[Gpdd] [MISC] Good news - George is staying

Dr Kay Dudman kay.dudman at londonmet.ac.uk
Sun Jan 21 20:46:51 EST 2007


Dear Lori

I am so pleased to hear that George will be staying with you.  If you had
taken him back to the pet store, he would have been a piggy needing rescue
himself.  It's also important for Dani to learn that a piggy needs time,
and what a good feeling it is when you have earned a piggy's trust.   It
wouldn't have helped her to have returned George, and then find that maybe
another piggy "didn't suit" for some other reason...then what do you do?
All piggies are wonderful, each in their own individual way.  Some like
cuddling, some don't; some are shy while others are bold; some are chatty
while others are quiet...and so on.  Now you have George, love him and
look after him, and let the rapport between you grow and you'll find it
so rewarding...you'll wonder how you ever coped without having a piggy.

What worked for me when one of my new piggies was very, very shy was
putting his food bowl in, then just sitting quietly about 5 - 6 feet away,
not moving, and waiting for him to come out.  The first time this
happened, he waited a bit, came out then stopped mid-way when he saw
me...then went over to his food bowl and started eating.  I stayed there
not moving until he had finished, so that he knew he was safe.  He was
soon much more confident, loved cuddling, and sometimes would climb up on
to my shoulders, or even on my back behing my neck, to get a better look
at what was going on in the world.  Also try to have a regular routine for
getting George's food, so that he looks forward to it.  For my piggies, I
call out "pig-pig-pig-pig-PIGGY!" and I am rewarded by "vee-vee-VEE!" in
return.

Susi posted a very useful list of foods to the GPDD recently; if you go to
the GPDD website and go to the archives, you should be able to find it
easily.  It was only a few days ago that Susi posted it, so check under
the January archive list.

Welcome to the GPDD!

Kay









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