From:
"Tressie"
Date: 2009-02-24 23:29:36 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: my ferret is biting me crazy help!
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I pretty well used the same strategy Ella describes with the fear
biter I adopted a couple of months ago who was going to be euthanized
because she was so "vicious". I do know her history and she was
physically abused for biting.... duh... made it worse of course.
Plus she is stone deaf and none of her owners or previous vets picked
up on that.
Anyway perhaps because she was younger, just under a year when I got
her - it only took a couple of weeks of not responding to when she
bit and not scruffing her, learning her body language and avoiding
getting bit. Always gentle and loads of patience.
The first time I scruffed her she went ballistic and bit my hand so
badly I had to go on antibiotics because it got septic. Now she
gives me kisses every time I pick her up and sometimes will hold my
finger gently in her teeth when I carry her around.
Is there any possibility that Bonita might be deaf? It sometimes
isn't easy to tell. Telling her no of course won't work if she is
and would contribute to her biting behaviour because she would be
more easily startled and surprized.
The resource Sukie mentioned is excellent, really gives you a solid
overview of biting behaviour and things to think about. It helped me
for sure.
Patience and gentleness worked with my little one. As the resource
mentions - first you need to establish why she is biting before you
can deal with it.
I agree with Ella's strategy that when its fear biting - best
strategy is patience and gentleness, which builds trust.
Tressie
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, autumn whispers
<autumn.whisperstome@...> wrote:
>
> I think this might be something that differs, correction wise, from
ferret
> to ferret. .... So my approach
> was caution, and 100% patience. She learned she could predict with
100%
> certainty that no matter how hard she bit me.... I would only talk
softly to
> her and stroke her fur gently, and I NEVER put her down immediately
> following a bite because she would have learned that would be a
sure-fire
> way to let a human know she wanted down. ...
> So patience, in her case, is what worked. Also, knowing her body
language,
> how she would tense up, the turn of her head with tension in her
neck....
> all the things that preceded a bite, helped a great deal. I could
avoid her
> bites and still hold her gently, never allowing her the opportunity
to
> bite. I would never, however, hold her too long like this, because
> stressing her out or making her anxious and trapped wouldn't have
helped her
> learn any new behavior.
... Everything done with love, I believe, is the very best way.
>
> Bonita will learn as long as the lessons are consistent, gentle,
and with
> love. :)
>
> Ella
>
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