| Dog and ferret - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| KG |
No flames please
I have beagle/terrier mix puppy. He's about 5 mos old. He absolutely
adores the ferrets. He sits in front of the cages and yips and
entices them to play. I've seen him play one sided chase games trying
to get them to come out of the cage. Once he played "chase" with an
empty ferret cage.
Our old dog died last April. The last 2 yrs of her life she didn't
play with the ferrets. Many of the ferrets aren't interested in
playing with puppy. they have their ferrety missions from god and
puppy is a nuisance.
I got in a new boy a couple of months ago, about 7 mos old. A big
whopping hob. He's as big as my mink, may way 5#. He and puppy love
to play. I supervise until the ferret starts hissing. Then I break
it up. Playtime is from 20 minutes to an hour. Ferret goes back to
his cage or a playpen.
I've caught puppy dragging him around by the tail, and once carrying
him around by the scruff. The ferret doesn't seem to mind and comes
back for more. I'm worried about a 20# puppy carrying around a ferret
by the scruff.
KG
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| Bill Leary |
"KG" <katgall@voyager.net> wrote in message
news:9ad00fda.0404130812.78d56b30@posting.google.com...
> No flames please
Ours dogs and cats co-habit with our ferrets. We had to work out the rules
over time. You seem to be doing the same.
> I have beagle/terrier mix puppy. He's about 5 mos old. He absolutely
> ((..omitted..))
> I've caught puppy dragging him around by the tail, and once carrying
> him around by the scruff. The ferret doesn't seem to mind and comes
> back for more. I'm worried about a 20# puppy carrying around a ferret
> by the scruff.
We've only had two cases where a dog picked up a ferret. In both cases the
dog did just that. Picked it up, moved it, and put it down again. The dog
had had puppies and picked the ferret up exactly the same way it had picked
up it's own puppies years before. She didn't appear to be upset or angry in
any way. She simply didn't seem to want the ferret where it was, though I
didn't see that where she put it down was any different from where she
picked it up. Moved it from one part of the kitchen to another. The ferret
didn't struggle either. Just hung there looking around. It was funny too.
I've always seen on TV and read that mother gods pick up puppies by
scruffing them. This dog always picked up hers by their bodies right in her
mouth, and did the same with the ferret.
My son has a one year old very excitable 40# puppy here who we do not allow
to play with the ferrets yet. Maybe never. She's just too big and rough to
do so. She'd hurt them out of plain playfulness and not knowing her own
strength.
On the other hand, one of our ferrets regularly plays chase with the 80#
shepherd mix dog we've got and they both (the dog and the ferret) enjoy both
chasing and being chased.
I think your caution is well placed. I wouldn't take the ferret's opinion
on the matter as being all that relevant. They often seem to have the
survival instincts of garden rocks.
- Bill
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| Jim Higgins |
On 13 Apr 2004 09:12:35 -0700, in
<9ad00fda.0404130812.78d56b30@posting.google.com>,
katgall@voyager.net (KG) wrote:
>No flames please
>
>I have beagle/terrier mix puppy. He's about 5 mos old. He absolutely
>adores the ferrets. He sits in front of the cages and yips and
>entices them to play. I've seen him play one sided chase games trying
>to get them to come out of the cage. Once he played "chase" with an
>empty ferret cage.
>
>Our old dog died last April. The last 2 yrs of her life she didn't
>play with the ferrets. Many of the ferrets aren't interested in
>playing with puppy. they have their ferrety missions from god and
>puppy is a nuisance.
>
>I got in a new boy a couple of months ago, about 7 mos old. A big
>whopping hob. He's as big as my mink, may way 5#. He and puppy love
>to play. I supervise until the ferret starts hissing. Then I break
>it up. Playtime is from 20 minutes to an hour. Ferret goes back to
>his cage or a playpen.
>
>I've caught puppy dragging him around by the tail, and once carrying
>him around by the scruff. The ferret doesn't seem to mind and comes
>back for more. I'm worried about a 20# puppy carrying around a ferret
>by the scruff.
As long as scruffing remains scruffing I don't see a big problem,
but the instant it becomes much more it could be too late.
As for the tail dragging, I think that's an easy way to cause a
very painful tail fracture either by separating the vertebra in
the tail or crushing one.
I think you know the safest course to take.
--
Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W
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| older molly |
Bill Leary wrote:
> "KG" <katgall@voyager.net> wrote in message
> news:9ad00fda.0404130812.78d56b30@posting.google.com...
> > No flames please
>
> Ours dogs and cats co-habit with our ferrets. We had to work out the rules
> over time. You seem to be doing the same.
>
> > I have beagle/terrier mix puppy. He's about 5 mos old. He absolutely
> > ((..omitted..))
> > I've caught puppy dragging him around by the tail, and once carrying
> > him around by the scruff. The ferret doesn't seem to mind and comes
> > back for more. I'm worried about a 20# puppy carrying around a ferret
> > by the scruff.
>
> We've only had two cases where a dog picked up a ferret. In both cases the
> dog did just that. Picked it up, moved it, and put it down again. The dog
> had had puppies and picked the ferret up exactly the same way it had picked
> up it's own puppies years before. She didn't appear to be upset or angry in
> any way. She simply didn't seem to want the ferret where it was, though I
> didn't see that where she put it down was any different from where she
> picked it up. Moved it from one part of the kitchen to another. The ferret
> didn't struggle either. Just hung there looking around. It was funny too.
> I've always seen on TV and read that mother gods pick up puppies by
> scruffing them. This dog always picked up hers by their bodies right in her
> mouth, and did the same with the ferret.
>
> My son has a one year old very excitable 40# puppy here who we do not allow
> to play with the ferrets yet. Maybe never. She's just too big and rough to
> do so. She'd hurt them out of plain playfulness and not knowing her own
> strength.
>
> On the other hand, one of our ferrets regularly plays chase with the 80#
> shepherd mix dog we've got and they both (the dog and the ferret) enjoy both
> chasing and being chased.
>
> I think your caution is well placed. I wouldn't take the ferret's opinion
> on the matter as being all that relevant. They often seem to have the
> survival instincts of garden rocks.
Just to balance the warm fuzzy stories of how well people's ferrets and
dogs get along, I want to say that if any one of my dogs got hold of one
of the ferrets, I would have a dead ferret!
My dogs are happy friendly well balanced family pets who see the
ferrets daily and are told to "leave 'em". But in their eyes, they are
small furries. In other words, vermin that need to be killed like rats.
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| Temprance |
"Jim Higgins" <me7@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:nmpo70hsuuatgvmjhgjgvqrp4rgre8tuau@4ax.com...
> On 13 Apr 2004 09:12:35 -0700, in
> <9ad00fda.0404130812.78d56b30@posting.google.com>,
> katgall@voyager.net (KG) wrote:
>
> >No flames please
> >
> >I have beagle/terrier mix puppy. He's about 5 mos old. He absolutely
> >adores the ferrets. He sits in front of the cages and yips and
> >entices them to play. I've seen him play one sided chase games trying
> >to get them to come out of the cage. Once he played "chase" with an
> >empty ferret cage.
> >
> >Our old dog died last April. The last 2 yrs of her life she didn't
> >play with the ferrets. Many of the ferrets aren't interested in
> >playing with puppy. they have their ferrety missions from god and
> >puppy is a nuisance.
> >
> >I got in a new boy a couple of months ago, about 7 mos old. A big
> >whopping hob. He's as big as my mink, may way 5#. He and puppy love
> >to play. I supervise until the ferret starts hissing. Then I break
> >it up. Playtime is from 20 minutes to an hour. Ferret goes back to
> >his cage or a playpen.
> >
> >I've caught puppy dragging him around by the tail, and once carrying
> >him around by the scruff. The ferret doesn't seem to mind and comes
> >back for more. I'm worried about a 20# puppy carrying around a ferret
> >by the scruff.
>
> As long as scruffing remains scruffing I don't see a big problem,
> but the instant it becomes much more it could be too late.
>
> As for the tail dragging, I think that's an easy way to cause a
> very painful tail fracture either by separating the vertebra in
> the tail or crushing one.
>
> I think you know the safest course to take.
>
>
> --
> Jim Higgins, quasimodo AT yahoo DOT com
> icbm: 33.55.34N, 80.24.21W
The trouble is that a puppy dog's teeth are very sharp and it could break
the ferrets skin. I think as long as you are watching very carefully all the
time they are together and can say no to puppy you should be ok. My dog does
occasionally snap at my Kenny but usually because Kenny has beena littl **
and bit the dogs tail or the fur in his pads. I wouldn't trust mine to be
left alone together though. 20# is a lot to end up on a fert.
Temprance
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| Diogenes |
Our resident ferret and 120 lb Rottweiler get along famously. The dog
seems especially taken with the ferret's odor, and the two of them
often play a friendly game of 'chase' around the house. The dog is
very gentle with his little friend, and the two of them frequently eat
out of the dog's bowl together.
We just have to be careful to put the ferret in his cage whenever
there is a strange dog in the house, since he doesn't realize that not
all canines are as benevolent as his buddy.
----
Diogenes (cdhoran@hotmail.com)
The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again . . . .
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| older molly |
Diogenes wrote:
>
> Our resident ferret and 120 lb Rottweiler get along famously. The dog
> seems especially taken with the ferret's odor, and the two of them
> often play a friendly game of 'chase' around the house. The dog is
> very gentle with his little friend, and the two of them frequently eat
> out of the dog's bowl together.
>
> We just have to be careful to put the ferret in his cage whenever
> there is a strange dog in the house, since he doesn't realize that not
> all canines are as benevolent as his buddy.
>
> ----
All very nice apart from the risk of your 120 lb dog tripping and
falling on your 3 lb ferret. My giant schnauzer bitch (98lb) adores
little dogs and kittens, but has to be made to go steady because she has
in the past accidentally trodden on one and made it yell. Luckily no
bones broken but it *could* happen.
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| Diogenes |
On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 13:29:26 +0100, older molly
<oldmolly1955@REMOVETHISbitches.co.uk> wrote:
>Diogenes wrote:
>
>>
>> Our resident ferret and 120 lb Rottweiler get along famously. The dog
>> seems especially taken with the ferret's odor, and the two of them
>> often play a friendly game of 'chase' around the house. The dog is
>> very gentle with his little friend, and the two of them frequently eat
>> out of the dog's bowl together.
>>
>> We just have to be careful to put the ferret in his cage whenever
>> there is a strange dog in the house, since he doesn't realize that not
>> all canines are as benevolent as his buddy.
>>
>> ----
> All very nice apart from the risk of your 120 lb dog tripping and
>falling on your 3 lb ferret. My giant schnauzer bitch (98lb) adores
>little dogs and kittens, but has to be made to go steady because she has
>in the past accidentally trodden on one and made it yell. Luckily no
>bones broken but it *could* happen.
I'd be far more worried about one of my kids tripping and falling on
the ferret than the dog doing so. After all, he has four wheel drive.
Dunno about your schnauzer's physical agility, but the only thing my
Rotty 'accidentally' steps on is my *foot* when he's trying to tell me
something and I'm not paying attention.
----
Diogenes (cdhoran@hotmail.com)
The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again . . . .
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| older molly |
Diogenes wrote:
>
> I'd be far more worried about one of my kids tripping and falling on
> the ferret than the dog doing so.
Luckily I have no kids
> After all, he has four wheel drive.
> Dunno about your schnauzer's physical agility, but the only thing my
> Rotty 'accidentally' steps on is my *foot* when he's trying to tell me
> something and I'm not paying attention.
I have got 10 dogs and have to say that all large dogs seem to be less
agile than small ones, and both my own large breeds and those of friends
seem to be rather prone to standing on or sitting/laying on, those
smaller than themselves. With a dog or adult cat they soo learn to keep
out of the way or yell loud if sat on, but I doubt a ferret would.
As a matter of course I never leave animals of disparate size together
unless I am with them. Perhaps I have just seen and heard of too many
awful things happening :0(
--
It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are
not.
Andre Gide
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| Bill Leary |
"older molly" <oldmolly1955@REMOVETHISbitches.co.uk> wrote in message
news:c5ls4u0165a@enews4.newsguy.com...
> As a matter of course I never leave animals of disparate size together
> unless I am with them.
The few cases where we've seen our large dogs do something size related to a
smaller animal it was intentional. Such as squeezing a smaller dog off the
couch where the larger dog wanted to sit or use it's larger mass to force a
cat away from a food bowl the dog decided it wanted to get at. We've never
had anything step or lay or even fall on anything smaller. So far, anyway.
But...
> Perhaps I have just seen and heard of too many
> awful things happening :0(
Accidents do happen and animals are what they are, each as individuals.
Given your mention (here and other places) of the large number of animals
you've worked with and known of, I wonder if the shear volume has put you in
contact with enough that you're seeing things many of us don't.
We've had five of our own dogs encounter our six ferrets. One dog and two
ferrets have died. Not a large statistical universe by any means. The
fifth dog is a puppy living with us for the last five or six months. Of
this very limited experience, the puppy is the first dog we've actually had
to isolate a dog from the ferrets. And for that matter, the first time the
ferrets have actually shown fear of a dog, which adds another element. They
might react out of fear, hurt the dog and we'd get a chain reaction and a
dead or injured ferret. Safer to isolate the dog during playtime.
But, what does that say about experiences? To me it's a reminder that just
because we (or anyone) has had years (in our case going on nine) of success
stories doesn't mean you can relax your caution, especially when a new
element is added. We were careful when we added a new ferret, and continue
to be so since discovering that she and Maggie (our 80# shepherd mix) play
with each other and were careful when the puppy was added as well. In the
first case we have to watch to see when the ferret starts to tire of the
game, as she does, and tell Maggie to break it up. In the second, isolation
was the only safe answer.
- Bill
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