Just an update on the puppy situation... I believe there is some interest
in keeping up on it, going by all the messages I've been receiving from
kind people.
 
Last night went much much better.  I got the puppy all tired out with play
before letting my fuzzies out of their cages.  When I was ready to let them
out, I baby-gated the puppy into the bedroom, as before.  The ferts came
out, did their usual run-around-franticly thing, then seemed to fall in
love with the gate.  It was hilarious to watch big silver Tank trying to
defend the gate from the others like it was exclusively his!  I let them
mess around while I cleaned their cages, then noticed Flower (my Houdini
ferret who can go anywhere) squeeze right through the wires of the baby
gate!  Pandora was quick to follow; once she learns a thing can be done,
she doesn't stop until she manages.  Moogie, of course, didn't even try,
and neither did Tank, as he is far too fat to fit.  So, I went ahead and
removed the gate and stayed by the puppy to see what happened.  Very
little, actually.  He raised his head and showed interest, but didn't get
up right away; he had been napping until Pandora bounced up and down on his
head a couple of times.  He eventually stood and went over to Moogie (the
only one so slow-moving that he doesn't even try to run away from anyone or
anything) and half-heartedly tried to mouth at him, at which point I very
loudly said "No!  Bad chew!" which is what we've been doing for all his
inappropriate chewing.  He released Moogie immediately, looked at me, then
ambled into the living room where he lay and chewed his Nylabone for the
rest of the ferret's play time.  He got up once more to chase Tank (who was
pretty much teasing him, by the looks of it) who then dashed under the bed;
Merlin gave up and went back to his bone after that, and there were no more
problems.  So, my hopeful conclusion is that maybe he will get used to them
after all?
 
I will keep gating him and then allowing supervised interaction for as long
as it takes for me to feel confident with Merlin around the fuzzies, but I
must admit I am feeling encouraged with the fact that I seem to be seeing
some progress already.  We are just getting started on training Merlin; he
only turned 8 weeks old on Wednesday.  But he is going to be so large, we
have to start right away.  He already stands 13 inches at the shoulder and
weighs at least fifteen pounds, possibly more.
 
Thanks again for all the great advice, FML'rs.
Vickie, Moogie, Tank, Flower, Pandora, Diva, Merlin, Ogre, Subatai, &
Hannibal
[Posted in FML issue 2664]