This is Susie Lee in, of and for the Ferret & Dove Sanctuary, Inc. of
Pensacola, Florida.

Within just ONE day of when the tragic accident happened, I had posted
on the FML about how some new outfit called "Halo Pets" had accepted
our 13-year old shar-pei, Mulan (named after the Disney movie about a
chinese girl helped by the family's small dragon) had been accepted as
their "Halo Pet of the Week" for that week with a two-photo article
about some of the info i sent them about Mulan Shar-Pei. Mulan is of
a breed of dog that the county and city shelters tend to just kill
mindlessly because she's "lumped" in with PIT BULLS, and her closer
genetic cousins, CHOWS, who are all somewhat notorious for being inbred
to biting-machines ...oh, say, like some labs and poodles had been when
they were once in-vogue.

But when she was six months old, way back when, we looked into her eyes
and saw a gentle soul. So we adopted her as our shelter's dog.

Mulan Shar-pei loves her flock of doves so well she hates to leave them
even in the worst weather that now makes her arthritis give her yipes
and yelps just standing still. She loves our 5 cats and will give
them each a slurpy lick if only they would let her. And she's BEEN a
dependable friend to any idiotic ferret that escapes outside and finds
their way to this old brown dog...we've found three different escaped
ferrets lying down on Mu's broad, fuzzy back and one other just being
doggy-laughed-at but untouched (Ginger-Simone Blacksable ferret who
prefers to play with the squirrels.)

Dear Alexandra, we have an old, arthritic dog, too!

And she's a much "worse"-er-er breed than yours for small critters like
ferrets to be around, never mind cats or the completely vulnerable
doves.

We've tried our level best to keep all the ferrets away from the "Mu"
but THEY find their ways out TO her, anyhow.

I'm just grateful that it's not been any of the "contentious" ferrets
which had done that, such as Jade Spritely. Jade Spritely Ferret hates
other ferrets and will do her level best to kill any ferret she
catches.

I had Jade in my hand to introduce to Mulan Shar-pei about a month
after Jade came to us, several years ago, and just at the beginning of
the introductory-identifying sniffle, Jade spat and snarled, making
Mulan close her smiling-panting mouth and back-up-quick. After that
intro we both were extra-extra careful to never let Jade outside
where Mulan was peacefully resting near her birds on her patio-couch.

A ferret like Jade Spritely would FORCE even a small, meek dog
to defend themselves, never mid a 60-pounder who is normally
gentle-natured. However, *even* with the most careful precautions,
accidents STILL will happen. That's life.

We need Mulan Sharpei to slurp the cats away from the doves; it's her
favorite single thing to do, stay near her doves and slurp cats. As to
the ferrets, you can never say "never" about them...

Ginger-Simone Blacksable Ferret is proof positive (to us) that you
*can't* keep a misbehaving ferret INside when *they* want to scoot
outside.

www.angelfire.com/theforce/ferret_rescuer/index.html
http://www.myspace.com/ferretanddove=20

[Posted in FML 6095]