Who's Dominant?

[TheCavySlave]

This is a daft question, but basically Godfrey and Duncan used to squabble. There was actual fighting, they both got scratches. Then, especially after their big new cage, they were fine. Even snuggling up but now, I gave them floor time and suddenly it's all rumbles! We used to think Godfrey was dominant, but now Duncan rumbles loudly at him and he dashes over to me and hides behind me....what's the best thing to do? I'm not worried about them fighting, I'm just puzzled.

 

[Wiebke]

This is a daft question, but basically Godfrey and Duncan used to squabble. There was actual fighting, they both got scratches. Then, especially after their big new cage, they were fine. Even snuggling up but now, I gave them floor time and suddenly it's all rumbles! We used to think Godfrey was dominant, but now Duncan rumbles loudly at him and he dashes over to me and hides behind me....what's the best thing to do? I'm not worried about them fighting, I'm just puzzled.

How old are your boys? Even as adult, boars can have the odd hormone spike. Any new territory also requires a re-establishment of the hierarchy. It is not just the top piggies that rumblestrut; sometimes the underpiggy is trying to push the envelope a bit.

 

[TheCavySlave]

They are...around seven months, they were born 14 of March.

 

[Wiebke]

They are...around seven months, they were born 14 of March.

Then it is the teenage hormones kicking in. They come in spikes rather than an even high.

 

[Roclibrarian]

I am also puzzled about my sows dominance. They are 6 months old and the larger one Ginny has been pretty dominant from the start. Lately Luna, who is much smaller, seems to be challenging for dominance and winning! I'm thinking with her being much smaller maybe she is further behind in her development and is only just getting the hormone kick.
There is no serious fighting or anything, it's just fascinating to figure out what is going on.

 

[Wiebke]

I am also puzzled about my sows dominance. They are 6 months old and the larger one Ginny has been pretty dominant from the start. Lately Luna, who is much smaller, seems to be challenging for dominance and winning! I'm thinking with her being much smaller maybe she is further behind in her development and is only just getting the hormone kick.
There is no serious fighting or anything, it's just fascinating to figure out what is going on.

Sows have got some hormonal times during teenage months too and can really try to push the envelope during that time. Because it is not leading to fights and fall-outs, it is much less known.
But yeah, piggy dynamics are fascinating...

 

[Freela]

It can be hard to tell sometimes, especially when pigs are more evenly matched (i.e. not one really dominant pig with one really submissive pig.) When we had Linney and Frenzy, we had a lot of rumbling from Frenzy (the less-dominant pig. She liked to push the limits- I think in a lot of other pairings she might have been the dominant pig, but Linney was a real bossy pig!) Then when we had Linney and Sundae, Sundae just accepted that Linney was the boss and never challenged her at all and Linney strutted around periodically because she could. Now that we have Hadley and Sundae, Hadley is the boss again but you'd really never know it... she's very mellow about it, but Sundae has no urge to be the boss and follows her without question!

 

[helloitsbecca]

Neither of my boys are particularly dominant. William rumblestruts sometimes when Angus is in his way (usually when Angus is chewing the carrot cottage and William wants a shot) but they eat side by side, eat hay together, sit together and stuff. They also don't really fight. I have assumed that William is the big boss piggy because he rumblestruts and I've never heard/saw Angus doing that. Also, Angus is still skittish and hides from me (we are working on that, he sometimes lets me pet him) whereas William is a brave boy and likes coming up to me to get petted and his chin scratched lol. They are funny creatures.