Calming down for training

[kainslie]

We are having a fun time with Sly, he's super cute and funny.

Problem is, he can never calm down, I will let him out about a hour before training so he can run around and play and tyer himself out a bit, but it doesn't seem to work. I've brought him on walks before, but he's always just so happy! I can't get him to just stay in one place for longer than 3 seconds so I can't capture any behaviours from him..

He also still doesn't like treats, He likes his hair ball laxitive... but that is it. He's also greedy with it, and I try to give him a lick of it, but he wasn't a bite of it. soo not a lot of training with that mentality.. ha.

Can someone help me a bit please.. I just need him to pay attention to me for 3 mins.. any ideas?

[Heather]

Refresh our memories....how old is Sly?
Is there a toy that you can use in place of a treat? Something that he can focus on like a cat tassel or something that will make him look at the toy. Sometimes training has to be incorporated into play. What are you trying to teach him to do?
ciao

[kainslie]

I'm not sure sly's age, it's between 3-4. So he's mature(d)

I've tried a few toys, but nothing that really intersts him.. he'll play with them for a bit then quit.
Or, he'll pay with the dogs toy (something that is even bigger than her) and he has fun with that.. but once I take it away, he stops caring.

Right now i'm trying to capture a behaviour (and I chose lip licking)

[Heather]

Yours or the ferrets? You want him to kiss you or you want him to smack his lips? Does he eat raw yet? My guys will automatically smack their lips if I wave a gibby in front of them. If I want to teach a kiss then a bit of something they like on my lips gets lots of kisses.
ciao

[kainslie]

It's for him, licking his own lips. and yes, I got him on raw =]
but it's weird! he won't take raw treats from me, because it's not in the cage, when he does take them he runs with the treats into his hiding place (which i'm not sure where it is yet, but he's got some things in there, i'm sure rotting by now -grr-)

[sherrylynne]

If you want to find his stash spot, just follow and watch him closely when he grabs the meat and runs. Redirect him to a feeding den, if you can.
And since you've just gotten him, he's going to be all excited about being in a new place. Give him a while to settle in, and he'll settle down

[katt]

Koda won't accept raw treats from me either. (And a feeding den in his cage helped a lot with the stashing - plus he only gets meals in his cage and I close the cage off when he is out and about so he can't get to the meat and stash it. haha )

I am not sure how or if you can train lip-smacking. The easiest thing to start with is Stand. You can take the treat, let him have a bite or lick so he knows it is there, and hold it over his head while saying "Stand" and he will naturally want to get to the treat - and will have to stand to reach it.

Here is what I found works well for treats:
FerretVite (or FerreTone, etc) diluted with pure Vaseline on a spoon - I let him lick it but he will take bites too but he can't bite very much off at once.
Freeze dried raw - once I convinced him it was food he went crazy for it. I got the sample pack from Casey's Hidden Pantry. I break off tiny pieces and use that and he has been good (for the most part) about not running off with the treat-bite to stash or eat it in a hidey hole. lol

Good luck!

[shilohismygirl]

Sept 11, 2010 14:58:32 GMT -5 katt said:

You can take the treat, let him have a bite or lick so he knows it is there, and hold it over his head while saying "Stand" and he will naturally want to get to the treat - and will have to stand to reach it.

!

Unless you've already taught him 'roll over' and 'shake hands' and he just rolls over and over and tries to shake as you're holding the treat up. Fiddler is learning stand right now, and is doing a beautiful job of it, but the first few days of it were him trying to roll over.

Also, about treats, sometimes they don't understand that something is delicious food until they've tasted it-there are a lot of great things as treats, Katt named a few. You might actually have to put a tiny piece into their mouths so that they at least get the taste, or put ferretone on it, if he's gaga for that like most ferrets are.

[kainslie]

Thanks for some of the tips, As for the luring him into positions like stand, I can't do that, I have to 'watch him' until he does the behavior I want him to do before I treat him. So luring him into a stand wouldn't work. I need something 'natural' that he will do on his own.

and for watching him while he takes things to his stash... I've tried so hard! hah, actually he like disappears! I've watched him three times, and each time he just runs and hides! aha, it's so hard. I think i'll harness him next time so he jingles so I can catch him!

[sherrylynne]

Actually, standing up is a very natural thing for ferrets to do. They'll stand so they can see/smell farther.

[kainslie]

But I haven't noticed him stand on his hind legs if there isn't anything up there for him to get.
So I would have to lure him into a position to make him do that, which I can't do.

[Heather]

Wouldn't a ferret standing up to see something better be something natural...so if you're trying to teach him to sit up or stand on his hind legs though with a treat be natural the same way as trying to get him to lick his lips for a treat. Maybe, I'm splitting hairs here....
ciao

[kainslie]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpc3rAner0g

Here's a link to how your suppose to capture a dog licking it's lips. Notice how the treat isn't infront of the dog, it's on the side table, and the dog isn't looking at the treats, it's looking at the owner. She isn't parading a treat infront of the dog to make him lick his lips, he is naturally doing it then, gets a treat for doing te desired behavior.

Just like you would teach a small dog bow, you would wait till they did the bow, click and treat, they are just too small to lure the dog into a bow position. Plus without luring you are teaching the animal to do something (in turn they are learning) and that means the animal will retain and beable to preform the behaviour even though it isn't touch up on often. (unlike other methods, where you would lure the dog into a sit, then they learn that you should only sit with a treat in hand type deal)

[katt]

That makes total sense now, thanks for the video. I have never seen Koda lick his lips unless he had soupies or something on his whiskers. lol The hard thing about ferrets is - exactly as you are discovering - they don't have very long attention spans! lol