Fuzzie Attitude.

Question
Hey there, I'll cover the bases right now.
The ferret in question is Polly and she is about 4-5 months old. She lives with our two other Ferrets, Lucy who is about 10 months, and Kali who is a year and half old. She seems to be in good health, she eats 8-1 Ultimate, Her last poop was a little runny (she's been having diarrhea on and off for the last three days, but it seems to be clearing up today, she is drinking lots of water I assure you), and she lives in a super pet 2x2x2 cage with our two other ferrets.

My question is training tips. My husband and I have owned two ferrets (who we currently still have) previous to Polly, and they have been very obedient and well behaved. When they do something wrong (such as digging at our carpet) we scruff them and raise our voices saying "No dig" into their stomachs (one of our ferrets is Deaf). With Polly she had a problem going to the bathroom in the litter box in her cage for the first week we had got her. During the day she would go potty in the litter box, but every morning we'd find her poop and pee in one of the platform corners. To deal with this we started with a 5 minute scruff and putting her beside her accident saying "NO, POTTY IN THE LITTER BOX" and she continued this behavior, so we increased her time being disciplined by 5 minutes. When we got to the 15 minute mark, she finally stopped going potty on the platforms.

you can imagine how much time it takes to punish her that way but we're stuck at another way to do it. Our current problem with her is she has HUGGEE Attitude! She likes to dig in her food bowl and spread the food all over the bottom of the cage and then she doesn't eat it, so we have been punishing her for it. She has stopped but does it every now and then (testing her boundaries no doubt) but when she is finished being punished, she hisses. She continues to hiss, so we scruff her again and tell her No hiss, and when we let her scruff go, she hisses again. She does this about 5 or 6 times, sometimes she tries to bit our knuckles. After the 5 or 6th time she becomes submissive like our other two ferrets.
She hisses whenever she gets into trouble whether its from digging, or having an accident outside of the litter box while she is out to play. She really thinks she is the boss! Haha!

Is there an alternative to deal with this young attitude problem? Our other ferrets did hiss at us, but the first time they did it, they got an ear full and it has not happened since.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your time,
-Jill and Scott Anderson

Answer
Hey Jill, Scott, Polly, Lucy and Kali,

I am very sorry that you are having problems with training your newest little one! Litter training is a difficult thing to get through, but with patience and understanding on the part of the ferret parents, a.k.a. the dominant ferrets, then the problem can be fixed. I am a little concerned about your methods.

While there is nothing seriously wrong with them, I'm worried that your little girl is learning to fear you and respond to you with aggression as such. Ferrets do need to be scruffed and told what they are doing wrong, but you shouldn't go so far as to make them afraid.

You will never see your ferret fully litter trained 100% of the time. What I mean is, ferrets aren't like cats. They aren't programmed to go in the litter box. This, again, is going to take time and patience on your part. As a rule, ferrets don't poop where they sleep, eat or play. Litter training in the cage is easy. Fill her cage with blankets (or tee shirts, sweatshirts, receiving blankets, anything snuggly) and when you do that, make sure the bedding us under the litter box. The next step is to put a little bit of her poop in the litter box so she knows that is where you are supposed to go. When you see her going potty somewhere else, lift her up and put her in her litter box. After she's done, make sure to praise her. You could even give her a treat and FYI, kibble hand fed can be a treat and she will see it as bonding with you. (With that, make sure that she isn't faking it when she gets in the litter box. If she thinks all she has to do for a treat is get in the litter box, she'll start to just get in and not go, so just be weary of that.) For her playtimes, you should have a litter box in all the corners because if a ferret is out playing and they have to go, they have to go *now* and if the litter box is far away, she probably won't make it.

As for the other behavior, instead of just doing one thing, try to combine it with snuggling her up to your chest afterward. That way, after the scruff, she'll know that you still love her and care for her and all that good stuff! That should help with her little attitude problem. Probably not RIGHT AWAY, but that is where the time and the patience come in. Give it time and she should come around.

I hope this helps and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews