How to train your ferrets to do tricks

Training a curious ferret to do tricks can be quite a challenge for even an experienced animal trainer. These small animals tend to get lost in their own world of investigation and forget that there is a training session going on. However, there are a few tricks you can use if you are patient with your pet.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ferret food
• Ferretone
• Tongue depressors or craft sticks

Train Your Ferret to Sit Up

1. Place a drop of Ferretone on the end of a tongue depressor--never a finger since a nip may occur. Ferretone is tasty vitamin supplement that ferrets love the taste of. Most will follow a drop of Ferretone anywhere it leads. If the ferret does not care for the treat, try some of its own food pieces.

2. Place the treat right in front of the pet's nose and let it lick the Ferretone off the tongue depressor. If your pet nips at the stick, correct it immediately with a sharp “No!” or “Ow!” If necessary, give a short wrap on the nose with the tongue depressor.

3. Put on another drop of Ferretone on the stick and place it to your pet's nose, this time stating your command “Sit up.” Use any command you want, but use the same command every time. As you state the command, lift the tongue depressor slowly upward. Make sure to keep the animal's attention on the treat.

4. Give the treat when it reaches the sit-up position. Praise your ferret with some playtime. Practice every day, but keep the ferret training sessions very short--more than one or two repetitions and your pet will be bored and lose interest.

Train Your Ferret to Roll Over

5. Follow steps 1 and 2 above and use the Ferratone on the tongue depressor. Training a ferret to lay down and roll over is as easy as the sit-up trick. These small animals love to get low to the ground and crawl, so the first part is easy.

6. Lower the treat to the floor, keeping it to the pet's nose. Say your chosen command and slowly help the ferret roll over while making a small circle with the treat.

7. Praise your pet after each training session; this is the best treat for a ferret!

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient and loving with your pet, and eventually your ferret will be doing tricks for you and your friends.
• Always monitor children when training and handling your pet ferret, since ferrets tend to nip hard. Don't try to force the training session on the ferret; if it is not interested, things will not go well.
• Do not use human food or canned cat food as a training tool or treat.