How BRIGHT are ferrets ?

[Ideation 8,216]

They are vert smart and learn very quickly, steal, climb or escape what they set their mind to, and they know what the collars mean, like when the dog sees you get the lead, and mine know to go back to the box once the set is empty if im off chasing the dog

[graham4877 1,181]

very smart , some c**t let mine out one night , the had f**k off, one come back a 6 pm walked across three roads lucky bugger,

was out till 12 at night looking for the other ,give up went to bed, only to be woke up at 7.30 am the little bugger had come back jumped in the pram out side rapped himself up in the sons jumper, then our lass was up at 4.30 with the babby heard something at the door , so she opened it but could not see anything!

[kevin from bristol 95]

there brighter than you think id say, just people dont put the time into them as much as other animals ,im teaching one of mine to play a tiny banjo no luck yet but you never know

[Coneytrappr 29]

I was once very curious to find out just how intelligent a ferret could be so I put a bit of time into one of my jills and as a result had a ferret that would come when called, would roll over when given a hand signal and would run over and nail a person on the ankle if I clicked and pointed at em. I shit you not.

She was a nippy sod and would nail people on the ankle if given half a chance so I simply started clicking and pointing every time she was lining someone up...soon put two and two together and I could single a person out in a group for her to go grab and she would hop to it...great fun.

 

That being said I have never bothered to teach any of my other stinkers anything beyond what is needed for working. The party tricks were just to prove to myself what I had suspected- they are intelligent wee things and are quite capable of learning.

[web22 27]

my hob will follow me if i call him,albeit in a zig zag pattern but he comes,from right down the garden aswell,and when i take them an egg they drop off the wire and que at the bowl,so must be fairly bright,but like kevin says people don't put that kind of time in,so most of us will never know...

[KittleRox 2,147]

Great replies folks,always knew they were bright,some very interesting replies also,not sure about the banjo though I also love they,re mad/wild attitude that they have along with there intelligence

Edited January 4, 2011 by roxy

[whin 463]

brighter than some of the halfwits ive saw owning them nowadays and back in the pre ninties eighties .a good hard working ferret like anything else is a pleasure to have a lazy ferret well give it the spade lol as for cleverness they feel pain no if a rats to much for them or the buck rabit thtas booting them is best kept clear, then you get the type who will go and go ,ferrets like lurchers is breeding and working and there as clever as most small pets, had th eleasure to work them own them for thirty years and saw some good ones in that time and some well up to ferret heaven ,a good ferret is clever ,i had alone of ahalf wild jill ten years ago she only went in ahole if there was arabbit there she had lived in the wild for three months , and had to hunt for a living not a hobby thats hunting intelegence far cry from doing silly circus tricks

[Ideation 8,216]

brighter than some of the halfwits ive saw owning them nowadays and back in the pre ninties eighties .a good hard working ferret like anything else is a pleasure to have a lazy ferret well give it the spade lol as for cleverness they feel pain no if a rats to much for them or the buck rabit thtas booting them is best kept clear, then you get the type who will go and go ,ferrets like lurchers is breeding and working and there as clever as most small pets, had th eleasure to work them own them for thirty years and saw some good ones in that time and some well up to ferret heaven ,a good ferret is clever ,i had alone of ahalf wild jill ten years ago she only went in ahole if there was arabbit there she had lived in the wild for three months , and had to hunt for a living not a hobby thats hunting intelegence far cry from doing silly circus tricks

 

 

Only entering a hole if there is something home is pretty standard, none of mine other than this years kits will go down if its empty, they point blank refuse, and they wont come up if there is still a rabbit there. Before i had dogs i used a ferret to mark holes. Also funny to give them an egg unbroken and watch them figure it out

[KittleRox 2,147]

brighter than some of the halfwits ive saw owning them nowadays and back in the pre ninties eighties .a good hard working ferret like anything else is a pleasure to have a lazy ferret well give it the spade lol as for cleverness they feel pain no if a rats to much for them or the buck rabit thtas booting them is best kept clear, then you get the type who will go and go ,ferrets like lurchers is breeding and working and there as clever as most small pets, had th eleasure to work them own them for thirty years and saw some good ones in that time and some well up to ferret heaven ,a good ferret is clever ,i had alone of ahalf wild jill ten years ago she only went in ahole if there was arabbit there she had lived in the wild for three months , and had to hunt for a living not a hobby thats hunting intelegence far cry from doing silly circus tricks

Although its not my thing either "silly circus tricks" as whin puts it,can,t see any harm in it,probably helps to promote ferrets to the uneducated,which can only be a good thing

[Ideation 8,216]

brighter than some of the halfwits ive saw owning them nowadays and back in the pre ninties eighties .a good hard working ferret like anything else is a pleasure to have a lazy ferret well give it the spade lol as for cleverness they feel pain no if a rats to much for them or the buck rabit thtas booting them is best kept clear, then you get the type who will go and go ,ferrets like lurchers is breeding and working and there as clever as most small pets, had th eleasure to work them own them for thirty years and saw some good ones in that time and some well up to ferret heaven ,a good ferret is clever ,i had alone of ahalf wild jill ten years ago she only went in ahole if there was arabbit there she had lived in the wild for three months , and had to hunt for a living not a hobby thats hunting intelegence far cry from doing silly circus tricks

Although its not my thing either "silly circus tricks" as whin puts it,can,t see any harm in it,probably helps to promote ferrets to the uneducated,which can only be a good thing

 

 

He's just a bit miserable mate - nothing is as good as it was in the past apparently, or at least so we are told, over and over and over

[proper22 5]

they are clever little buggers, mine follow me if I take them out just for exercise on the mnoors (not working) if i go say twenty meters ahead they follow my exact path with their nose, only problem is if they randomly lose your scent they go back the way they came(like back scenting) but at twice the speed so then i have to get a shift on!, i also find that the albino is quicker a following me as she has a better sense of smell to m,ake up for her eye sight i rekon....

[Coneytrappr 29]

Just an extra note on my old jill- I taught her to roll over using bits of mince as a reward. After a while she would come up to me and offer the behaviour in the hope that I would dish out the meat and after that she began to use it to indicate that she wanted to go through shut doors/get out of the run etc.

 

She was [not coincidentally?] also a very smart worker which is why I picked her to participate in my 'experiment'.