12 week old ferret and labs

Question
I have two labs both about 2 years old. I want them to be friends with my ferret but I am so scared the dogs will be too rough on her. I have taken her out around them one at a time and let them sniff her fur; one (dozie) who is a mellow dog, sits nicely and looks concerned and confused and gently sniffs lola (the ferret), which seems very promising but Dozie in everyday life doesn't get along with other dogs very well. The other dog (maryjane)is a hyper dog gets along with everyone and every dog she's ever met, when I try to have her visit lola she jumps and jumps at her cage (which is on top of my dresser) I am very hesitant to take lola out, when I do take her out mary jane doesn't move and just stares at her then tries jumping on me to get to her. I haven't given either dogs a chance to get face to face with lola except once when I first got her and was putting her cage together the dogs busted through my door while lola's cage was on the floor. I hurried and put lola back in the cage through the top floor door, but forgot I left the bottom door down. While trying to get dozie out I turned and saw maryjane nose to nose with lola, she wasn't wagging her tail or anything she looked very serious and just sniffed lolas nose, I didn't let it go any further due to this being my first ferret and not knowing anything about ferrets and dogs and hurried and shut the door. Lola doesn't seem to care about either of the dogs. When maryjane jumps up towards her cage barley getting her nose about an inch away lola looks at her then ignores her. *deeep breath* so, my question is this, do you think it sound like we can be one happy family and how should I go about having lola meet the dogs withough lola getting mauled.

Answer
Thanks for your question!  Okay *deep breath* when mixing ferrets with cats or dogs, ESPECIALLY big dogs, BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS. Sounds like you are, but I really can't stress it enough. Even though labs are usually pretty mellow and are not "attack dogs" they still can do a lot of damage to a little ferret with just one playful bite.

It is possible you can get them acquainted and not worry about your dogs "mauling" Lola to death, but be sure to introduce them over a period of time and always with safety in mind.

FIRST make sure both your dogs are well trained: they know your voice, obey your commands (stay, sit, NO) and that you have some form of back up emergency way to stop them.

THEN I would slowly introduce Lola ONE BY ONE to the dogs. (Trying to introduce two at a time is too crazy, distracting and dangerous) So have one dog in a secluded room meet her. Have the dog on a leash tied to something. MAKE SURE LEASH IS SECURE. Have the dog sit. Hold Lola close enough so they can smell each other. Let them smell each other for a while.

Now this is very important: if the dogs is licking lips/opening mouth/drooling and looking like he would really like to munch on the ferret, I would seriously reconsider owning both ferret and lab. One time I took in a homeless Pit mix a neighbor found, but unfortunately she wanted to literally eat my ferrets. Some dogs and ferrets just do not ever mix. So of course I took her to a shelter, because my babies are priority. So you may have to decide beforehand which animal you want to stick with having. I wouldn't really suggest trying to keep both on the off chance of them accidentally mixing, unless you can be absolutely sure each species is kept separate and the ferret will be absolutely safe if they can't get along.

Okay, so once one dog and the ferret have checked each other out for a while and the dog is not trying to attack ferret, you can try letting ferret loose WHILE holding dog's mouth in your hand. If the dog is stronger than you or you're not sure you can keep your grip on him, buy a muzzle and make sure the dog cannot open it's mouth wide enough to bite the ferret. Try to keep the dog still as the ferret explores the dog. Speak softly and calmly to both animals. Lola probably won't care too much about the dog, but I'm more worried about the dog. Observe the dog's behavior. If all is going well, I would suggest a break for a day and then repeat the next day.

The next day if things are still going well, this is very risky, but you can try letting Lola and the same dog in the room together, and hold onto the dog's collar or place your hand on his head. In this room there should be some type of furniture (like a bed or couch) that the ferret can hide under but the dog can't follow.

Once you feel that the dog doesn't mean to harm Lola, place Lola near escape routes and let the dog go, but stay close to him.

Repeat this over a few days. Once you feel that the ferret is safe with the one dog, you can try taking the muzzle off. (By this I mean that the dog doesn't try to bite the ferret with the muzzle on obviously) Once first dog is okay running loose with Lola without muzzle or you holding on to him, repeat all these steps with the second dog. If things are still okay after that, repeat these steps with BOTH dogs on a leash with ferret. You need to make sure they all interact three ways okay.

I forgot to mention, but I believe most (if not all) animals can sense fear/or know when something means them harm. When I had the Pit Bull all my ferrets were afraid of her and tried to hide. So if Lola doesn't seem to care, she knows they don't mean to harm her and just want to check her out and maybe play. Ferrets are strange creatures to cats and dogs, they don't match what they're use to in critters.

I had an experience with a black lab that belonged to a friend of mine, this happened years ago with my first ferret Retard. The lab would jump up and try to get at him (just like your dog is doing) and I thought he wanted to eat him. Retard didn't seem to care though. Then my friend needed me to pet sit the dog, so I brought him over and put my ferret in his cage, but the dog kept barking and wagging his tail at the ferret. So I let Retard out and watched the dog very closely. To my surprise the lab only wanted to play with this funny new animal. Pretty soon my ferret was playing hide and seek and tag with the dog, even tricking the dog by sneaking up behind him. So it worked out well and I had nothing to worry about, which I hope happens with your guys.

So once again go through the process slowly and try to be very sensitive to each animal's behavior. Hopefully since they're labs and Lola is very calm around them it will work out. But do not be under-cautious, animals can act unpredictably, especially when they interact.

And even if they do get a long and everything's peachy, always watch very closely during the first few months, and NEVER leave them together unsupervised even after that.

Okay, sorry this was long but it's a very risky situation and I want you to be careful with the little girl's life, her safety's in your hands! Good luck, hope I've helped, let me know how it goes.

~sheila