Bob C. said in his talk in Toronto that ferrets had an incredible sense of smell and could detect a frog several inches underground! I'm here to tell you they can smell toads from even greater distances!!! My Tyson is almost 2 years old now and the past two summers he has repeatedly astounded me by digging up toads! I'd estimate we've had at least a dozen Close Encounters of the Toad Kind! But tonight topped them all! It was raining really, really hard when I pulled in the driveway tonight with the pizza I had picked up in town. As I headed for my usual parking place...I noticed several toads in the path. I creeped real slow hoping they would hop away-then backed up to see if they had! After two attempts at this, I decided it would be faster just to get out and move them! Out into the pouring rain I jumped...moved the first two over into the grass and went to get the third. He must have wanted to get out of the rain because he hopped under the truck! So back into the truck I went...still afraid to go forward, so I backed up. Finally saw the little toad and jumped back out into the pouring rain to get him. The little fart hopped back under the truck! By this time, I am soaked to the bone...not to mention the pizza is getting cold! One more time..into the truck, backed up until I saw the toad...then backed a little more-just so he couldn't do it a third time! Picked the little fart up and took him to the grass! What a cutie he was and looked at me with the most innocent of toady eyes! Anyway, I finally got parked, grabbed the pizza and raced for the house...it's one thing for me to get soaked..quite another for the pizza! My husband had been watching from the window and the only thing he really said was..."you are certifiable!" Well, maybe I am! But at least the toads were safe! I pried off my wet jeans, put some sweats on, rinsed my hands, towel-dried my hair then went to tell my daughter the pizza was here! She was in the ferret room....with Tyson...who almost knocked me over as soon as I entered the room! He was all over me...sniffing and sniffing, trying to lick my hands and sniffing some more! I have never seen his little nose work so fast! I swear....he smelled Toady!! Okay...I admit to just rinsing my hands and not really washing them...but I am not convinced that would have made a difference! He smelled TOAD! Which completely backs up Bob C's statement! Ferrets can not only smell them several inches underground....they can smell them clear out in the driveway! ===== Judy Cooke Tyson, Hope, and Einstein "The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants, sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything." Clarence Darrow [Posted in FML issue 3184]