Being relatively bored today, John and I decided to take Potpie over to his
new apartment to explore for a while.  I hadn't checked his apartment for
ferret-proofedness, and figured I'd just follow her around while she
explored.
 
Well, she did a perimeter search of the place, and found all the non
ferret-proof spots for me (grin).  However, none of them were serious,
except for an under-the-kitchen-counter hole that lead to sites unseen and
unknown.  While she was trotting around the rest of the place, if she got to
something she probably shouldn't have been in, I just redirected her with a
toe.  However, when she sniffed at the counter kickboard hole, I yelled
"NO!" and dove for her, pulling her back before she disappeared.  She
continued around the rest of the house normally, dooking here, skittering
there.
 
Well, at some point I started chasing her around (one of her favorite games
pretty much from day 1 - chase, tag, and hide n seek) and ZOOM she went
under the couches, SKID she went around the corners, until at one point she
SAW THE HOLE.  That part of the ferret brain that says "I ain't supposed to
go there - YIPPEE!" went into overdrive and she laid it all flat out in a
run for the gap in the kickboard - until I came around the corner and saw
where she was headed, yelled to John (who was standing there innocently
eating fudge) to catch her, and he got her by the butt just as she slithered
under the cabinets.
 
Ferrets *do* laugh - Potpie was clearly incredibly amused by the entire
thing.  She tends to look upon 'things I'm not supposed to do' as something
she humors me with, but darn that ferret, she USES those things when she
really wants to get my attention - play, sleep, or anger.  I give her enough
positive attention that I know she's doing it out of sheer contrariness.
Heh!
 
Melissa and the four furballs
 
 __ Melissa Litwicki ____ [log in to unmask] __
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 2139]