I just wanted to mention that while it should be obvious you need to be prepared to keep your new pup and ferrets seperate during the initial period while you let your new pup adjust and during the initial meeting phase to see how they will react to each other. Many dogs are fine with other animals when taught to ignore them, however like others terriers which were bred to hunt and kill small animals are a big no, no. Your just working against alot of prey instinct and I would never feel safe with my small animals with a terrier.
Even with a pup that does not come from that family it is important to teach impulse control around the new creatures and knowing ferrets this can be tricky as they love to play and investigate everything new. Also I know most people let theyre ferrets fully free range. If this is your case your also dealing with a tricky situation at first as it would not be safe to leave them out unsupervised togther.
To teach impulse control you will need both parties under control ( leashes and harnesses on the ferret- try and intro them one at a time and same for your new pup). The easiest way is to have one person training the ferret, and one with your pup. I prefer clicker training for this either way every time your dog is calm and not pulling towards the ferrets or sniffs and then looks away click and treat. You want to reward them for being calm and gentle around the new creature. On the same hand give your ferret treats to associate this new creature with good things. Do not let the animals interact directly at this point.
Right now you want to focus on teaching your dog to be calm and not try and get at the ferrets and that seeing the ferret means lots of attention from you and yummy treats. On the same hand you want to teach your ferrets one by one that this new thing is not scary and they get lots of yummy treats every time they see him.
After a few sessions of doing this, you can one by one with both parties on lead, and two people ready to step in allow the animals to meet face to face. As before click your pup for being gentle ( sniffing but not swating with paws etc) and give your ferret treats now and then to continue the positive association with this new creature.
Not that I need to tell you this because you live with five of them but ferrets are truley silly creatures and most with a well matched dog will have tons of fun with their new play thing, likewise I know of many dogs who get along with small animals. The key is in matching properly, and introducing slowly, safely and smartly. Don't correct the dog for snarling or growling, thats your fault for letting your dog become overwhelemed back up a few steps, increase the distance between them and continue to reward your pup for being calm. This will change how your dog views the ferrets if initially she or he is shy.
So again try and choose a breed of dog that was not breed to hunt, kill or herd things. A slighlty older dog ( at least past puppyhood and not teething overly ramboncious) and with a relatively laid back disposition, lots of energy and little creatures that love to run around may lead to chasing and by extentsion someone getting hurt.
Remember that with any multi-species house hold you need to be vigilant and anticipate where someone could get hurt even by accident. Ferrets can get dogs quite round up with their antics. Also make sure that your dogs crate is in a ferret free location- your dogs safety zone is for your dog and your dog only.
Just a pic of my pup and his little pet, I taught him impulse control how I mentioned above, and the same way with my parrot who enjoys jumping off her perch randomly. You owe it to your ferrets and new pup to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Cheers
Kayla