Dominant Piggy

[GeorgesHuman]

I have a boar who is about 1 and a half.

He is such a stroppy little !

I have tried separately bonding him with two other boys - one an old boy (6 yrs old) and the other a 3 year old.

With both boys, his behaviour has been out of control!

He's been so aggressive and gone to attack both boys. I must add that both my other boys are very laid back and have been part of a trio and once upon a time there were four of those boys that got on brilliant, so with naughty boy I'm really stumped! He even rumblestrutts us humans! The place I got him from said he was the same (trying to attack) all other piggies. I must say he doesn't try to attack the old boy I have, he has actually lived with him for two weeks, but the whole time was chasing him and humping him, which for my old piggy, was stressful...he wants a quiet life, so I ended up separating them.

I can't keep getting new piggies to try him, so my question is, are some piggies just happy to be alone? He's in a room where he happily chatters and can see the other boys and within himself he is happy and confident and really loves running around his cage. So, can some pigs be happy living alone?

 

[Wiebke]

I have a boar who is about 1 and a half.

He is such a stroppy little !

I have tried separately bonding him with two other boys - one an old boy (6 yrs old) and the other a 3 year old.

With both boys, his behaviour has been out of control!

He's been so aggressive and gone to attack both boys. I must add that both my other boys are very laid back and have been part of a trio and once upon a time there were four of those boys that got on brilliant, so with naughty boy I'm really stumped! He even rumblestrutts us humans! The place I got him from said he was the same (trying to attack) all other piggies. I must say he doesn't try to attack the old boy I have, he has actually lived with him for two weeks, but the whole time was chasing him and humping him, which for my old piggy, was stressful...he wants a quiet life, so I ended up separating them.

I can't keep getting new piggies to try him, so my question is, are some piggies just happy to be alone? He's in a room where he happily chatters and can see the other boys and within himself he is happy and confident and really loves running around his cage. So, can some pigs be happy living alone?

As long as he is cage-to-cage with other piggies for constant interaction and stimulation through the bars, he will be fine as a live-alongside neighbour.

Hopefully he is going to calm down somewhat over the years as the testosterone output slowly decreases. The teenage months are the most difficult time for bonding boars and he's only now coming to the end of them. I would not push the boat out yet for the next few months and then reassess next year during lawn season how he is around your other boys then and whether it is worth trying another round of bonding. He is likely to always be on the dominant side, but you have to judge whether it is on an acceptable level.

 

[GeorgesHuman]

Hi Wiebke, thanks for your wise words.

He does constantly talk to my other piggy and I even have my old boy, Oscar and him to play out together so I can keep an eye on him, but he's such a bully, he made poor Oscar miserable eventually which just isn't worth it, especially as Oscar is 6 and I want him to enjoy his golden years in peace!

Zebedee is such a bully and loudmouth, he is currently screaming across at Oscar at the top of his voice and it's just gone 1am in the morning! Naughty Zebedee!

 

[JenniferG]

Maybe a spayed sow rescue piggy would be an option if you can find one.

 

[GeorgesHuman]

Maybe a spayed sow rescue piggy would be an option if you can find one.

Hi Jennifer,

Do you think he would bully a girl and try to assert his authority the same as he does with boars? He's a very shady character!

 

[JenniferG]

I think he would love to have sow for company...I don't have experience of an unneutered boar with a neutered sow, only the other way around. Sows generally recognise the boar as boss straight away. When we'd take a sow out of the cage, the boar would chew on the wooden lodge to say he wanted her back.