Hey all...I have a sort of unusual (I think) question for you.  First, a bit
of background.  I'm planning to get a dog soon, and I've been doing research
about the breed and the particular type of training I'm interested in.  For
this particular breed, which usually has "no apparent need to please
people," it was recommended to use "clicker training." The woman who
recommended this also mentioned that I might want to practice these methods
on my ferrets, first, to get the hang of it and to teach them new things.
 
From what I understand (haven't had a chance to research it yet), clicker
training was based on the way dolphins, killer whales, and otters were
trained.  You have an object (clickable pen, snapple cap, etc) that makes a
"click" sound, and you make the sound at exactly the moment of the behavior
you want to reinforce, and then after the fact, you reward the animal (with
food, toy, etc).  Sort of a Pavlovian thing, I guess.  Not sure of all the
ins and outs, but was wondering if anyone else had thought that this method
might work in ferrets, to perhaps reinforce litterbox habits, train tricks,
or whatever.  Anybody with dogs expand this training to their frits???
 
Well, thanks!
 
Kelly
Reverend Maynard, Edie, Cosette, Static, Magkij znak, and Geraden (fritters)
and Dahlink' Sonar, the yorkie, who would run away from anything that
clicks...
                                   --->Kelly
 |\__\           /__/|          Head of Animal Optometry
 |  o o         o o  |          "Damn you, Let the Rabbits wear glasses"
/    =p=    =q=    \          University of Houston
     |             |
 
(everybody's gotta love crappy ascii art...)
Reverend Maynard: "I'm not looking at you."  Edie: "Snore, squeak."
** "The following sentence is true.  The previous sentence is false." **
[Posted in FML issue 1911]