainly a bit eccentric. I think that, in contrast to the way he speaks, he tends to use unfortunate words and images that inflame and that leave his intentions open to interpretation. It's unfortunate that he chose the words "real"/"superior" and "sissy"/"inferior"; I don't believe he's turning Nazi on us (I hope not!). Perhaps he'd do better to use "Lipinksi approach" or "FNW approach" to describe his practices. As far as I know, he doesn't torture his ferrets, and I love to listen to him talking to them. I hope he himself will be as tolerant in writing as he is in person. I will say I love pampering Dors and Seldon, though I try to get some traditional/ancestral activities into their schedule. "Hey Dors, want to go hunt some *rabbits*!? Uhhh, maybe after I finish this really good dream, or, hey, could I have a massage first??" The British people are at times critical of the way we do things here in America (and there is some truth in what they say), and I think of Ed as a similar (though different) perspective. I'm really looking forward to meeting the wise Ms. Crompton someday for a second time and getting more of her perspective. Regarding Ed, he has some very good points to make, such as ferrets loving to dig and rough-house. I don't think he produces that many litters a year, at any rate, my sample of 1 ferret he has bred is a beautiful, joyous, and perfect ferret (not saying that other approaches couldn't produce the same), and her father was the same way, apparently one of Ed's best breeding stock. My position is that we need all to make up our own opinions, and we needn't condone absolutely everything each other does, but that does not have to make us mortal enemies. We're all basically on the same side, and if you want enemies, please consider helping Jeanne Carley et al in California (it's just as far away from you as Seattle, probably), or writing a letter to the council in Kalamazoo or the folks in Queensland, or consider helping the shelters in your area or helping to educate people on proper care. I'm not trying to say that all opinions are equally valid and no one should judge, but instead that our differences are usually small compared to differences with our true enemies and the (!@#$) evil of people putting ferrets to die in a cold park in New Hampshire. Todd Cromwell III Dors and Seldon [Posted in FML issue 2147]