When I took my Dante, a 1 1/2 year old albino male to the shelter to find
a new friend (I thought he was bored & lonely - boy was I right) he was
introduced to a couple of ferrets, one at a time, and kind of shrugged his
shoulders and went about playing with the toys but not with the other
ferrets.
 
Then, out came Toby.  Dante went nuts.  Eric (my boyfriend) and I had never
heard him dook before, and Toby & Dante were dooking up a storm.  They ran
all over the place with each other, and then "found" the tube.  Well, there
goes Dante's tail, wagging a mile a minute!  I'd never seen THAT before!
His butt was hanging out the end of the tube, tail going a mile a minute,
and Toby was going in the other end, going into the tube.  Dante wasn't
in the tube at all.  Donna looked at me, grinned, pointed, and said "Look!
See his tail wagging?  That means he's inviting Toby to PLAY!".  It seemed
like Dante had picked out his new friend.  Well, Eric and I were sold.
Dante had his new friend and I learned a few new things about ferrets that
day.
 
Now, I do have a question about dooking, though.  I've been reading on the
list that ferrets dook when they are excited or happy, but haven't ever
heard that they do it when they are upset.  Dante plays awfully hard with
Paul, my "new" guy, who is 8 years old and deaf & blind.  Paul dooks during
this play, but it never sounds like it's a frantic or panicked kind of
noise.  And let me tell you, when I say awfully hard, it's hard!  Anyone
know anything about this?  Should I be worried or just monitor their play
some more?
 
Talk to you guys later!
Sue
 
Dante: "Ma! Froot Loops! Now!"
Toby:   Da Linebacker  (he tackles everyone from behind)
Paul:  "I just wanna find the plastic bag playground" (located in the
kitchen, five or six plastic shopping bags on the floorwhich the boys
go NUTS over, and Paul likes to curl up and sleep in one)
[Posted in FML issue 3501]