Greetings FMLers... I'm a newbie Ferret Wrangler and, consequently, a newbie FMLer. I've been goin' through back issues trying to decipher what some of the references are, but it seems an uphill battle. I think I've figured out the situation with the California laws, but I can't seem to find any explanation about who or what the McDowells are, except cryptic references to "the McDowell case". Anybody got an issue number I can consult? The name my new ferret doesn't answer to is MacAllister "Mickey" Tolleywood McWeasel, a 9 week old sable male. He's a fairly mellow ferret (by which I mean he only travels at 60 mph as opposed to 90) who seems to have taken to our family very quickly. He loves to play with TumbleWeed, our half-chow, half labrador retreiver live-in friend. But until we've figured out the look on Weed's face (Is it "Guys, This stretched-rat is really annoying me" or "Guys, As soon as you leave this room, I'm going to eat this thing in one bite. Chomp."?), they are under _close_ supervision. I had posted a question about snacks to rec.pets and gotten several good suggestions. My follow up question is... how excited is _excited_ about a food? Mickey T. seems to like raisins, but he would never actively pursue one if I didn't offer it to him right under his nose. He also never seems interested in more than one or two licks of ferrotone or linatone. This makes it hard to clip nails, I'll tell you what. My reason for the Quest for The Perfect Ferret Nectar brings me to my next question: training and tricks. I have heard that you can train ferrets to Go To The Litter Pan, Ride On The Shoulder, Roll Over, Stand On Hind Legs, Walk On A Leash and Don't Bite So Hard. Mickey has almost mastered the first two, and the biting. What else have people accomplished with ferrets, training/trick-wise? Can they be taught to fetch, ride a dog, do Calculus, what? Also, I'll add my congratulations to the pile for Michelle on a successful pro-ferrets campaign. Is there a way to get a tape of the show from anywhere? (Do radio stations do that sort of thing?) As Stiff As Starch Can Make Me, Ryan J. & Mickey T. The DogSlayer Live From Delphi [Posted in FML issue 0826]