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Hi,
I have harness's for my ferrets, but I have never kept the harness on them to get them use to it. The reason why your ferret sulked when you put the harness on, is probably because he didn't want it on him. My ferrets do the same thing all the time. If you put the leash on him and take him outside, I garentee you that he won't sulk anymore and he will run around checking everything outside. I know my ferrets love going to new places and exploring, I am pretty sure all ferrets are like this.
Also, I don't reccommend keeping his harness on when he gets locked up in the cage, mainly because the harness could get caught on something. I never really even kept a harness on any of my ferrets to get them use to it, I don't think you really need to do that with them. I just trained my ferrets to get use to the resistants of the leash, I would put the harness on them and let them pull away while I stayed in one spot. I did that for about a week indoors and then I took them outside for a walk. There is two reasons why you should do the ressistant test indoors for a week, one so they can get use to it and two, to make sure they can't get out of thier harness! The rule that I follow by when putting on harnesses on any aniimal, is that you can only fit one of your fingers in the harness with thier body. Everytime you put the harness on your ferret, you should do the one finger test. The reason I say do this everytime, is because you ferret could lose or increase wieght at anytime and sometimes the harness needs to be readjusted. I find that when its close to winter I have to make the harness bigger for my ferrets and when its close to spring, I have to tighten the harness again. This is because in the winter they gain body fat to keep warm but when spring and summer come they don't need this fat anymore so they lose it.
I hope that when you finally take your ferret for his first walk that you play it safe and remember to consider the weather outside. I usually don't walk my ferrets longer then 15-20 mins outside, and thats on a nice cool day. If it is really hot, make sure you bring water for your ferret and if it is too cold, watch his reactions. If he is shaking to much or trys to crawl up your leg, then that means he is too cold to go for a walk that or he is really nervous or both!
__________________
Eat a crunchy, Sleep in hammock,
Steal a sock, Dig in shoes,
Nip your ankles, Climb your pants
Miss the litter box, Beg for treats,
Poop in a corner, Knock something over
But Why Would Anyone Do a Thing Like That?
Last edited by ILoveFuzzies; 02-12-2005 at 04:08 PM.
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