Mary, I thought sharing a bit of our experience might be helpful.
 
We have one dog, two cats, three ferrets, one parrot, and various assorted
other life forms comprising our household--both lower and highter, but I'm
not always sure where the humans fit in ;=).  Our dog is a neutered male , a
pit bull/german shepherd mix.  He's large, clumsy and boisterous, but
oh-so-careful with the ferrets.  You wouldn't think so at first glance, if
you saw him chasing, grabbing, and literally jumping on top of a ferret.
But by watching him closely, you can see that he's very careful where he
puts his big clumsy paws, even in play.  He seems to sense that he has to be
careful with the little critters.  When he jumps on top of one, he catches
the ferret's body between his elbow and rib cage, so, although it looks as
though he would crush them, he's actually being very careful.  The ferrets
(actually our two boys; our girl isn't into "dog play" as much) love teasing
the dog and getting chased.  They will sometimes chew on his toes, bite his
ears, or jump on him to get him riled up.  For what it's worth, as far as
breeds go, I think that a guard dog breed would be the most likely to live
amicably with ferrets.  Pit bulls, rotweilers, german shepherds and the like
are bred for their loyalty and protective instincts above all else.  Our
dog, by the way, was not raised with ferrets; we adopted him as an adult.
 
Our two cats have very different responses toward the ferrets.  Our older
cat tolerates them, even watches them play with each other, but has no
interest in playing with them.  He will let them nudge him and walk over him
when he's sleeping, as if he's thinking "maybe if I ignore this thing it
will go away!" If one gets too persistent, he will grab it with his front
paws and give it the old "one two" with his back feet, the way cats do.  He
shows no inclination toward hurting them, though, just wants to let them
know that they have to find their fun elsewhere.  He obviously does not
think of them as rodents, which he is very good at eliminating!  Our younger
cat was raised with ferrets and still thinks he may be one of them.  He's
learned their games, still climbs into their cage, and has a blast playing
with them.
 
I hope this helps.
 
______
Nancy Farlow <[log in to unmask]>
[Posted in FML issue 1829]