Who's fault is it...
Aug. 19th, 2005 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joflasherReading tulaq's journal got me thinking about pets and responsibility.
I have a biter ... a ferret who will always test newcomers, will never be safe with most people. Tira is the dominant ferret in my little business* and relates to everyone else as being part of that hierachy. The Boy and I are firmly on top but it took a good 2 months of constant reprimands, scruffings, nose thwaps and cage time outs to get there. Even now, with her being nearly 7 and deaf as a post, she still will test us on occassion ... just to be sure we haven't weakened enough for her to advance.
Luckily, she doesn't just outright attack people or bite unprotected feet. She starts subtle. She comes up, acts sweet, does the "look, I'm cute" dance and begs to be picked up. Once she's being held, she'll lightly nip the person, either on the hand or in the bend of the elbow. If she's not immediately reprimanded in a form she understands BY THE PERSON BEING NIPPED, she'll escalate it the next time she meets that person. She's only bitten someone badly once and that was with R, whom I have little pity for. R has his own ferrets and knows how to interact with them. He used to pet sit mine when we were away, as none of my other friends really have the first clue about the little monsters. He has known my guys since they were kits and STILL refused to consistantly reprimand Tira when she nipped him. None of his were ever as dominant as she is, so he never had to deal with it constantly. Since sometimes she could get away with it, she kept trying and finally nailed him good one day when he didn't put her down when she "asked". He's better now with her and will at least cage her when she does the first nip.
For the most part, Tira doesn't get to interact with people. Most people act like R used to ... "oh, that's so mean, I can't do that, it was just a little nip". Yeah, a little nip now leads to a bleeding gash later. My gaming group knows not to pet the red eyed ferret and pretty much ignore her. For everyone else, the ferrets are caged and if someone really wants to meet one, I get out Midori**. When we have parties with small children, I go so far as to hide cage because little kids are curious and listen even less well than deaf ferrets do, with a few exceptions.
Still, no matter how careful I am, sometimes things happen. S is bad for letting the rats out when we're not looking, even after I've threaten to throw him out on his ear over it. He's been bitten a few times now, once hard enough to bleed. He KNOWS he shouldn't mess with Tira and deliberatly goes out of his way to interact with her just to see if he will get bitten this time ... like a kid poking a fire to see if it'll really burn him.
So I have a biter, with all that entails. If a stranger gets bitten because of my neglect, its my fault. No arguement. But in a situation like with S? Creature is contained, person with more than the standard amount of intelligence deliberatly goes through that container, ferret reacts as expected and bites...whos fault is this? Mine for having a creature that bites? That's what the court would say. S, for not having the sense god gave a goat? That's what I say and have repeatedly told him. What if the person is a child, like with my brother's horde?
I've been lucky so far, noone she has bitten has reported her. I hope the luck holds as long as she lives...
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* Just as you have a pack of dogs or a gaggle of geese, the plural for a group of ferrets is a business.
** Midori is a sweet heart to everyone and will even let small children drag her around my her head. No, I didn't sanction that. Despite having my ferrets locked in their cage, in a closed room, my brother's children still managed to get to find them. Luckily, they grabbed the "nice" ferret. Insert a good 20 minutes of "how to be carry the skinny teddy bear nicely" here. By the end of the week, despite being repeated reprimanded for getting into the ferret cage and a number of different locking mechanisms, we still had 3 bitten hands out of the four kids. Luckily, my brother is of the "own dumb fault" line of reasoning where his kids are concerned. God protect me from clever little fingers.
tulaq's journal got me thinking about pets and responsibility. I have a biter ... a ferret who will always test newcomers, will never be safe with most people. Tira is the dominant ferret in my little business* and relates to everyone else as being part of that hierachy. The Boy and I are firmly on top but it took a good 2 months of constant reprimands, scruffings, nose thwaps and cage time outs to get there. Even now, with her being nearly 7 and deaf as a post, she still will test us on occassion ... just to be sure we haven't weakened enough for her to advance.
Luckily, she doesn't just outright attack people or bite unprotected feet. She starts subtle. She comes up, acts sweet, does the "look, I'm cute" dance and begs to be picked up. Once she's being held, she'll lightly nip the person, either on the hand or in the bend of the elbow. If she's not immediately reprimanded in a form she understands BY THE PERSON BEING NIPPED, she'll escalate it the next time she meets that person. She's only bitten someone badly once and that was with R, whom I have little pity for. R has his own ferrets and knows how to interact with them. He used to pet sit mine when we were away, as none of my other friends really have the first clue about the little monsters. He has known my guys since they were kits and STILL refused to consistantly reprimand Tira when she nipped him. None of his were ever as dominant as she is, so he never had to deal with it constantly. Since sometimes she could get away with it, she kept trying and finally nailed him good one day when he didn't put her down when she "asked". He's better now with her and will at least cage her when she does the first nip.
For the most part, Tira doesn't get to interact with people. Most people act like R used to ... "oh, that's so mean, I can't do that, it was just a little nip". Yeah, a little nip now leads to a bleeding gash later. My gaming group knows not to pet the red eyed ferret and pretty much ignore her. For everyone else, the ferrets are caged and if someone really wants to meet one, I get out Midori**. When we have parties with small children, I go so far as to hide cage because little kids are curious and listen even less well than deaf ferrets do, with a few exceptions.
Still, no matter how careful I am, sometimes things happen. S is bad for letting the rats out when we're not looking, even after I've threaten to throw him out on his ear over it. He's been bitten a few times now, once hard enough to bleed. He KNOWS he shouldn't mess with Tira and deliberatly goes out of his way to interact with her just to see if he will get bitten this time ... like a kid poking a fire to see if it'll really burn him.
So I have a biter, with all that entails. If a stranger gets bitten because of my neglect, its my fault. No arguement. But in a situation like with S? Creature is contained, person with more than the standard amount of intelligence deliberatly goes through that container, ferret reacts as expected and bites...whos fault is this? Mine for having a creature that bites? That's what the court would say. S, for not having the sense god gave a goat? That's what I say and have repeatedly told him. What if the person is a child, like with my brother's horde?
I've been lucky so far, noone she has bitten has reported her. I hope the luck holds as long as she lives...
____________________________________________
* Just as you have a pack of dogs or a gaggle of geese, the plural for a group of ferrets is a business.
** Midori is a sweet heart to everyone and will even let small children drag her around my her head. No, I didn't sanction that. Despite having my ferrets locked in their cage, in a closed room, my brother's children still managed to get to find them. Luckily, they grabbed the "nice" ferret. Insert a good 20 minutes of "how to be carry the skinny teddy bear nicely" here. By the end of the week, despite being repeated reprimanded for getting into the ferret cage and a number of different locking mechanisms, we still had 3 bitten hands out of the four kids. Luckily, my brother is of the "own dumb fault" line of reasoning where his kids are concerned. God protect me from clever little fingers.
