>From:    Judith Emery <[log in to unmask]>
>I've recently adopted a deaf ferret.  He's about a year old and incredibly
>hyper.  I remember reading something awhile back about training deaf
>ferrets to understand sign language etc.  Does anyone out there have
>experience with this?  I'm interested in hearing about training techniques
>that have been developed.
 
Well, I don't know if I'd call what I do a technique; that makes it sound
like I know what I'm doing. :)   I have one deaf ferret (and five that
aren't) and have only had him for a few months.  Mine's not very hyper,
though he does have his moments, but after all he's only a year old.
 
My dad, who is fluent in American Sign Language, thought that he could
probably learn simple signs for food, play, come here, etc.  They don't
have to be real ASL signs of course; you can make up your own.  Hobbes is
however also partially blind, so I opted not to get too into teaching him
signs.  What I did do was teach him "come" so that when he is looking at
me, I can get him to come within grabbing distance.  My "sign" for this is
to tap rapidly and firmly on the floor with my knuckles three times.  The
movement combined with the vibration on the floor gets his attention, and
a repeat usually gets him to come over to me.  Then he gets picked up and
hugged and petted, which reinforces the "come here" signal in a good way.
 
Basically I'd think that as long as you can get them to focus on you for
any length of time, and you use something that they like as a reward, you
could train a deaf ferret using hand signs, foot stomps, etc.  The hardest
part may be to keep their attention, especially if they are hyper.  Maybe
yours would be easier to train after a long play session when he's a little
less wound up.
 
Hobbes has also trained me.  The sudden dash and flying lower leg tackle
(usually done from behind) means "PLAY WITH ME!" :-)
 
Karen
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Do what you want, do what you wish.  It's your life but remember this.
There's bound to be some consequences, sneaking under other fences.
Then what?  Whatcha gonna do when the new wears off and the old shines
through, and it ain't really love and it ain't really lust, you ain't
anybody anybody's gonna trust.  Then what?  Where you gonna turn when
you can't turn back for the bridges you've burned, and fate can't wait
to kick you in the butt. Then what?
                                                -- Clay Walker
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If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html
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[Posted in FML issue 2470]