Harness Hold

[nannah]

Hi there, I have a huge biter on my hands (Cooper ...), and I've seen the harness hold & dangle mentioned on a number of threads (I've even seen it explained). But I'm a really visual learner ... could anyone be amazing and show me some pictures of it being done? Or demonstrate how to do it? I'm so sorry to be a bother!!

[caitmonster]

Is this what you're looking for? holisticferretforum.com/care-and-enrichment/common-behavior-problems/ferret-bite-training/471-2/

Is he biting you?

[nannah]

YES, thank you so much!!

Yeah, it's my 8mo. old ferret, Cooper. Biting and drawing blood!
I'd been previously using the sin bin and scruffing method, but nothing seems to work. I just got a clicker and I'm maybe gonna work on clicker-training him along with trying this scruffing method.

[abbeytheferret6]

Mine go for the back of the neck when starting a fight with another, so he may take the scruffing as a sign of aggression. We scruff when giving meds. Well hubby does----he is a champ at giving medication. I gladly relinquish the task to him.

There was someone's ferret on the forum who would put itself in sin bin after misbehaving---I thought that was the cutest thing

[Heather]

Do not scruff a hard core biter. This defeats the purpose entirely. To be honest, if you have a fear biter, using the harness hold and dangle you will be bitten. I personally, do not support any pinning, aggressive holding of a biter. This defeats the purpose. You want the ferret to associate hands with good things, not domination. Use treats, the sin bin, ignore. Yes, it takes longer but it's the most effective. The length of time should never exceed 3 minutes. If they come out biting, they go back in. Use a key word such as no. I use ahahah. Some people hiss, but again in ferret language this is a challenge. Ferrets love a challenge.
ciao

[okojosan]

I have to agree with Heather, my Nefertiti was a hardcore biter, drawing blood, savaging hands and feet at the slightest provocation. (I got her from a shelter, and I suspect she'd been abused or at the very least, never handled before she landed at the shelter.)

At first I scruffed Nefertiti every time she bit, but that just made her madder and more defensive. After one really bad day I decided I needed to change tactics (and came here and read up on dealing with biters). I started putting her in the sin bin when she bit. 3 minutes if she bit hands, 2 minutes if she bit anywhere else. Because Nefertiti is an albino, I suspected her vision might not be very good, so I started talking to her constantly. A soft gentle voice when she wasn't biting, and a staccato AH AH AH! when she bit. After the AH AH AH! into the sin bin.

I also began giving her oil before putting her back in the cage, and after getting a couple of licks of oil she would be very licky and lick my hands. I would put her in the cage and let her lick my hand, praising her and stroking her with the other hand. At first she was really head shy, flinching away from my hand, which is part of the reason I suspected a previous owner might have hit her. She's now much better.

This did take a while and consistency is key. It's been over a year now, and I think Nefertiti will have a biting spree every couple of weeks (not as bad as she was before.) Into the sin bin as a refresher. The bites now are more because she's excited and playing and gets too wound up, as opposed to the angry defensive biting from before. I've even had times where she was going to bite me but the AH AH AH! made her rethink, and she just nosed me or licked instead. Our relationship has vastly improved. I've also noticed that sometimes she bites/get insistent when she wants fresh, clean water/food in her bowls. She does seem to have some anxiety about that as well, so if she's really nippy I'll go around and put fresh water/kibble in the bowls, and that seems to make her happy.

The little bitebeast in action:

[nannah]

ahh, thank you for the information! I'll just keep going with him in the sin bin. he doesn't bite out of fear.

but yeah, I'll just keep doing the sin bin thing till he gets it, lmao. I'll try the oil too, okojosan! thank you