>>While I respect your judgement, please be careful about the pit bull.>
>With all due respect, the above statement is a generalization about this
>breed of dog that can lead to erroneous conclusions.  Pit bulls are not by
>nature "vicious" animals.  Assuming you have seen my previous posts, I won't
>belabor the point.  EACH dog and EACH ferret is an individual, and their
>relationships are as unique as human relationships.
 
Each dog and each ferret is an individual, but I think you are stretching
it a bit by claiming that their relationships are as unique as human
relationships.  Humans, being more complex, are much easier to mess up, ya
know (schizophrenia, bipolar, paranoid delusional, multiple personality,
co-dependent, obsessive compulsive and other such delicacies).  ;)
 
Consider the following:
 
Assuming they were raised, trained, and socialized the same way, which
strain of ferret is more likely to bite--a Marshall farms ferret, or a
ferret of fitch stock?
 
Which breed of dog is more likely to pull your arms out of the sockets--a
husky, which is bred to be a sled dog, or a German shepherd?  Which dog is
more inclined to obey its owners commands--a border collie or a dalmation?
 
Generally speaking, the northern type breeds of dogs are inclined to be very
stubborn, develop a habit of straying from home, and will be more likely to
dig under fences.  Throw a ball, and a retriever is going to be 10 times
more likely to retrieve it than a chow.  Australian cattledogs were bred to
nip the heels of livestock and have the same propensity to nip the heels of
people.  Every purebred dog was bred to have an inclination to act in a
certain somewhat predictable way, so that we humans could use them for the
purpose for which they were bred.  Pick up the AKC book of breed standards
and you will find lots and lots of generalizations.  Appropriate ones.
 
Pit bulls were bred to fight and be "gamey".  Would you be more apt to see
a dogfight if you released two strange pit bulls in the same neutral
territory, or two miniature poodles?  One cannot just pick any ol' breed of
dog, or any strain of ferret, that one wishes, and mold them to be exactly
how we want them to be.  That's why other posters have inquired as to what
breeds of dogs are more apt to be good with ferrets.
 
-cadel (who loves your border collie and "vicious" pit bull)
[Posted in FML issue 1835]