In response to Buffys message about her ferret escaping and returning home
on its own I want to say, "It's great that Pukie found her way home."
 
I take all three of my ferrets out for long walks frequently.  It's
difficult to manage all three at one time so I usually take two and the
third later.  We usually take the same direction so they're all familiar
with it.  Their favorite place is the playground where they can dig in the
sand so we go there almost every time I take them out.
 
On the way back from there one day one of the ferrets spotted a kid on a
bike and decided to chase it.  He actually pulled the leash right out of my
hand.  I quickly picked up his brother and ran after him.  That was when I
learned how fast these little animals can run.  It took me three blocks to
catch up to him and that was only because the kid on the bike stopped to
talk to a friend.  I felt lucky that no harm came to Kanki, that's his name.
I've tried to keep all of them from going into the street but everyone knows
ferrets have a mind of their own.  Fortunately they are all scared of cars
and especially trucks.
 
Hopefully this will keep them from running into traffic.  As time went on I
noticed that all three ferrets started to get excited and started pulling
their leash as we got about two blocks from our house.  One day when I had
only Kanki with me I took a chance and dropped the leash when we were only
one block from the house.  Sure enough to my expectations he ran straight to
the door and started scratching it.
 
After that I tried the same thing with Genki, the other male.  He responded
exactly the same way.  When I tried it with Hana-chan, the female, she just
stopped, turned and tried to climb up my leg.  She seems to like being
carried more than she likes long walks.  On a short walk she'll just stay
close even when I let go of the leash.  All three of them have tried to go
into other peoples yards and even climbed up to peoples doors but I
discourage that with a sharp, "No" and they seem to know exactly what that
means.
 
The reason I wrote this is I'm curious about something.  Do ferrets have a
good sense of direction like many other animals have.  Also, I've noticed
that they seem to mark their trail as we walk.  Of course they want to sniff
everything possible each time they go out but does this help them to
recognize where they are?  I have actually reached the point with them that
I am not afraid of letting them run free at the playground and from time to
time I'll let one loose when we reach sight of our house.  I don't want to
loose any of them or see them get hurt in any way so I'd like to know what
other people think of this.
 
Since they seem to know where they live I feel reasonably safe letting them
have a little supervised freedom once in a while.  By the way, the place
that I allow them to run loose from to my house is a full block of houses so
they can't get out of sight or behind any of them.  Also if they seem to
turn toward the street I quickly catch up to them.
 
One thing I wouldn't do is to let them run free where they could come into
contact with other animals or in a place they are not familiar with.  I
think that's a bit too risky.  Almost all of my neighbors know my ferrets
and many own ferrets themselves.
 
Perhaps I'm correct in thinking that ferrets can find their way home just as
Buffy's ferret did.  And as she stated, most ferrets have a cycle of eating,
playing and sleeping.  Even when mine are loose in the house, which is most
of the time, they stick to their schedule.  In fact, I can almost predict
just how long they'll play before taking a nap.  What do you think?  Are
there other's out there who let their ferrets have some supervised loose
time?  Also, has anyone else had a ferret that got loose come home on its
own?
 
   --Blake
 
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    Best regards from, Genki, Kanki, and Hana-Chan, my cute ferrets.
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     Blake F. Parker     [log in to unmask]     www.ultranet.com/~bfp
                             [log in to unmask]
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[Posted in FML issue 1854]