How to housetrain a pig

If you’ve ever walked past a pig farm you will have noticed the smell and probably felt glad you don’t live anywhere near!   Pigs have a reputation for being dirty creatures with a strong scent but nothing could be further from the truth.   The pig is one of the cleanest animals to care for and if kept in a way that gives him plenty of space he will not smell at all.  The picture above is of our Kuni Kuni pig who is called Pugwash.   He was  saved from being sent to the abbattoir a couple of months ago.   Pigs are very badly treated by humans – the desire to eat pork and bacon over rides all ethical considerations, the majority of these poor creatures are intensively farmed.   It’s cruel because pigs are intelligent and friendly creatures and their preferred place to live is in woodland.  They will make their own nest among bushes and tree roots and have toilet arrangements away from their home.   It’s a far cry from the iron bars and cramped concrete conditions of intensive farming.    A pig is easy to housetrain and once he has grasped the idea, will never make a mess indoors.   Pigs are creatures of habit though and you’ll find that the place he begins to use as a toilet, he’ll go on using, so you have to get it right from the start.  We used to have a Gloucester Old Spot who had decided to have her toilet behind an elderberry tree.   Even in winter, she’d run out to her tree, do her jobs and then dash back into her straw den.   We’ve kept pigs indoors and they are much easier to housetrain than a dog, so long as they have an outside toilet area.   If they picked a spot in the house you’d be in trouble though!

The key to housetraining a pig is to make it clear where the toilet area is.   You’ll have to show him where you want him to ‘go’ and that’s it.   A pig is a clean animal and has a good memory for this sort of thing.  How do you show him?   How do you get a pig to go where you want him to?    Ever tried leading a pig?   Pushing him?   Stopping him going somewhere he wants to?    All practically impossible, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s slippery and very quick on his feet when he wants to be!

One of the best ways to handle a pig is to make yourself a ‘boar board’ – this is a square piece of wood with a hand hold at the top.   A bit of marine ply will do, if it’s light it will be easier to hold and it’s only guidance.   If you are new to pig keeping you might have a lot of trial and error trying to move your pigs and show them what you want them to do.   There isn’t enough neck on a pig to put a collar on and anyway, Mr.Pig is far stronger than you are.   Persuasion is the way to get along with these porcine creatures and the way to every pig’s heart is through food.    The pig will always follow his nose, hoping for a tasty titbit en route, and if you have the board in one hand, holding it at your side, he’ll walk along with you, following the board and the bits of carrot or apple you’re throwing down for him.    Easy!

The first minutes in a new pig pen are crucial.    There’s a deep bed of straw in one side (pigs love their comfort) and a concrete run or, even better, a nice grassy paddock outside.   You need to keep him in the place you’d like him to use as a toilet (outside and away from the straw) until he’s actually done the business.  Once he’s marked the spot, that’s it, he’ll keep coming back to it and the rest of the area will stay clean.   Keep the board in front of him and feed him if you have to, scratching his back and having a chat with him for as long as it takes.   Then you can leave him to it –  he’s housetrained and will always use  the same place.   Instead of ‘mucking out’ the whole area as you would have to do with a horse, cow or goat, you’ll just have to scrape the manure from one place.   The bedding will always stay clean.    Our sanctuary pig, Pugwash, has a nice bed of straw, it’s always clean because he goes outside to the toilet.   Good boy Pugwash.   Pigs – dirty creatures?  I don’t think so – they won’t sleep in a soiled bed – unless the factory farmers give them no option.  [donate]