[Gpdd] [CARE] Behaviour - Aggressive Piggie

[Cazza177]

Dear Julia

When I first got my two pigs (boys) one was (and still is) the more
dominant.  Artie is like your Persephone and just takes whatever BG dishes
out.  BG is so bossy.  This has improved a lot, as I have tried to take some
of the tension out of things.  At one point they just had the one big box to
share in their run and sleep in, but BG would push Artie out, so now there's
two smalller identical boxes!  It stops some of the conflict and Artie
doesn't have to be 'left out'.

Getting them to play together on the floor with lots of boxes and tunnels to
play in and explore can help burn off some aggressive energy, and making a
fuss of your pigs in front of one another can help them see none of them is
favoured above the other.

For a while I even had problems with Artie eating his own food, because BG
would frequently approach Artie and snatch Artie's food from his mouth and
run off!  So for a time I gave them the same amount of food each, in their
own 'space' so that the conflict died down a bit.  They now share their food
together just fine.

Some of it I am certain was jealousy, and there might be some of that
happening with your two temporarily at the moment.  It may be they feel the
need to sort out the pecking order of who's in charge again.

Sharing things out like boxes and hid-aways and food - just for now, not
forever - may help cool things off again, and take the conflict out of the
situation.

Good luck

Carole
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From: Julia Kennedy
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 02:50:37 -0700 (PDT)
To: gpdd at gpdd.org
Subject: [Gpdd] Behaviour - Aggressive Piggie

Can anyone give me any advice on one of my piggies,
please?

A few years ago, Cordelia was a really agressive pig,
especially with one of my piggies, Belinda, who has
now crossed the bridge.  I think this came about
because Belinda had a very bad skin infection when she
was a pup and I had to wrap her in bandages, a
consequence of which was that she always remained
tiny. I had another girl at the time, who was older
and always put Cordelia in her place when she bullied
Belinda, but sadly, she crossed the bridge when she
was only 18 months old.  After she left, Cordelia got
progressively worse.  I decided to get an older pig to
take Delilah's place, but actually ended up with a
baby pig, Persephone, who I had found in terrible
circumstances.  Funnily enough, Persephone was even
more aggressive than Cordelia, so although I managed
to give Belinda reprieve from Cordelia, Persephone
took her place, although she did calm down after a
while and harmony reigned.  Persephone has turned into
the most lovely, soft and gentle girl.

This past week, however, Cordelia has become really
aggressive towards Persephone, for no reason that I
can fathom.  She will not leave her alone - she's
always trying to mount her, or move her out of a
pigloo or just generally chase her around.  Persephone
just takes it and will not stand up for herself, but
she's beginning to look very sad and last night,
during floor time, just hid in a tent.

Has anyone got any idea why Cordelia could have just
become so aggressive, and is there any way I can stop
her?  

Warm wheeks to all, and thoughts to all those who have
recently lost piglets.

Julia, Cordelia, Persephone, Paddington, and Emily

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