Training your pigs

When taking any pet into your home it is very important that you train it as soon as possible. The earlier you train an animal the sooner it will learn. This could save a lot of aggro in later life, trying to train a fully grown animal is always going to be harder then training animals from birth. This is similar to humans.

Training your pig to use the litter box

As with all pets for them to learn you have to train them, no mater how intelligent pigs are they cannot read minds so don’t know where you want them to go to the toilet.

There is a slight difference between pigs and other animals like dogs and cats, pigs usually go to the toilet in the same place so if your pig is living outdoors you will generally only need to ever tidy up one spot.

When setting up a litter box for indoor use with pigs its best to use pine shavings, please do not use cedar shavings because it has some horrible oils in it and never use cat litter because it is designed to clump together and if your micro pig end up eating it (its not uncommon) then it will clump in his stomach and cause some internal damage.

when you begin to train your micro pig its best to keep it in a small area, try not to let him run around the whole house or things could get messy. If you can keep him in a small room the best thing to do is put the litter box at one side of the room and its bed at the other side, pigs are very clean animals and will not sleep too close to their litter box. When it comes to cleaning out its litter tray try to keep at least once piece of faeces in the box, just the scect of it will usually make him go in the same place again, pigs are very clever and most will learn how to use the litter box within 5 days.

When your micro pig starts going to the toilet in the litter box try not to treat him with a snack or anything, this is all natural to the pig and it shouldn’t be rewarded.

As with any living animal or even humans there can be accidents, if there are its important not to hit or harm your micro pig in anyway!

Teaching your pig to respond to words

Teaching a micro pig is similar to training a puppy and a kitten at the same time. If you repeat yourself enough when they do certain things they will soon clock on thats what you want them to do, pigs will actually pig things up quicker then other animals because they very intelligent from a young age.

For example when you take your pig out in the morning say “Do you want to go out?” overtime just before you open the door, then the pig will soon realise that if he stands by the door you will let it out or if you say “Do you want to go out?” your pig will (should) run to the door. It will take around a month for your pig to fully understand this depending on how much you take the pig out, it is possible for them to pick this up after just a week or two.

When training your micro pig its very important to always say its name when you are talking to him/her.

Getting your pig used to a harness

After a few weeks when you and your micro pig have spent a lot of time together your pig will follow you naturally, but to keep within the law you are required to keep your pig on a harness when taking it outside of the home. Its easier to get your pig used to objects such as a harness when it is happiest… So when its eating put the lead on the floor next to its food bowl, this will allow your pig to get used to seeing the harness and even walking over it and will make your pig realise its not an object of danger. You can even pick it up and put it back down while the pig is eating so it knows you have put it there.

After you have done this for a couple of days try putting just the harness on your pig without the lead for a couple of hours and let your pig run around with it on so it can get used to the feel of it. After you have done this for around three days your pig should be used to wearing the harness, now you can try putting the lead onto the harness and taking your pig for a walk. Remember to take treats with you and always give the pig a treat before you put the lead on. before you walk your pig outside the home you should try walking it around the garden for a couple of days for about 15mins each time.

Teaching your micro pig to sit

The best way I have found to get your micro pig to learn to sit on your command is by kneeling in front of your pig with a treat in your hand and holding it just above its snout saying “sit [pigs name]” while doing this you should move the treat backwards towards the pigs eyes and ears, this should make your micro pig sit and if you do this enough it will soon understand that when you say sit you want him to sit down.

Sometimes the pig will not sit when you move the treat backwards and instead it will just walk backwards, if this happens you should take your pig to the corner of the room and then try again this will mean the pig has no where to move to and will have to sit down and tilt its head backwards to be able to see the treat.

Stopping your micro pig digging up the grass

Sometimes pigs dig up the grass with their snout, this can get annoying and can ruin your garden. To stop this happening I recommend getting your pig a nose ring. Pigs usually do this when they are overfeeding when they have eaten all they want but are just digging for a treat, getting a nose ring is the most effective way to stop this happening.



Comments are closed.