ok so with any pet I have I tend to do A LOT of research before and after I get them well when I first got a ferret my husband hated the idea until I brought Icky home and he saw this white ball of fur that liked to wrestle and bounce through the house all the time so he decided to research to he found that ferrets have been used for centuries as hunting companions (just like a dog) famous historical figures like Caesar and a few others used them for hunting rabits they would train and send out groups of 15 or more to hunt well he found that to be extremely cool and the ferrets are his best buddies now well my question is have any of you trained your ferrets to do tricks of any kind I dont think we want ours hunting with the dogs but it would be neat to teach them a trick or two
Post by witchywoman on Sept 18, 2012 13:57:27 GMT -5
Oh yes, mine can do tricks. For example, today they got a hold of a whole roll of paper towels AND viola they all disappeared just like that!!! LOL Sorry, I couldn't resist. And yes they really did destroy the whole roll this morning.
Cara The ferret crew: Cash, Jasper, and Crash. The human kids: Ashley, Isabelle and Gabe And the adult kid: Wayne
There are a number of people on here that have taught their wee fuzzies tricks. They will perform any basic trick that you can teach a dog, you just have to find the right motivational tool. Mikey has taught Finn to high five, roll over....another has taught her wee one to drop dead when she shoots him with her finger. As far as hunting....sorry it's against the law in North America to use ferrets for ferreting. There are a couple of very good videos out there that demonstrate the wee ones at work though (hunting rabbits). There is really not much to see except their humans dancing around catching all the rabbits the little ones send up to them. ciao
i didnt know it was illegal good to know even though we would never use them for that purpose still good to know in case my husband ever gets the bright idea to try it lol
Post by Sushi La Fuchi on Sept 18, 2012 19:55:04 GMT -5
This is a video of Sushi playing Dead. I'm trying to get her to learn other tricks, but her attention span is still pretty short since she's barely gonna be a year old next month and she thinks that dropping dead will get her anything she wants. lol.. She uses it to beg sometimes now.
Post by justice1979 on Sept 24, 2012 12:17:53 GMT -5
Yeah, some ferrets are more than happy to train a human to give them treats for performing a trick like repeating the same word 50 times.
Seriously, my boy Rico loves to participate in this type of play. I have him rolling over begging, and turning in circles. Next, trick on the list to train Rico is "play dead."
With the right ferret and the right motivation they are happy to participate. Both my kids will come to their name too. It takes time and patience and consistency, never vary what you say and do for the "perform trick" actions and words and they begin to understand the relationship.
Last Edit: Sept 24, 2012 12:18:37 GMT -5 by justice1979
Yeah ferrets are good at tricks, you just have to teach them! And you'll need treats, like tiny bits of a food they love, or licks of oil or Ferretone from a dropper bottle, something like that. They typically will not perform just for the praise, like a dog...Oh no... They are not that silly ;D
My hob Finn knows 4 "tricks", the first is he will come when he's called (usually, not 100% of the time), he knows Roll Over, Shake, and Stand Up:
My Marshall jib Fenton so far only knows Roll Over:
My Marshall sprite Fiona knows Roll Over and Stand Up, but I don't think I have video of her standing on command:
I was going to make a new thread to put this video since I couldn't find the other thread where the whole clicker training conversation happened, but I will work here too.
Here is Ginny. She has progressed from turning in a circle with a large hand gesture with treat in hand:
To doing it with just the verbal command:
I'm also working on stand, where she stands up tall on her hind legs (I use the word "up") and roll over. But they are still at the luring stage where she follows a treat.
lol
she's adorable 
And you'll need treats, like tiny bits of a food they love, or licks of oil or Ferretone from a dropper bottle, something like that. They typically will not perform just for the praise, like a dog...Oh no... They are not that silly ;D
