Ferrets Training Lazy Owners To Sit Up!

Ferrets Training for the Summer Olympics. What?! Well, ferrets are Olympians. They're gold medalist in exploring, sleeping, playing and tunneling. But if you want to teach your ferret some new tricks, you need to be patient and persistant. A ferret's personality lies somewhere between a cat and dog. They're fiercely independent and have an attention span of a 3 year old kid.

Here are a few tips:

1. Have Fun - Look, even the experts have a hard time litter training these guys, so don't stress too much if you don't think you're making any progress. Frustration will just lead into more frustration and animals can sense that. Just have fun and enjoy the process.

2. Be Consistent - You should practice with your pet for 3 minutes, multiple times a day, everyday. This is where your patience needs to come in.

3. Have a treat - This is what's going to hold your ferret's attention. Ferrets have strict nutritional needs, so don't overdo it. Stick with tiny pieces of liver or a ferret vitamin drop.

Here are a couple of simple tricks to get both of you started:

Sitting up:

1. Have a basic command like saying "sit up" or snapping your fingers. Just be sure to be clear and have a treat ready.
2. Once your ferret sits up give him a treat.
3. Practice this a couple of times a day.
4. The key here is how long your ferret can sit up before you give him a treat. Slowly lengthen the time from sitting up to giving a treat. A good benchmark would 6 seconds.
5. Rinse and repeat

The Hang On:

1. Your ferret should have a favorite stuffed toy that he likes to play tug of war with you.
2. Play tug of war with your ferret and slowly lift him off the floor with his hind legs still planted.
3. Get him used to this and have him hold on for 20 seconds or so
4. Next get him off the floor while he's hanging on. Ferrets have incredibly powerful jaws and love this game.
5. After a few days of doing this you can lift him up higher and swing him around. Just don't do it too high.
6. When he finally gets good. You can actually walk around with your ferret hanging on. Tie the stuffed toy to a rope or towel and place it over your shoulder so your ferret is hanging behind you. Or just walk around with your ferret hanging on like a handbag. People will trip out when they see this. My ferret was able to do it for a few minutes.

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