I read a tip for training your ferrets on a list and it works so great for me I thought I would repeat it. I have trained my little carpet demons to "come" when I say "treat-treat". It seems repeating the word very quickly helped reinforce it. Also, I would say it over and over and over, waving a raisin at their nose, until they came over and took the raisin. My big boy Squid has a 100% response rate, while the l'il girl, Piglet, has only about a 98% response rate. (She needs to be close enough to not have to run too far.) Squid will come running, even out of a deep sleep if he hears the magic words. It actually has been an invaluable skill for me - if I need to find them at the end of their free-roam time, I just call and they magically appear. And the one time Squid got away from me on an outdoor excursion (he usually doesn't run fast and I can keep up with him) I called and he came running over for his raisin. I'm working on other tricks, but "stay" doesn't work really well with ferrets...... <g> Ann & the carpet demons [Posted in FML issue 2560]