Hello all!
 
Because I have a Pitbull, I constantly get those "Oh, she must be mean"
comments.  My Dykers is the biggest baby ever, but if my boyfriend and I
decide to wrestle, she gets in on it..and goes after him every time.  Even
if I start it, LoL.
 
Anyway, I've got the Pit, and a Poodle/Lab mix.  Both are great with the
ferrets, although they do sneak food from the ferrets' dish if given the
opportunity.  The Poodle mix does get more aggitated with them, because
his long, wavy hair is just TOO much fun to hang from.  (Or so the ferrets
told me.)   My mother has a Yorkshire Terrior.  He's terrified of the
ferrets, but he's probably not a great example.  He's afraid because a few
months ago, before we had Zeus out of his "I'll attack it if it smells
like food phase" he actually bit Barney (the Yorkie) on the tongue.  I'm
assuming Barney remembers, because now he just wants held if the ferrets
are around.  Before that incident, though, Barney was great with them too.
I have a friend with two Rotties.  Great dogs, but I probably wouldn't
have them (at least those guys specifically) just because they're CLODS.
They're so silly, and they don't realize how big they are.  At 4'11",
110 lbs, I get thrown around when Brick does his happy dance.  I would
be nervous about him stepping on one, but not harming it intentionally.
 
Midnight, the Poodle mix, is a thirteen year old dog that is trained to
hunt.  He just came to our home about six months or so ago.  We've not had
a problem with him mistaking the ferts for anything (but he did have a
weird obsession with my hamster.)
 
I think the one thing I would do is raise the puppy with the ferrets.
Teach the dog that NO MATTER WHAT the ferret does, the dog is not allowed
to hurt it.  Both of my dogs were raised without ferrets, and yet do fine
with them.  I personally don't think that the breed (although some,
because of size, or natural instincts MAY not be the great est mix) really
matters.  I think it's all about training.  Sorry to ramble, but I'm
constantly defending our choice of dogs and attempting to drive home the
fact that a cute little Beagle can be mean if it's trained right (well,
wrong, but you know what I mean) and that my "big, scary" Pitbull is just
a big baby.  Just like with any animal you have to get to know it's
personality, and work on training from there.  Good luck on getting a new
baby!
 
Lolli and the Mini-Zoo (Bridget, Brandon, Zoe, Zeus, Cheech, Chong,
Grandma, Bandit, Smokey- THE FUZZ; Dykers and Midnight- THE DAWGS; Molly
Anne- THE MINI-MOUNTAIN LION; Sycamore- THE SLITHERY SEVEN FOOTER) [Never
forgetting my precious Bear Ryan, my Bridge Fert.]
[Posted in FML issue 3607]