Rewarding Behavior?

[Deleted]

Hello!

When I previously had ferrets rewarding with treats was never a good option because neither of the boys showed any interest in eating a small treat on the fly.

Is this normal for ferrets to not be big into training treats, or where my guys just weirdos?

I am planning on clicker training my ferret when I get her, but since clicker training relies heavily on reward I'm not really sure what I can do to quickly and effectively reward her?

Thank you in advance!

[Heather]

I had a couple of ferrets who worked amazingly for clicker training, many couldn't care less. I use fish oil as the reward. It's fast, they don't have to chew it and it can be given on the fly. I also do a lot more praise than I do dietary rewards. Having trained a Gr Pyrenees (not food motivated and very stubborn breed) I learned that food is not necessarily a good method of training. Praise, games and tricks. Food just makes for a fat pet. Ferrets are smart, they will spend more times figuring out how to get around the training to the treat than they will learning what you want to teach.
ciao

[msav]

I have switched to giving Gizzard slices as treats, not very convenient to always have on hand, I just slice them up and whatever is left over I toss in their food the next day.

They always take them and eat them.

[Deleted]

With training any animal, there are lots of different ways to reward them.

Food rewards: A classic reward, and often the only one people really think of. It's a good idea to, rather than treats, use a portion of their food for the day. Admittedly, this works best with dogs and critters on kibble diets. Other options include, as Heather mentioned, fish oil or other liquids. A lot of people who like, train for serious(as a career, for animal sports, etc) will often switch up the rewards; dogs specifically(dunno if there've been studies for other animals) don't seem to care if they get a small piece of meat or a large one as long as they get some reward, and animals value different foods/etc over others. For simpler things, a treat they don't care too much about but will still work for is a good idea, and as you raise the difficulty you raise the value of the rewards; most dogs will work hard for cheese or deli meat.
Affection rewards: Mostly for dogs, but some other animals will work just for the praise you give them when they do what you want. Admittedly I'm not sure how well this will work for ferrets since dogs have been bred to have such a close bond with us.
Play rewards: Taking a quick break from training to play around, some sort of tug toy or quick game is a good idea.
Environment rewards: Using the opportunity to explore the environment as a reward. Again, I mostly know of this as a Dog Thing but with how inquisitive ferrets are it may be an option.

I'd like to point out that most of my knowledge of training comes from the world of dog training, and some from the world of cat training, so you'll have to see what does and doesn't work, but cycling through rewards and especially food rewards can help; some animals are just picky.

As for quickly delivering food rewards, if you have something that isn't solid you can put it in some sort of squeeze bottle(like these www.webstaurantstore.com/images/products/extra_large/32115/949718.jpg) so that you can quickly offer it and give them a little. A lot of dog trainers will also have the food rewards ready in their hand, either the same hand as the clicker or the other, so that they can quickly drop it on the floor for the dog, so they aren't constantly reaching and fumbling for treats.

[Deleted]

Thank you for the input, all!

When I had my older ferrets one of them was "task-trained" (yes, like a service dog, though ferrets cannot be considered service animals) and since he never had interest in food aside from his kibble I would just scritch behind his ears to reward him and it worked well. It's probably personality dependent?

I can try playing around with different things to see what works best. I was thinking small pieces of freeze-dried chicken or something, but the oil is a good idea, as is the gizzard (though plain breast meat or something might be more readily available).

Thank you!