HELP! I need some advice on the best way to ferret-proof my furniture - the couches in particular. The little monsters have discovered (after 2 months of not caring) if they jump high enough, they can get up on the couch, sneak to the back of the cushions and crawl down underneath the fabric and INTO the couch. I'm not talking under the cushions. I'm talking IN THE COUCH. I hear and see little claws scratching the side of my couch. They can't seem to come back UP through the couch and the only way to get them out is from the underside of the couch. We tore a hole in the bottom fabric (that's stapled to the underneath of the couch) and they can come out that way, but now they have 2 ways to get inside. What do I do? If I turn my back for 2 seconds, that's exactly where they run. I've thought of tearing the entire piece of fabric from the underside, but that only invites them to jump inside. I've put towels down in the corners of the couch (the part that leads to the "black hole" inside). No-go. They toss those right out and look at me as if to say "Give me a break." This weekend we had a scare down my my mothers. I learned the hard way...I toke the kids outside for the first time. Well after 5 minutes of intense training on their leash (them training me of course), they were exhausted. I brought them in and put them in their sealed off living room. Within seconds they dissappeared under the couch. It took a few minutes to realize that they now know about that lining under the couch and would probably not be content to just do their "usual" napping under the couch. They'd probably crawl up inside. Bingo. When I looked under the couch - nothing. So we tilted the couch up and saw her little body curled up. We must have disturbed her sleep because she darted to the back part and up into a hole that lead into the BACK cushion. It took an hour to find her. I was panicky. All I kept thinking was that she was chewing on some cushion foam and would be dead within 48 hours! We got out the flashlight and found her little silhouette curled up in the corner in an imposible place to reach. We finally got her out and she's been fine. I'm just terrified of this happening again - either at home or anywhere. Do you think that the best thing would be to take the stapled fabric off the bottom? Leave it on? How do we get her out if we leave it on and she sneaks in the couch? Suggestions? Thanks, Michelle, Kenny, Salt & Pepper [Posted in FML issue 0963]