Hi! Last night I realized that Pepper learned a game from watching Bumper!
 
Bumper loves his balls with bells inside. One particular ball is a very
strong rubber ball with a large hole in one side and a small hole in the
other.  Inside is a bell.  Bumper's duty each evening is to find all the
bell balls, insert a fang into the large hole, and carry them under the
couch.  I tied a string through one of his balls and found that Bumper
really enjoyed chasing that bell ball around, picking it up and stashing it
under the couch, then dashing out after it again when I pulled it out again!
Hee hee.  Many fun hours of this game which Bumper never seems to tire of.
 
Well, last night, Pepper saw the ball being dragged around, dashed in and
pushed Bumper away, grabbed the ball and dashed under the couch!  O_O He
learned Bumper's game!  Bumper wasn't thrilled with this new development and
even seemed a little depressed that *his* special game now had to be shared
with Pepper.  Pepper is a tad more agressive about it, too, wrapping his
'arms' around the ball, cupping his 'hands' and hanging on for dear life!
 
I'll have to come up with a new game for Bumper.  Bumper and Pepper both
still enjoy the 'empty film container with string attached' game -- I drag
it around, make it hop, pop it out of their mouth, etc.  Even a couple of
my rather reticent ferrets like this thing.  It happens to be red (as is
Bumper's favorite bell ball).  Think this makes a difference to them?
 
--Barb--
[Posted in FML issue 2364]