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]