>From:    Matthew Madison Strauch <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: "Just the way they are..." NOT  (imho)
>Just because they are ferrets, doesn't mean they can not be trained.  You
>do not have to live with behavior you do not want.
 
I totally agree with Matthew.  Mischief goes to her cage when she needs to
potty.  There are times when she will go in a corner, but very seldom.  If I
catch her staring to go in a corner I just pick her up and put her in her
litter box.  Mischief was 7 weeks old when I purchased her at a pet store,
she is a Marshall Farms ferret, and I never had any difficulty training her
to use her litter box.  It was almost like she was already trained.
 
The only thing I have a difficulty training her not to do is biting my feet.
When she goes to bite my my foot, I will lean down to flick her nose or pick
her up and say NO and she takes off running.  She knows that she should not
be doing what she is doing.  However, I cannot get her to break this habit.
She loves my feet when I am anywhere on the bed.
 
One other thing I will go.  Mischief plops down on the floor flat all the
time.  She does this mostly when I am getting ready to go to work.  She also
seems to do it if she gets bored.  I call it "pouting." If I go to rub her
when she is plopped down she plops up real quick.  It is obvious that she is
wanting to get my attention.
 
Michelle & Mischief
 
Michelle Anderson
Business & Contracts Secretary
331 Burruss Hall
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA  24061-0129
[Posted in FML issue 1659]