In response to Selina's post:
>the ultimate goal, of course, is to get my ferrets trained a little,
>to be better at walking, maybe to dig on command, but most importantly
>to learn their names!"

I applied the same techniques to my fuzzies as I had in the past to
the numerous kitties I've had over time. It is so simple that most
people don't believe it works.

Some anecdotal evidence:
When my daughter was a teen I had gotten her a Siamese kitten for her
14th birthday since she really, really wanted one.

She decided to name her baby "Quiddiditty" - I kid you not. A book she
was reading described that as the name of an island in someone's mind.
So we christened the baby Quiddiditty and proceeded to train him to
respond to his name. A couple of years later, I had to take Quiddiditty
into the veterinarian. My veterinarian, who knew my penchant for
unusual pet names did not believe this kitty could possibly know his
name. He decided to run a test. We put Quiddiditty on the floor and let
him explore out on the floor. Of course he came as soon as I called
him, vet wasn't convinced. We put kitty on floor in main office. The
veterinarian simply said Quiddiditty's name and the tail went straight
up and he slowly meandered over to the vet. That convinced him.

All four of my fuzzies know and respond to their names. I acquired all
4 from the MaFF shelter as adults, not as impressionable little kits.
They will even stop whatever they are doing if I happen to mention one
of their names when I am talking on the phone to a friend. If I call
one by name, another one doesn't run to me in response. The right one
comes.

The technique: Whenever you interact with the fuzzy your are teaching
his/her name to, simply repeat his/her name over and over again in a
soft, loving tone. You do this whenever you touch, feed, carry, look
at, groom your fuzzy. In short whenever your attention is focused on
that particular fuzzy, repeat the name, always in a loving way, while
giving love. And never, ever use the name as a form of discipline (I
learned that from training dogs). They learn their names fairly
quickly. Reinforce it often. Make the name synonymous with love. I
don't need to tell anyone the benefits of having a fuzzy respond to
their name.

This past summer I was staying with a friend in the country. The
fuzzies had been out roaming the 2 storey-house that had been
completely ferret-proofed. 3 had made their way back to their cages for
a snooze, but Tiramisu was missing. I did a quick check of the house
and she was nowhere. My housemate had been working in the kitchen and
had opened the screened patio door. Sure enough to my horror I saw the
tear in the screen and knew instantly that Tiramisu had escaped! The
house sits on a 2 acre property with the ocean on one side and woods
all around. Deer, coyote, fox, racoons, and bear are regular visitors.

I took a deep breath, stepped outside and called her name. As I was
walking across the yard, after several minutes of calling her name she
just appeared out of nowhere and put her paws on my ankle, her signal
to be picked up. She was covered in bits of grass and her paws were
black with dirt, but she was as happy to see me as I was to see her! I
was never so glad to have taken the trouble to teach them their names
as I was that day!

Tressie A. Dutchyn, MA
ID PhD student, Dalhousie University Research Associate
Atlantic Interdisciplinary Research Network for Social &
Behavioral Issues in Hepatitis C & HIV/AIDS
Department of Community Health & Epidemiology
Dalhousie University, Faculty of Medicine 

[Posted in FML 5772]