When kits are born their ears and eyes are closed. They can't hear
themselves crying but everyone else sure can! Many years ago when I
bred a few litters, my poor shepherd used to pace along the cage
because he was so worried about the babies. The only time they were
quiet was when they were sleeping it seemed, or when Shylow was allowed
to lick them. Imagine a 95# shepherd licking something so tiny! One
lick did it, and he had to lick each one before he was assured they
were fine, for a little while anyway. Them Prissy (momma ferret) had
to clean the dog cootoes off them when they were put back in the cage.

As for raising ferrets with dogs, the younger the puppy the better in
my opinion. I prefer large dogs but with the ferrets I knew a smaller
dog would work better for us since the ferrets have free roam of the
house. With toddler puppies like Serena, they often think they are a
ferret, but still with some dog tendencies. It took several months
before I felt comfortable letting Serena run the house when I was gone.
I felt so bad leaving her in the plexiglassed off bathroom when I left
for work, but until I was convinced she wouldn't hurt the ferrets that
is where she stayed. Her brother who has ferret siblings but that don't
run the house, is leery of the ferrets and will snap at them if they
come too close. That behavior isn't allowed in our home so when he
visits we are all on watch with him.

With older and larger puppies it's necessary to keep a very watchful
eye on them. A larger puppy could easily hurt a tiny ferret during
play. When I had larger dogs I made sure they knew the ferrets were
alpha and there was no allowance of misbehaving with them, no matter
what the ferret did. My ferrets were caged at that time, very early on
in my ferret care days and it was safer for them to be caged when I
wasn't supervising. Dogs tend to snap quickly when startled and I was
quick to reprimand them no matter what the reason even if they didn't
mean to hurt anyone. Any dog with a higher prey drive would need close
supervision. It only takes a second to let your guard down and
something happen.

One think I'd recommend is not allow tugging playing with the dog.
Often dogs will tug and shake toys, if that was a ferret.... Serena
never played/plays tug with me, it is a game not allowed.

Always remember that dogs don't understand size differences and they
will always be dogs.

This morning Serena wouldn't come inside so I went to see what she was
doing. A fledgling bird had somehow gotten into one of the wire cages
behind the shed and couldn't get out. Serena wouldn't leave the area
till I fixed the problem. Apparently she thinks she has pointer in her
too (along with Rottie/Beagle/Bloodhound - only thinks she is - she is
really a lhasa mix). The poor fledgling had feathers worn off above his
beak from trying to go out through the wire. I'm guessing he got in
through the bottom then went up the ramp to the top level and couldn't
figure out how to get out. It took some doing but finally I got him
back down the ramp and lifted the bottomless cage for him to escape.
As soon as he was out he went through the fence and off to freedom.

Even though Serena was clearly concerned, I would not trust her with a
fledgling. They are much too fragile and she is much too rambunctious.
Even though I trust her with the ferrets to be around, I watch her
closely when she tries to play with them and any roughness is quickly
corrected. She is too big and too heavy to trust her completely even
in play.

tle
www.ferretfamilyservices.org
pictures there of our home if anyone wants to look-see.

[Posted in FML 6685]