Punkin's Uneven PersonalityPunkin's Uneven PersonalityLet me prefix this by saying that we feed Punkin Mazuri pot belly pig food and give her treats of carrots, apples, bananas, raisins, zucchinis We do not hit her or mistreat her, although with guests we have started to push her away with a "no" when she charges them.
Here are my questions.
1. Punkin seems to have a cantankerous personality. She has never been
very "sweet".We have had her since she was a baby (5 weeks) and have
given her lots of affection. However, for certain since she was about 1
year old she has turned away from ear scratching or other forms of
caring with an impatient grunt as if we have not read her mind
correctly. She commandeers the couch and wont share. Sometimes charges and
bites. There are times that she wanders around the house whining and I would
call crying, as if she wants something but we don't know what, and if we
try to comfort her, she pulls away. This usually happens around dinner
(after she has eaten)or before bedtime and I am able to convince her
that she should go "night - night", where she snuggles down in the
blankets, stops crying and takes a nap. I feel badly that we cant
figure her out.
She does "allow" us to rub her tummy sometimes. She will fall over on her side and that is our cue to rub her tummy. Maybe she is just spoiled rotten...but she just doesn't seem to have the sweet personality that I read about here on the web pages.
Any suggestions you can give us would be MOST helpful.
Thank you.
The hierarchical placement of the piglet in its own litter may play a role. Piglets that are dominant in their litter may be more likely to display a need for dominance in their human herd. In defense of the dominant piglet, this tendency certainly does not preclude you from training your piglet as it matures. In some cases this same dominant pig learns the rules of the house with greater speed than its lower placed littermates.
Mishandling through lack of knowledge by its human family is another reason for aggressive behavior in the pet pig. All of us are aware how to train a dog or cat, but few know the mind of the pig. You leave yourself open to having a more aggressive pet pig if you do not learn how to consistently train your pig while maintaining your specific house rules. If you have a tendency to spoil your pig by letting it set its own rules, you will have a much greater chance of having an aggressive pig.
The curious mind and intellect of the potbellied pig must be a consideration during the time you are out of the house. A sterile environment with no pig toys and no other entertainment for hours can contribute to aggression in pigs. The negative effect of isolation and lack of companionship for the pig also come into play. And, should a pig be unfortunate enough to be in an abusive pet home the pig will learn aggressive behavior from the owner.
Copyright © 2000 by Kathleen Myers
Note: More indepth training and retraining instructions are found in several other sections of my book.
Also, the whining might be her food. especially since you say this happens after she eats her evening meal. You might want to change her diet to see if a new food would settle her stomach. It has been observed that a food change has improved the Pots disposition if the food they are currently eating isn't the best for them. One more issue in eating and dispositon. I would also eliminate all fruits and sweet veggies like carrots from her diet. See if you notice a difference in her personality. She could have a sugar intolerace which can cause some Pots to act out unnecessarily.
 Kathleen |
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