Dogs may be man’s best friend but for this Alsatian, her best friend is a ferret.
This unlikely friendship has captured hearts around the world as this incredible footage shows:
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Video credit: Rumble
Diana Grib, 26, has a two-year-old Alsatian named Nova. However, she always wanted to have two pets so she brought in 11-month-old Pacco last July and it was the best thing she could have done.
The two immediately hit it off and do everything together, even sleeping together to stay warm.
Diana, from Vilnius, Lithuania, said: ‘I can’t even remember for how long I’ve wanted a ferret. Definitely over 12 years.
‘Somewhere about 15 years ago I watched many videos of them playing on YouTube and it made me laugh so hard.
‘These pets are just clowns in the animal world, you can’t pass by them without a smile.
‘We do literally everything together — we play, sleep, go to parks or forests and travel together.
‘Everything you could do with a dog, you can do with Pacco — he even plays fetch with a ball.
‘Pacco doesn’t bite at all, but he isn’t an ordinary ferret, he is rather a small stretchy German shepherd.’
In a demonstration of how much they hit it off from the start, a week after Pacco came into the family, Diana took them to the beach. Pacco got scared of the waves and scampered away…straight towards Nova to seek protection.
Describing their first meeting, Diana said: ‘We arrived home at almost midnight, Nova was greeting him with her favorite toy, I just couldn’t handle how precious it was.
‘The first day, Pacco was too busy inspecting his surroundings, so he just ignored Nova.
‘But Nova was very excited and followed him like a shadow. On the second day, Pacco was interested in Nova and the fun began.
‘I was ready to raise them separately. I was sure for Nova but wasn’t sure for Pacco until I brought him home.
‘I couldn’t even imagine he’d be this self-confident and outgoing.
‘He’s special. It’s quite rare for a ferret to be this tame and friendly towards everyone this fast.
‘There was one moment I realized, this friendship is something special.’
Diana had planned for Pacco’s arrival for two years and even went all the way to Krakow in Poland to get her ‘perfect ferret.’
But Diana warns that despite being cute in the pictures, it’s not easy to keep ferrets.
Diana, a medical student, said: ‘Many people see the friendship of Nova and Pacco and decide they should also just buy a ferret for their dog or cat as if it would be so easy to work out.
‘But all ferrets are individual and may never be friends with other animals.
‘The main rule I had in mind before this all started — there can’t be any friendship between animals if they don’t strive for it.
‘The first and one of the most important steps was to find a good dog kennel, where puppies from birth would interact with other kinds of pets.
‘I fell in love with that little potato from the first second.
‘After I brought Nova home, I started socializing her with all kinds of pets as much as possible — cats, parrots, rats, and others.
‘She’s always careful and gentle, like when she met a baby rat for the first time. It just perfectly represents her true nature-loving, affectionate and curious.’
Diana added: ‘My boyfriend was against ferrets for a long time.
‘But now I can’t even pet Pacco without him saying, “You’re petting him wrong, Pacco likes it the other way”.’
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