In This Chapter
Like a dog, a fuzzy doesn’t come preprogrammed for use. You
teach a dog how to sit, come, and heel; you must teach a fuzzy certain things,
too — like how to mind his manners, use the litter box, and tolerate a harness
and leash. These are basics of ferret life that every furkid should know. Some
ferrets take to basic training quite quickly, but others need constant
reminders of who’s the boss. Teaching the basics of good manners means putting
on your professor’s hat and doing a little home-schooling with your new fuzzy.
If your new ferret is an adult, chances are someone else has already home-schooled
him, so you just need to keep him current on his skills.
As with any animal, including humans, patience and
consistency are the keys to training success. You’ll see what I mean when you
bring your furball home. But just remember that the patience and effort are
well worth it, because nothing can compare to the joy a socialized and greatly
loved ferret will bring into your household. In this chapter, I cover the three
basic training areas that require your effort, patience, and consistency:
eliminating biting, bathroom training, and harness and leash socialization.
Just Say NO to Biting
Ferrets are similar to kittens and puppies in that they need
to be trained not to bite. If you watch a human toddler closely, you’ll be
amazed at all the stuff that ends up in the kid’s mouth. Chewing is how babies,
human and animal, explore their environments and ease the pain of teething.
Eventually the toothaches go away, but the nipping lingers on. Although the
urge to nip lessens with age, an untrained adult ferret can be dangerously bold
and aggressive with his chompers. Your job is to let your fuzzy know while he’s
young what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. If you begin proper socialization and
training when your ferret is young, you decrease the chances of him biting as
an adult. (In this section, I talk about training baby ferrets, not adults that
haven’t been properly socialized. I cover getting help for the difficult adult
carpet shark in Chapter Dealing
with the Behaviorally Challenged Ferret.)
Remember
Sometimes, training a youngster not to nip takes a lot of time and patience. The key to being successful is consistency. It can seem so cute at times to get the little guy all riled up and allow him to play-bite your hand. But you can’t let your ferret bite during play and expect him to know that it isn’t acceptable at other times and with other people. He won’t understand that nipping is okay only when you’re in the mood, so don’t confuse him. Teach him one thing — not to bite — and stick to your guns. Believe me, if you have multiple fuzzies, the other ferrets will tell the kit just how far he can go with them. You should do the same!
Remember
It’s important that you pay special attention to the do’s and don’ts of nip-training your ferret. The following list presents some suggestions to help with training your fuzzy not to bite:
- Provide plenty of hard chew toys.
- Use a toy to wrestle with him rather than your hand.
- Mist a bitter pet spray on your hand when playing with him.
After he gets a taste, he probably won’t come back for seconds. Bitter spray is a nasty-tasting but harmless substance used to deter chewing in all kinds of pets. The substance is clear, too, and won’t harm your furniture or fingers. Most pet stores carry it.
- Correct a nip immediately by scruffing the kit and very loudly saying “No” or “No bite.”
Scruffing is when you firmly grasp the loose skin on the back of the ferret’s neck with your thumb and fingers and dangle the ferret. Hissing (not screaming) loudly at the ferret after you say “No” is also very effective. Hissing is the tool a Mother Ferret or other ferrets would use to discipline kits. You can also lay (not tap) your finger gently across his nose after you scruff, say “No bite,” and then hiss at him.
- If you’re holding the kit when he nips, don’t reward him by giving him his freedom (in other words, don’t put him down to roam free).
Instead, place him in jail (cage him).
Remember
- Don’t ever hit your ferret in an attempt to discipline or train him, because aggression leads to aggression.
Your fuzzy may also think that you’re encouraging him to
play harder. Hitting is an ineffective technique and frequently leads to bigger
behavioral problems.
This Way to the Bathroom
If you read the other chapters of this book, you’ll notice
that I talk rather frequently about the ferret’s bodily functions; that’s
because ferrets seem to poop about every 15 minutes or so while they’re awake.
And most ferret people spend more time telling animated stories and jokes about
their fuzzies’ notorious bathroom habits than they do cleaning up after their
kids. (Okay, I’ll admit it, that’s a little weird.)
Mother Fuzzy, if given the chance, will teach her kits to
use the litter box. However, because many kits are delivered to new homes or
halfway houses before mom gets the chance to teach them, the new human
caretakers must do this dirty deed.
It’s pretty simple to train a furkid that the litter box is
his designated toilet. Although teaching ferrets the purpose of the litter box
is pretty easy, getting them to use it consistently is a crapshoot. Ferrets,
unfortunately, don’t have the greatest toilet habits. The following tips should
help (for more on effective litter boxes and incorporating them into your
ferret’s kingdom, check out Chapter Home
Sweet Home: Preparing Your Ferret’s Quarters):
- Keep your fuzzy’s litter box in the corner of his cage. A corner area is a magnet for a fuzzy butt. Ferrets prefer to back into a loading zone and unload.
- Limit baby ferrets — or any ferret that’s just learning to use a litter box — to smaller cages and play areas until the bathroom concept has sunk in. Move your ferret to a larger cage only after he’s potty trained, and add litter boxes to the higher levels if needed (see Chapter Home Sweet Home: Preparing Your Ferret’s Quarters for more on ferret cages).
Tip
As you expand your ferret’s out-of-cage play area, increase the number of litter boxes you put in it. If a litter box is close by, your ferret will be more likely to use it. If you pay attention, your fuzzy will show you which corners are the best spots for litter boxes. Frequently pick him up and place him in a box until he goes. If he refuses, let him play for a few minutes and then repeat the process.
- If your ferret is tiny (or ill), make sure his litter box has a low side or is small enough for him to climb in.
- When you wake your ferret for playtime, place him immediately in his litter box and wait until he does his duty. When he does, you can let him come out. Don’t be fooled by a faux poo; make sure he’s really gone to the bathroom.
- Until your fuzzy
starts going consistently in his litter box, keep a little poo in the box as a
reminder that the litter box is a toilet.
- If you catch your ferret straying from the plan (by backing into a corner, for instance), pick him up, firmly say “No,” and then place him in the litter box until he goes.
- Always praise your ferret for a job well done. Use verbal schmoozing as well as petting.
Now that you have some tips in your potty-training arsenal
for getting your fuzzy to use his box, you need to know the don’ts of bathroom
training. The following list presents these don’ts:
- Never hit your fuzzy for having an accident. Just be thankful he isn’t a Great Dane!
- Never rub a ferret’s nose in his waste when he has an accident. This practice is abusive and serves no purpose. (It doesn’t work with dogs, either.)
- Don’t offer your fuzzy food rewards for going in his box. You’ll just teach him how to fake a poopy to get a treat.
I have some ferrets that back up to the edge of the litter box
and then poop outside on the tile. This just proves that even when you do
everything right, things can still go wrong. Go figure!
Harnessing Your Fuzzy for a Walk
Fuzzies are explorers by nature and can cover a lot of
ground in only a few seconds. A fuzzy loves to wander around the backyard and
explore outside, and it’s nice for a ferret and his human to explore the
outside world together. Unfortunately, without the proper restraint, it won’t
take your fuzzy long to get beyond your safe reach and into trouble. If you
want to take your ferret outside to play, I advise you to always keep him
leashed.
And nothing goes better with a ferret’s leash than a harness
for his long, slender body. I suggest that you choose an H-shaped harness
designed specifically for ferrets (see Chapter Home
Sweet Home: Preparing Your Ferret’s Quarters). A tight collar (but not too
tight) works, as long as you keep a close eye on your traveling ferret and he
doesn’t attempt to escape. I personally don’t like using collars. A tug on a
collar can send the startled ferret into a frantic roll to get away from you.
Also, a struggling fuzzy can often slip right out of a collar and scurry for
freedom. I prefer harnesses because ferrets need less time to adjust to these
new articles of clothing, and they’re much more secure and safe.
Tip
As an extra precaution, you should consider fastening an identification tag to your fuzzy’s harness in case he does escape. Some people even attach bells to the harness to keep track of the fuzzy’s whereabouts.
The sections that follow show you how to familiarize your
fuzzy with his harness and give you basic rules to follow when taking your
fuzzy to the great outdoors to explore.
Getting fuzzy used to a harness
Before you take your ferret outside, get him accustomed to
his harness and leash inside. Most ferrets struggle when you first put on the
harness or collar, but after awhile, most go about their business of exploring.
Once in a while, though, I come across a rebellious carpet shark who takes more
time to get used to the new constraint.
Start off slowly by following these simple steps:
1. Get your ferret used to wearing his harness in the house while you supervise — but without a leash attached.
His harness should be just tight enough to prevent him from slipping out during a struggle.
2. When he begins to forget about his new piece of clothing, add the leash and walk him around the house.
3. When he seems to accept his limited freedom, you can move to the outside world.
I like to have my ferrets get all their struggling out
inside the house, just in case. There’s nothing like the panic that races
through you as you’re trying to catch a loose ferret outside.
Wah-lah. There’s little more to this training than just
harnessing your little guy. Some ferrets may need time to get used to having
dead weight holding them back, but I’ve never seen a ferret revolt the way a
puppy sometimes does. Ferrets don’t heel or walk peacefully by your side like a
pooch. The harness-and-leash method is merely a convenient way to tow you
behind them as they go on their merry little ways.
Warning!
A lot of people keep harnesses or tightly fitted collars on their ferrets all the time. Perhaps they leave the harnesses or collars on due to frustration or anxiety about having to put them back on later. I think this is a dangerous practice. Ferrets can and will get into everything and like to squeeze into small places. I advise you to never leave a collar or harness on your ferret while he’s unsupervised, because it’s very easy for him to get caught up on something and either get stuck or strangle himself, even in his own cage. If you have to battle to get the harness on, simply practice more often.
Following basic rules when you’re out and about
The following list presents some basic rules for safety and
sanity when you’re outside with your fuzzy:
- Never tie your tethered ferret to something and leave him unsupervised. Besides being an easy target for predators, your ferret will get bored and frustrated and do everything he can to escape, and he may just succeed.
- Never let your leashed ferret wander into shrubbery. He can become entangled in the branches, and it will be difficult for you to rescue him. Worst-case scenario, he can get stuck and wiggle his way out of his harness or collar.
- Never use stretchy collars. This collar variety is easy to pull off.
- Never use plastic collars or harnesses. Your fuzzy will be tempted to chew on them and swallow the pieces. Even if the ferret wearing the collar doesn’t chew it, a visiting playmate may.
- Never ignore the temperature. You wouldn’t walk your fuzzy across hot coals, so don’t walk him on hot pavement. The fuzzy’s paw-paws are very sensitive, you know. Likewise, those of us who’ve hopped frantically across a sandy beach know how brutally hot sand can get, and they don’t make sandals for carpet sharks! Walking on snow is okay as long as your ferret isn’t in it for too long.
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