Sheena said:
 
>Well, I would question the comment about the dogs being "tolerant" with the
>ferrets until they "snapped."  In our house, our dogs must be more than
>tolerant of the ferrets, they must respect them as being more alpha than
>they dogs themselves.  And since we are the ultimate alpha (humans that is)
>our actions carry the most weight.  We taught our dogs very young that the
>ferret can bite them, but they cannot bite the ferrets.  Many a time our
>Border Collie has come running to us with a ferret hanging off her tongue,
>asking for help to remove the weird "growth."
 
WADR (with all due respect), I know you have alot of experience with dogs...
but your dogs aren't really letting the ferrets be more alpha than they are.
They are just tolerating the ferts "bullying" like a parent would tolerate
the rather rough horseplay from a youngster.  Your dogs sound greater than
great, as were my dogs, until the unthinkable happened.  With a sad
casualty.  And why did it happen?  Because poor Rocky (the fert) escaped
from his cage and I wasn't there to reinforce my alpha position at a time
when it was most needed.  My German Shepherd realized that she could now get
her revenge!  If the ferrets were truly alpha over this dog, this would
never have happened and I wouldn't be in mourning.
 
While I respect your judgement, please be careful about the pit bull.  A
5-month old puppy is one thing, a full-grown male loaded with testerone
another.  I wouldn't trust any dog, nomatter how gentle, to play with a
ferret unsupervised.  Even when supervised, I'm always amazed at how fast
things can get out of control.
 
I hope you don't take this the wrong way.  I love ferrets, ALL ferrets, and
wouldn't want any to come to unnecessary pain.  I had to learn the hard way.
 
-cadel
[Posted in FML issue 1830]