>But any punishment doesn't seem to even fase her.  She looks at us like
>what the hell do you think you are doing.  I don't know what to try next.
>She does get let out for a few hours a day, but then poops and gets a
>little slap on her butt and a firm NO and back into her cage.  Any
>suggestions?
 
Forget punishment.  Punishment for anything often backfires with them.
Instead use praise for the right things.  They love praise and will do
almost anything for it.  That will mean that you need to be observant and
put her in the pot whenever it looks like she is ready to go, then wait
there and keep her in the pot till she goes at which point you need to
praise her to the skies.
 
If she can't make it all the way to the post on her own or when you move
her then you need more pots or papers spread around.  They themselves
don't have a lot of warning before needing to go.
 
Oh, and don't clean accidents with ammonia; that makes them WANT to go
there again.
 
(Bet the subject line made you look!)
 
>Besides stepping over barricades keeps you flexible.
 
OH, YES!  We are 51 and almost 50 but barriers and sitting in a half
lotus position (when someone is just begging too much) have done a lot
for our limberness and balance compared to friends without ferrets.
 
>To the best of my knowledge, for instance, I have never known one to
>learn its own name, although I have had rats that did, and came when
>called.
 
Do you have deaf or hearing impaired ones like pandas, blazes, or some
color depleted ones?  We have found that they are harder to train.  One
of ours could hear in a limited range and if a person spoke outside that
frequency she would place her hands on the lips and seem to try to figure
out if speaking was going on.
 
ALL of our's know their names, their nicknames, and the names of others.
They learn words easily with repetition and simple sentences.  Among the
chores some of our's have is finding others for a treat.  We realized how
possible it was one day around 7 and 1/2 years ago when Steve and I could
not find Warp.  Steve told Meltdown multiple times to get Warp and then
she would get treat.  Meltie climbed under our platform bed and emerged a
short while later dragging Warp by the scruff, deposited Warpie on Steve's
food and then looked Steve in the eye and licked her chops.
 
>They learn directions well, they are good three dimensional problem
>solvers, but as problem solvers in general?  Nope.  Well, that was my
>theory, anyway.  I may have to ammend that in light of what I saw today.
 
Good for you; ferrets are excellent teachers when a person is willing to
learn!
 
Sukie
For health info:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-List
http://geocities.com/sukieslist
[Posted in FML issue 3775]