Rescue Journal

rampaging pig!!!

Alison · Mar. 29, 2007

holy crap, when ellie plays...RUN! tyra did just that, she took one look at the pig in play mode and ran right back up to wait by the dog yard gate. there is nothing stupid about tyra at all. lexie got knocked down twice and then bless her heart she quite clearly told ellie to "f" off. which ellie did. dexter bit the dust once and phoebe got chased for a bit but she can run faster than ellie. i am covered with mud from ellie's joyous fun but i will give her credit she tried to go "softly" when i asked, but i think softly is different for a 300 pound baby pig then it is for a human. but i know she did try and actually did really good because if she hadn't, i would have been down in the mud pretty quick too.

so here is the thing with ellie now everyone...i was kidding about the running. we don't want her to learn that humans are afraid of her when she acts like that because she will just start to push us around. we want to be clear and consistent with her and teach her the very same thing from us all. the new magic words for ellie are..."go softly" and "don't bump me" with lots of pets and hugs and "good girl" when she tries to be gentle (which is hard for a happy really big baby pig.)

Comments

Janice

And it is even more fun when they come into the house at 450 lbs and are having a temper tantrum because we have just had a tug of war down the hallway with a bag of food i don't want her eat while i am talking to Carol on the phone. And She really is at least 450 lbs. lol

So i too am enjoying reading about Ellie and her antics thinking out loud and mumbling I KNOW lol

Barbara

They are indeed powerful. Watch her when you go through gates! One time my mom was trying to get into the chicken area to feed them, had her hands full with the vegetable parings we gave them, and Esther barrelled right through her, knocked her over, smashed her against the gate post, and broke her collarbone. You might need a suit of armor to protect yourself so you don't end up with more broken bones!
They do settle down eventually though. Esther and Edward were just the best pets I ever had. Reading about Petunia and Ellie has brought back many fond memories.

Carol

i am chuckling barbara...i don't actually know how much she weighs now...she was 150 when she came in and she is twice as big as she was. maybe she weighs 200 or 250 or 300 but she is getting really big really fast and she is a heck of alot of powerful baby pig. her growth rate is kind of scaring me. colleen had a freudian slip today and said something about a rampaging elephant...oops pig.

Barbara

I had two pet pigs when I was growing up. I read your blog regularly - it is so much fun! But is ellie really already 300 pounds???? Seems like only yesterday she was just 150! They do grow quickly, don't they?
Keep up the good work - sanctuaries like yours are few and far between.