Question About Pot Belly Pigs-----Very Worried

[redhen]

Okay, heres my take on PBP's..
YOU HAVE to keep them TAME to avoid any serious problems with them in the future.
I have noticed that since my pigs have moved outside,that they DO seem a teeny bit more "wild"..then they were in my house...
like about baths..i used to be able to give them baths without much problems.. now its FIGHT. Things like that...
So... NO you CANT just take a pig and feed it daily and let it roam the pasture all day long with little to no human interaction...
Because they CAN become problems then.,..
DId you know that a pig is the ONLY animal able to change the shape of its skull in ITS lifetime?? Farm hogs/pots have shorter wider snouts mouths..than feral wild boars right??
Farm hogs have a shorter snout to adapt to eating out of food troughs and bowls..etc....
and wild pigs need longer snouts to root and dig better to forage for its food....
Well... they did a study with escaped farm hogs and captured wild hogs...... those pigs skulls changed shape to adapt to its living enviroment! The farm hogs skulls changed shape to adapt to being wild and the wild pigs skull changed shape to adapt to being captive...
Soo.... if a pigs SKULL can adapt to being wild that quickly.... they can certainly go untame VERY easily.
I take the time EVERY DAY to interact with my pigs... i call them to me...(they were trained to come when called, like a dog), i pet them, scratch them..... feed them from my hand daily and i also MAKE them sit for food.....

So..even though MY little barn yard IS a fairy tale to me.... yeah..i also know how to handle my pigs. i keep them tame and i'm also the "top hog" with them...
If you dont have a strong/assertive personality..you WILL have problems with them... they are just TOO smart!
My pigs KNOW if they EVER act out of line aggressively, i WILL react so quickly they wont have a chance. Hammie has challenged me a couple of times(not bad since hes 5 yrs old..).... once when he didnt want to move from a spot and i wanted him to move....he turned to swipe at me with his teeth.... i knocked that pig on his azz so quick he didnt know what hit him..... then when he got up i smacked his butt and chashed him off and cornered him in his house.... Now i stopped there with him cornered, cause a cornered pig WILL fight..... i let him alone, because he had run from me and was just trying to get away. But i let him know that when i say something hes not to EVER challenge me. And trust me,, pigs WILL remember this..
Another time Dyson nipped at my hand too aggressively when i was feeding them.... (now my pigs KNOW to take food gently from human hands), so he was just being a butt head cause i wasnt feeding them fast enough..

, hes another one that got knocked on his butt after i smacked his snout good and hard and made him back down from me.
The thing is with pigs you have to know how to handle them.... you CANT be overly aggressive to them either, because they WILL remember it.. and will become aggressive or fearful of humans... but you CANT be afraid of them either. and let them take little nips at you and challenge you.... etc..

With my pigs they KNEW they did wrong and came back to me after they got done sulking.... i pet them gently and scratched their belly..and all was well again..... but they learned a VERY important lesson.
Just like with dogs.. you need to be the pack leader with pigs... or one of them WILL take over that role. its their instinct, just like its a dogs instinct. When pigs challenge each other in the wild,thats what they do.. they get in a "shoving" and teeth swiping match.... and when one gets shoved off its feet it generally retreats...and the top hog position is established... pigs RARELY will fight to the death in natural circumstances.
So thats what i did to hammie and Dyson... when they challenged me, i shoved their shoulders very hard and knocked them off balance....
I never, ever have problems with my pigs.... only VERY few and far between because they understand this.
Anyways, i'm telling you all this because i see that you will be having a boar...
You will need to know how to handle these pigs if something happens in the future...
Keep that boar as tame as you can!!!!!!!! Spend a LOT of time with him... TRAIN him..they can be trained like a dog. Make him sit for food.. make him come when called.... etc...
handle him A LOT! Trim his feet now and every week.... so he is used to it NOW! Or you wont be able to do it when hes an adult... (trust me... i have this problem now)
Bathe him NOW..and often.... so if he needs a bath when older you can do it....
have him interact with your other animals NOW and OFTEN... so he gets used to them young and accepts them as part of his life/routine enviroment.

Again... its common sense things..
1: Keep them TAME (daily interaction with them... feed them from your hand.... have them come when called... have them sit or another trick for food.. lots of belly scratches)
2: Dont lock them in a pen 24/7... its cruel and WILL drive them stir crazy...
3: If you want them to get used to your other barn yard animals... then let them out there with them. Use common sense and supervise them,... but if you intend to let them in the yard sometimes, they NEED to stay tame and in contact with your other animals. THis is what we did, and i have never had them show any aggression to my other animals... they all hang out together fine all day long.
4: Keep the "top hog" position with pigs...or you'll be in for a whole heap of problems later on when they get bigger.
5: Dont be mean or hit them... ONLY react if they challenge you. Otherwise be fair and gentle with them.
6: DONT OVERFEED THEM!
Pigs are smart.. they KNOW whos top hog.. they remember if you are mean to them... and they KNOW who they can push around.

Just one recent example of how smart they are..
The last couple of days we had cleaned out their pig house... took out the stall matts and hosed them down... so we had them outside airing for the night...
we gave them pet blankets to sleep on until the floor was dry enough put the stall matts and shavings back in their house.....(they looove blankets cause they used to have them inside the house for bedding)
So anyways... they slept on the blankets one night and the next day i took them out of the house and hung them on a fence..
Well hubby comes home last night from work and goes to put the stall matts back in their house.. ooh no... they had already taken their blankes off the fence (dont even KNOW how they reached them!)..and dragged them back into their house and made their little beds in the corner and were sleeping soundly!
SMART creatures!! They never fail to amaze me.

 

[elevan]

Redhen - all very good points.

We did / and still do follow the principles that you've outlined with our pots. And still a problem arose.

Quote:
My guess is this is the root of the problem for our girls. And as I said they didn't cause injury but weren't allowed with the rest of the animals after they showed aggression.

As to my first boy pot...maybe he went crazy...idk...but he was not the same pig after he attacked the horse. He was in a stall for a week after the attack until we took him to slaughter. There were times I thought he would break the stall walls down trying to get at anything that came by (human or critter). Prior to the attack me, my DH and my boys would spend hours every day with him. Belly rubs and ear scratches and going for walks. He was a model pet until something changed in him drastically and he attacked the horse. We don't know why he did it. But I do think that people should know the damage that can be done from these "little" pigs.

 

[carolinagirl58]

I had a pair of pigs a long time ago. They were not potbelly....but a pig is a pig (mentally, anyway). The sow was a sweet pig. I was with her when she birthed her first litter and she was never aggressive to me even once. She did kill and eat any chickens she could catch though. The boar was never a problem either, although as he became larger the contact became more limited because he scared me. One morning about a week after my goats had all kidded, I looked out the window and thought it was odd that I could see no baby goats anywhere. I soon found out why. I looked into the goat pen and saw that boar hog with a kid in his mouth. Not only had the hog ripped his own pen down, he broke into multiple goat pens too in order to get to the kids. After my husband calmed me down and kept me from shooting that hog right where he stood, we got him locked back up (and off my property later that same day) I started searching for the missing kids. They were all dead. Most were skinned out and partially eaten. that hog had killed and eaten every single one of my baby goats. this was years ago so I don't remember the exact number but it was at least 10 of them, probably closer to 15. Up until that day, neither of the hogs caused me a minute of trouble. I don't know what made him snap like that, but it was horrific. I'll never own another hog, potbelly or otherwise.

 

[elevan]

Quote:
Oh, your poor baby goats!

I think if we had caught the pots killing / eating our babies (goats) there would have been no stopping the shotgun from coming out.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
Oh, your poor baby goats!

I think if we had caught the pots killing / eating our babies (goats) there would have been no stopping the shotgun from coming out.

DH stopped me from killing it because he didn't want to worry about disposing of the body. He loaded it up and gave it to a friend that same day. If he had not been there, the pig would have died with that last kid in it's mouth. That was a sad spring with all those does running around looking for their kids.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
My guess is this is the root of the problem for our girls. And as I said they didn't cause injury but weren't allowed with the rest of the animals after they showed aggression.

As to my first boy pot...maybe he went crazy...idk...but he was not the same pig after he attacked the horse. He was in a stall for a week after the attack until we took him to slaughter. There were times I thought he would break the stall walls down trying to get at anything that came by (human or critter). Prior to the attack me, my DH and my boys would spend hours every day with him. Belly rubs and ear scratches and going for walks. He was a model pet until something changed in him drastically and he attacked the horse. We don't know why he did it. But I do think that people should know the damage that can be done from these "little" pigs.

Wow..he must have went crazy or something... boars can do that i hear... its best he was put down.

And YES, they can be dangerous..they are SUPER SUPER strong for being so little....
Sorry about your injured animals..

 

[drdoolittle]

I want to thank everyone for their advice and sharing their different experiences with pots. I do spend lots of time out in the pen with all my animals, and watch to see what personalities are emerging in my pots.

I will definately spend a lot more time with the little boy (Bugsy) as I want to be able to handle him as an adult (as redhen stated for hoof-trimming, but more importantly to be able to check him for any scrapes or cuts that my happen). What if he needed medicine and I couldn't get ahold of him?

My older female (Angel) has a LOT of self-confidence, and I believe she would be the one most likely to challenge me. I've already had to "scold" her and shove her away when she got to pushy with me-----I actually got ahold of her and just held her in place and then let go (she HATES being held onto). I made sure to call her back to me afterwards to give her a belly-rub (which she loves and will flop over on her side for).

My younger female (Marilyn) is very shy and will probably be the lowest one on the totem pole. She even seems a little afraid of the chickens, and will leave her food dish if they start pecking in it. Now I completely separate evryone at feeding times, and it's working out well. Marilyn has started coming closer to me at feeding times, and knows just where I put her dish-----out of sight of Angel, who is truly a hog! I have gotten ahold of Marilyn and just sat with her on my lap for awhile----she seemed to really enjoy it, relaxed and loved getting her belly rubbed.

I put the goats in their half of the little barn at night, and the pigs now have their own house----although I don't think they've slept there at night yet, prefering to bury themselves in a hay-pile out in the big free-range pen (wait until it rains one night).

I feel some uneasiness over owning such intelligent creatures, and while I wonder if it wouldn't be better to not have them, I just couldn't bear to send them away. There are so many of them who have been mistreated and passed around way too much. I just want to give them the best "forever" home possible.

 

[redhen]

May i also suggest a PIG halter/harness?

(HAS to be a pig harness or they can slip out of it... ask me how i know this..

..)
They make handleing a pig soooo much easier...
Start him NOW with one (use food to get him to like it...lol.. ALWAYS food training with pigs..

..) and get him used to you putting it on and off... etc...walk him on it with a leash (again use good food)...i used scrambled eggs to leash train Hammie...he'd buck and squeal... and i'd show him the eggs..hed shut up and follow me!

..
Makes it sooo much easier for vet visits/ and holding for meds./..etc....and just general control of the pig.


http://www.pigs4ever.com/pot_bellied_pig_products/harnesses_and_leads.php



Okay.. done now being bossy...

You'll do FINE with them!!

 

[drdoolittle]

Thanks, redhen. I'll be bringing baby (Bugsy) inside today for some one-on-one time and a bath. I'm sure he'll be squealing the entire bath-time. I will definately invest in a pig harness for him! The older female came with a harness and leash, and the other female had one but I forgot to take it when I picked her up (I suppose I could still call the former owner and stop by and get it).