so, I'm in need of a bit of pet advice.

As I'm sure most people here know, I have two ferrets a male and a female. They are both almost four years old. They stay in my room, because my dad's dog has tried to attack my male once(when I first got him) and I didn't want to take any chances since then. So they stay in my room, however even with this they have been socialized with other animals, dogs, cats etc.

They are both good with other animals, have never shown any aggression towards them or anything of the sort. Generally, if they do not like the other animal they avoid them and make no contact with them(But this doesn't happen usually, except when an excited puppy was in my room)

So anyways, my little sister got a puppy, a shih tzu mix a few weeks ago(the puppy was only four weeks old, which made me really mad because I told her the puppy was to young to be away from her mother, but that's another story )

Anyways, I ended up puppy sitting for my sister every time she is at my home(which is usually for all day). Since the puppy was so small all she really did was sleep. My ferrets just sniffed her, nothing else, they didn't try and play with her or have any contact with her but sniffing her.

However, now the puppy is older and is playing more. She tries to play with both my ferrets(grabbing their tails, biting them etc) the ferrets use to push her off and be on their way(I figured it was because they knew she was a baby so they couldn't really wrestle with her like they do with each other)

Anyways, a few days ago the puppy as bugging my ferrets like always, and my female ferret Ambika had enough and nipped the puppy on the back of the neck. She let go as soon as she bit her, it startled the puppy and she came crying to me.

After that, the puppy went right back to bothering Ambika and Bika did not bite her again that day, so I thought it was a one time thing.

However, yesterday I was puppy sitting again and the ferrets were out playing and the puppy was on the floor playing and then all of a sudden I heard this mad yelping. So I was looking around for the puppy and found her in the box spring of my bed with ambika. I had to rip the box spread to get her out. I checked her and she was not bleeding or anything of the sort. But after this, the puppy was afraid of both ferrets and came cuddling to me when they came close.

anyways, last night- the puppy was on my bed and Ambika came on. I was watching them to make sure Ambika didn't do anything. In like a second, Ambika got on the puppies back and grabbed behind her head/on her neck. The puppy yelped. I got Ambika off her back and put her on the floor after telling her 'no'. Again, the bite did not leave any mark.

But I'm very puzzled by this behavior by Ambika. I don't know if she is trying to play with the puppy, if she is trying to show the puppy she is the dominate one in the room, or if she just doesn't like the puppy and is trying to hurt it, or if she is trying to move the puppy to another location(like ferrets do to their kits). She has never done this before, so I really don't know what to do. Right now, when I do watch the puppy, I am keeping them apart.

But does anyone have any clue on why Ambika may be doing this to the puppy, do you think it will get worse, should I just keep them apart. I don't know how I should discipline Ambika or if I even should because I don't know if she is doing this out of anger or vicious-ness. So I am kind of at loss.

Prvn,

I googled ferret behavior and got this site:
www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=2080

It will at least give you some insight into what is going on. I'm thinking that Ambika is treating the puppy like a ferret.

Here's another site where you could probably pose your questions: www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets-magazine/ferret-behavior-expert/topiclist.aspx

Good luck and hope she doesn't decide to steal and hide the puppy!

Thank you very much for the links and reply

that's what I was thinking too, that she was just treating it like a baby ferret(kit). It was just really random. So I was kind of worried about the change in behavior. But, Ambika has had biting trouble in the past. I got her when she was almost a year old, when I got her, she had not been trained on biting, nor had she been potty trained. So I had to work with her on both, but now she's fine with both of them, however I was a little afraid that she had fallen back into the bad biting behavior. ^^;

I agree with Rowdy. I have had 4 ferrets (god I love those little monsters) and generally agression isn't something I have ever seen unless its two males trying to hash out an alpha, and even then the two males (not mine, granted) settled into a pack order and became very close companions. I think its just a mix of rough play and the nurturing/mothering instinct of Ambika. I wouldn't see it as cause for alarm in Ambika's behavior, unless she gets too attached to the puppy - then she may start to act out when "HER kit" isnt there, ya know? The fact that she keeps going for the back of the neck and never breaks skin, makes me think its just instinct. So far I think you've handled everything the right way - or at least thats how I would have handled the situation.

There are a few possibilities. From the way you've described it, it sounds like your ferret may see the pup as an intruder. While not immensely territorial, ferrets - like all animals - will bite when threatened in any way.

I doubt it's a playful bite, as these are usually just nips. Also, I highly doubt it's a case of dislike, simply because I'm sure they would have responded that way immediately.

Perhaps the ferret sees the puppy's continued presence there as a threat to its territory, or, if the puppy has gotten bigger, there is a good chance it's afraid. The scared bites hurt the most, and often times they will not let go until you take them off forcibly.

The best thing to do here is to keep them separate as much as possible and make sure you're not being too lenient with either animal. The puppy needs to know who is alpha, and the ferrets need to know that such behavior is wrong.

Good luck!

my first thought was that the ferret feels threatened by the dog...she's not drawing blood...it just seems like she might be trying to show the pup who's boss, and the dog doesn't understand "ferret" lol

worked in a pet store with both dogs and ferrets unfortunately never put them together so I can't be sure.

Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who responded to this, since the last event I have kept them seperated or more like when the ferrets are out and Zebrehia is with me I don't let Ambika get to close to her. I also noticed that when Ambika does get close to Zebrehia she tenses up and just seems different I don't know how to describe it.

But anyways, I forgot about this video, it was the first time Ambika ever bit Zebrehia.(obviously, that was not my intention when filming this video I thought it would be one sided playing on Zebrehia's part and the ferrets ignoring her like usual)