Hilbert and Hubble are the best male ferrets we have ever had at
understanding language.  Last night Hilbert followed Steve into the
bathroom so Steve asked Hilbert to close the door.  Hilbert did.  (He
is our door closing ferret.)
 
Two days ago Hubble made the mistake of jumping into a full bathtub so
tonight I noticed him standing on the edge trying to figure out if the
tub was safe or not.  I said something like "You can go in, no water."
and he jumped right in.  Then I entered the bathroom and pulled the door
to.  Noticing that they had stolen my bathsoap I retrieved it and asked,
"Where is Mommy's soap dish?"  Hubble was out of the tub by then, and
my soap dish slid our from under the stool the magazines are on with
Hubble's nose pushing it.  After losing his prizes Hubble wanted out but
it is hard to open a door with one's head so I repeated, "Hubble, hands."
several times and he got it.  Hubble is learning a LOT of words thanks
to tons of repetitions and finding ways to emphasize meanings.  Oh, all
those three things with Hubble happened within 5 minutes.
[Posted in FML issue 4869]