can people who have both dogs & ferrets share their stories about
integrating ferrets with dogs? and vice versa? I am currently working
with a friends dog to be friendly towards my ferrets. the puppy is
about 4 months right now, and pretty gentle in general although
sometimes over excited. I think both the dog (a large breed) and the
ferrets are a bit confused with what to do with each other. they both
want to play with each other. the ferrets war dance around the dog,
which excites her and she starts bouncing, which scares the ferrets
because she's 25lbs (and growing!). then the dog is a bit wary because
the ferrets will nip her paws when she's lying down.

the most fun I've seen though is toy stashing. the ferrets have some
pokemon stuff toys that can fit in their tunnels, but only if they drag
it in backwards. so the dog is chewing on one of these toys, and drops
it when a ferret comes along. ferret promptly grabs it and runs off,
with the puppy following. she puts it down by the tunnel, goes in and
turns around to drag it in, only to find the toy missing. dog is
chewing on it 5 feet away. this happens a few times and is hilarious
to watch. more recently, the ferret has taken to trying to steal the
toy right out of the dogs mouth, and they are pretty much playing tug
of war. the puppy often shove the toy at the ferret when the ferret
gives up.

someday, I hope to be able to take a picture like this
http://tanja-askani.de/daten/foto_marder3.jpg
one can dream, right?

Selina, Mochi, Jolt, & Cola

p.s. also very touched by some of the recent stories about ferrets
picking their humans.. I greatly admire the ability to be able to sit
in a room with a whole bunch of ferrets and not take them all home! I
am not sure I will be able to interact with more than 1 ferret and
just take 1 home... keep the stories coming!

[Posted in FML 6683]