The Hog Whisperer

[Angelique]

My brother got a pot-bellied pig about a month ago. It was about 5 lbs the first time he brought her to visit. Cutest little thing you ever saw, all cuddled in her blanket and sleeping on my shoulder.

She's now 15 lbs and we just fitted her with her first harness. One mild panic attack (dang, pigs are sooo dramatic!) and about an hour of dragging the leash helped get her used to the idea...I think the steamed lima beans might have helped.

Anyway, we took my two dogs and miss piggy for a walk. Nicki wanted to eat her at first, while Tia just kept her distance. By the time we got back to the house Nick was acting like she was just an ugly cousin - twice removed, but no longer prey.

Anybody else have experience with pigs?

 

[Renee750il]

Not really, but I hope he got the real deal. I've met several people who bought cute little Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pigs that grew suddenly to weigh over 150 pounds - and more

Shame, too, since they were very intelligent pets and were extremely affectionate, but it's kind of difficult to keep a large pig in the house with you, and most municipalities have statutes against keeping livestock outside.

Pigs are really hard to hide

 

[drmom777]

Renee, I think 150 lbs is well within normal limits for a Vietnamese pot bellied pig. In fact, I believe they can get up to 300 lbs of you wind up with a larger one. A little one ( if you get lucky) could be as small as some 60 lbs. I think a regular pig can weigh up to something like 800 lbs.

 

[lizzybeth727]

I have a friend who teaches dog training classes, and someone asked her if their piglet could join. She said sure, and of course the pig did better than most of the puppies!

 

[Renee750il]

When they first started appearing as pets, they were supposed to stay around 60-80 pounds, which made them easy to keep. I remember they were the yuppie pet-of-the-day . . . and then, predictably, the rot set in with bybs and people started getting surprised when their cute little piggies outgrew the house. One of the rescues here got bombarded!

 

[bubbatd]

I'll stick to a dog in bed at night , thank you !

 

[Angelique]

Yep. They do grow bigger than most people a prepared for.

He's been hearing a lot of warnings from people about how big she's going to get.

ETA: I told him it might be a good idea not to continue to let her sleep between him and his girlfriend on the bed.

 

[Barb04]

OK, I need to see a pic of this!

 

[bubbatd]

Me too !! Not many admit that they sleep with a pig !!!!!

 

[Angelique]

Lol! I'll see if I can get him to take one.

 

[Doberluv]

OMG! Sounds cute. But yeah.....he better reinforce his floor joists if he's going to keep Piggy inside....if he does turn out to be huge. Hopefully, he has a suitable place for him outside. They are so smart and trainable. I hope you both have fun with him.

We had piglets that our friends kept on their acreage years ago. They were for food. But here where I live, I was walking Lyric down our dirt road and from a side street I saw this little tiny piggy, (a little bigger than your brother's pig is now I'd say) trotting toward us. I hurried because I didn't need an episode with Lyric. I kept looking over my shoulder and here he was, trot, trot, trot, trot....looking so like he'd love to join us. I hurried more because by now, I could see he was intent on catching up to us. LOL.

I knew who he belonged to. Anyhow, I am pretty sure he went home again and the roads around here are pretty safe, so I didn't worry too much. This guy didn't even have a fence, he told me later....said he can learn to stay in their yard just like a dog. I hope he figured out that he did need a fence because I'd sure hate to think of that little cutie getting killed by some animal or a car. But that's about my experiences with piglets.

I did have a large herd of cows run through my pasture a copule weeks ago. That was a strange sight because no one that lives too close has any cows. They must have gotten loose or were free range cows, which we do have along side the little highway to here. Hope they got home because winter is coming and that has to be hard on them to find food.

Well, hope it all turns out great with the little piglet. They are cute, to be sure.

 

[FoxyWench]

vietnemese pot bellied pigs normally grow 70-90lbs for females and males can scale topple at 150lbs remember as short as these pigs are there WIDE with a big gut...this is NOT because of byb's this is because this is how big these animals can get normally, the fad that came in the owning pot bellys it was common for people to say these LITTLE (because most pigs will grow 300lb +) would only reach the size of a medicum dog (60lbs) because they were easier to sell that way, and often Runts from the litter were chosen for pictures and selling to the pet market first. the AVERAGE wight for a pbp is 100lbs!

i have noticed pot belly pigs in the us do seem to be largr built than the vpp's i had the pleasure of meeting back home in the uk, the us, i suppose like their dogs have a tendency to overfeed their piggies, just like the norm for the average american dog is actually overweight the same goes for pigs which is ashame.

these animals will eat ANYTHIGN, they can very eaisly be trained by food, so my first suggestion is, feed 1 small meal and use other meals as training/time consuming treats, piggies get overweight and lazy VERY easily which is where problems arise.
being very smart they can learn any "trick" a dog can plus more, crate training is a good idea, at maturity they can get a little...grumpy and crate training will help keep some of their natural piggy behaviours under control. yes they can also be dog door trained and housebroken.spay or neuter the piggy for a better life long companion...

http://www.petpigs.com/nabroch.htm

they make awesome pets for the right home...

LOTS of pictures are demanded!

in terms of toys, anything for BIG dogs is fun! the black giant kong toys filled with tastey treats, or treat balls...ect.

they make wonderfull pets for the right home...make sure she gets lots of excersize and they might want to consider building her a pen in the garden jusst in case she does get to the larger end of the VPP range

 

[Renee750il]

ETA: I told him it might be a good idea not to continue to let her sleep between him and his girlfriend on the bed.

Does she hog the blankets?

 

[skittledoo]

Does she hog the blankets?

That made me laugh so hard that I just snorted which I feel is appropriate for this thread.

I love piggies