Naturally, Lila had never before encountered ferrets and when she caught her first whiff of Rodger and Dodger (arriving in a box), she was pretty excited. Much more so than she’d ever been about rabbits. I feared for the ferrets’ lives and tied Lila to a fence post where she could watch them from a safe distance. Quietly. So as not to distract them from their work.
The ferreter and his young daughter laid nets across the entries and exits of a rabbit warren and then encouraged the two sleek, curious creatures (neutered in case one or both should go missing and create a different sort of ecological problem!) with a soft excited sh-sh-sh to tunnel through and flush out any occupants. Lila strained at her lead, but understood that barking was forbidden.
After exploring every passageway, disappearing at one end and then popping up at the other as if to say “Nothing here!”, Rodger and Dodger led us to believe that the rabbits were not in residence. It was evening so maybe they were otherwise engaged. Wreaking havoc on the environment elsewhere. Wherever they were, it was a disappointment. And Lila would now have to wait till another occasion to witness the ways of the world.
[If you have received this post by email, please click “dog downunder” or “rodger and dodger: two ferrets doing a dog’s job” in order to view accompanying video in a web page.]
Re: ferreter. It’s a one-time deal? Don’t the ferrets have to come back till they produce some corpses? I thought one of those people might be you, until I noticed the florid tattoo!
No, not me. With or without a tattoo. I prefer to remain BEHIND the camera. Re the ferreter, I’m hoping he’ll come back soon. We have hundreds of rabbits on our property and he tells me he has freezer space.