The boot-drying ferret is a very interseting example of an animal that has found a new role in life, which few people could have imagined years ago. Jokes have been made about ferrets crawling up trouser legs, but who envisioned any practical application from such a habit?
The origins of the boot-drying ferret go back to a particularly wet week and a particularly wet Betty Drizzle, who after being caught out in a heavy downpour, squelced home with wet wellington boots. Normally she would stuff newspaper in the boots and leave them to dry over night. However, on that particular day she had to go out again a couple of hours later, and so was faced with the dismal prospect of having to pull on still wet boots. Betty returned to the hallway a couple of minutes later to find that one of her pet ferrets had crawled inside a boot, and upon emerging shook itself dry. This gave Betty the idea of combining the ferret's natural afinity for crawling into small spaces, with a fluffier coat which would enable it to dry boots more thoroughly.
As well as embarking on a breeding program, Betty also started training the ferrets extensively, hiding nuts in boots to encourage the ferrets to crawl inside.
Betty later moved to California, where due to the dry climate no longer had much need for the original role of the boot-drying ferret. She did find however, that the ferret could be adapted to drying wet rubber gloves, and so perhaps a sub-breed was born.
A pair of boot-drying ferrets, Binky and Benny, were used by yachtswoman Theonora Goodwind on her successful trans-Pacific voyage.