In my experience, the most people who have dogs that can get along
with ferrets end up being pugs. Second, is Havanese. Then chihuahas
(I have no idea if I spelled that right). My mom has a chihuaha mix
with terrier, and it ripped up the rabbit when the rabbit jumped over
a board that was five feet high to get into the living room.

Prior to that, the dog and the rabbit had been introduced and all
was well, but the board was put up because the rabbit was chewing
on everything, so he lived free roam in the back room. There was no
indication (except that Ben was a terrier) that the rabbit would be
in danger from Ben the dog.

Certain movements set dogs off, as well as other things, making them
unpredictable. If you must have a dog, you have to choose a breed that
was bred simply for companionship and have no prey drive - such as a
Havanese, or Pug (in small dogs). Yes there are larger breeds such as
retreivers and labs that people swear by, but these dogs have also been
reported to play too roughly with them, and by mistake, the owners end
up with "just a dog". This is usually when they let a puppy play with a
ferret. It's way better to introduce a calm adult lab or retreiver to a
ferret, than have them grow up with a ferret. Imagine puppy bites, and
training them not to bite your hands (it can hurt!)...now imagine that
with a ferret instead of your hand. Not too great.

But with pugs, havanese, and chihuahas the key is to let them grow up
with the ferrets and get them as early as you can. Preferably having
grown up with ferrets the first six weeks, but that is often impossible
because what breeder has ferrets too? LOL.

Laryssa

[Posted in FML 5915]