Ferrets and puppies seem to do well. Max was my first dog and Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy was my first ferret, both gone now :-( When Max (shepherd mix) was a puppy, Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy would clamp onto his cheek and hold on. Then Max would step on Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy and pin him down. They both seemed to enjoy it. Max grew to about 90 pounds and was always very tolerant of ferrets. When Max got older, and my younger ferrets got more obnoxious, I kept them separate except for some supervised play. Merlin would leap up, and Max would push him across the floor with his giant nose. But the ferrets also nipped at Max's ankles, so I kept them separate, as it was annoying to Max. I adopted the dog I have now, Lily, when she was 4-1/2 years old. She is a golden/some kind of herding dog mix. She tolerates the ferrets, but they are still obnoxious. For the most part I keep them separate except for Clover, who doesn't bother her. I don't think letting ferrets nip at dogs or cats is good for anyone; it's stressful and invites trouble. Sometimes I hold the ferrets and let Lily smell them, just so she doesn't forget they are family members. I almost lost Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy to a neighbor's mixed shepherd, when Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy went through a screen. It really depends on the individual dog and the ferrets. You must be very careful around adult dogs if you don't know how they are with small animals. Some are great, some will kill a ferret in an instant. Speaking of screens--you can never be too careful with screens. Hard wire, not soft mesh, is good advice (someone posted recently). I keep my ferrets in a couple of rooms when I'm not home, with windows open only slightly unless they are unreachable. The two times I have had ferrets escape unnoticed, I was right there in the house--once through a broken screen, once out the door. (And then there was the time Prince Charming got in the wall, but we were visiting.) A while back there were some very good posts about choosing what's right for your situation--cages, rooms, run of the house, etc. I had Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy a couple of years before I learned that some people cage their ferrets. He and Cinderella always had free run of the house, but they were both good with the dog and cats. Now I rotate ferrets between rooms (one of them is the bedroom) and the rest of the house. I enjoy the posts about what ferrets do in the middle of the night. Epcot often has some very important project that he needs to work on between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., usually relocating the laundry. He is a very hard-working, very driven ferret, works hard, plays hard. I am guessing he is a virgo. The other day a flock of geese flew overhead and Roxanne and Epcot stood on their hind legs to listen. (Maybe it's time for another trip south to DisneyWorld.) Ronnie in Mass. [Posted in FML issue 2406]