Pigs at Work
M
TRAINING
Pigs are becoming more and more popular as pets and, given their size and intelligence, training is essential, says Lara Joseph
any people floor quickly beare ascomes a conditounded at tioned stimulus. If a the intelligence of dog leans down to pigs. Of all the anigrab the food it can mals that I train, one quickly make the pig of my attractions to run faster to get the pigs is how quickly food. If this happens, they learn. I had I now have a pig wanted to train pigs running toward a for quite a while, havdog. If the pig does ing been aware of not get to the food their intellectual abilfirst, I have noticed ity. I now have several his frustration levels Pigs are renowned for their intelligence and respond well to training rising, from the difwho are regular clients and am contacted quite a bit for porcine behavior issues. ference in his snorts to charging faster for the food and quick With the latest craze for the ‘Teacup Pig’ or ‘Micro-Mini Pig’, head swings to get the food. It is for this reason I teach most anithis does raise concern. A Teacup Pig is only a Teacup when he is mals to station to a carpet square and provide high rates of reinfirst born and can fit into a teacup. That Teacup Pig grows up to forcement for them staying there when they hear the sound of be a Micro-Mini or a Pot-Bellied who can easily exceed 150 lbs. food hitting the floor. I make sure the behavior of stationing Besides size, a pig’s level of intelligence is a real concern. With brings a higher reinforcer than running to the food that has hit manipulation being a sign of intelligence and the opportunity for the floor. an animal to change the consequence of a situation with each In a center with numerous animals there is plenty of opportime they are successful… well, this describes the pig to a T. tunity for a lot of different things to be reinforcers for a pig. This I train many pigs here at my training -center and still more in is why we provide many opportunities for animals to target. Each people’s homes. One of the most common behavior issues I hear time a bird cage door is opened, we train the pig to "touch your about is aggression. Pigs are... pigs. They will do anything for food, target". We train this cue so the pig places his head to hover which is one reason they are so fun for me to train. Food makes around the center of the X’s we have taped on the floor next to it easier to modify their behavior. On the flipside, I see pigs each bird cage. These areas are high traffic areas and running to charge other pigs for the opportunity to eat. I see them charge grab a carpet square would not be easy, nor would it likely stay in their owners or caretakers to get them to toss food. This seems one spot with the people, dogs and other animals walking around to be pretty common and I see owners tossing food to put disthese areas. tance between them and a pig who is about to bite or charge. Teaching numerous pigs to station to individual carpet Other common issues I see are with potty training, problems squares creates control in a potentially chaotic situation. When I with other animals and the lack of appropriate enrichment for an was first contacted A still from the video about training pigs, I animal this smart. showing a pig training to had to deal with them Pigs are prey animals and I have observed instances where have her temperature jumping on people and the body language clearly shows that the pig is not comfortable taken with a situation so many times. I watch for hair rising on the back nipping at fingers and toes in anticipation of of the neck. Or, the tail stops wagging, the pig stands still and obfeeding. So I trained serves his surroundings from the side. These are all clear aneach pig individually to tecedents to aggressive behaviors such as charging, swinging the head to the side to hit or bite, or biting from the front. Often, if I station to a carpet square then added a see a pig not comfortable with a situation, he quickly puts disceramic bowl and cretance between himself and the subject causing the concern. ated the conditioned I am kept on my toes quite a bit with a Micro-Mini who comes to my training center for training on a regular basis. I have stimulus of a Cheerio hitting the bottom of observed his body language. The sound of food dropping on the BARKS from the Guild/January 2015
21