It's been awhile since I've posted about Serena the ferruppy and
several months ago I added a sister for her, Athena, a boston/beagle
mix, that isn't quite a ferruppy but does enjoy getting into the cages
and eating from the ferret food dishes. Athena came to us at 14 weeks
old, and little oldster Sweet Pea took her under her wing, cleaning her
from tail to nose. Athena, now almost 9 months old, loves it when Sweet
Pea scritches her, so much that the other night she nosed Sweet Pea to
scritch her while they were both on the bed. Athena laid down on her
side and whenever Sweet Pea stopped Athena would gently nose her to get
her started again. Sweet Pea is 7+ years old so she's not as active as
she was when Athena joined our family but she still gives it a good go.
Serena laid at the foot of the bed watching so Sweet Pea toddled over
to scrtitch her, but Serena has long hair and Sweet Pea can't get
through it to the skin to scritch, but she didn't want Serena to feel
left out so she tried anyway.

I've taught Serena to gently break up fusses between the ferrets and
Athena has learned by watching. The other night when two ferrets were
going at it in a floor cage, Athena jumped in and gently picked up one
of the ferrets and deposited her outside the cage while still standing
between them. Now when the ferrets fuss it's a race to see who gets to
break them up. Need I say the fusses are fewer?

At treat time, the dogs line up with the fuzzies for a ferret N-bone.
I've tried the dog N-bones but no one likes them. The dogs eat right
beside the ferrets, and the ferrets beside the dogs. In the morning
and when I get home after work, Athena will lay in the dog bed with
a fuzzy or two.

Monkey plays quite enthusiastically with Athena, to the point of
bullying her. I often have to have a talk with Monkey about being mean
to the dog. Serena ignores him though he tries to intimidate her at
times too.

Serena likes to lay in the shredded paper box, Athena likes to chew it
up to the dismay of the ferrets! Toys are interchangeable, dogs like
ferret toys and ferrets like dog toys. Beds are the same.

I enjoy watching the interactions, sometimes more than watching TV!

tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org

[Posted in FML 7150]