My pig is bite adults but not kids

Question
I'm not sure but it seems that she is not very fond of adults.. I have a 9 year old daughter and she does awesome with her... I think the previous owners hit her or something.. she seems to be getting better day by day but I am scared of her a little. Can she be broke of the biting at us? She is about 5 months old... The previous owner said she never bit at them but I find it hard to believe and am thinking that's why they got rid of her???? Not sure .... I think they hurt her or something... she is very skidish... esp around adults. .. please help I don't want her to have to go to another home but I can't have her bite people either. .. also what should I expect when she goes into heat???

Answer
It can be difficult to understand what a re-homed pig is thinking, because we really have no way of knowing what the pig experienced. Being intact - male or female - makes everything more complicated. The poor pig is driven crazy by hormones, and acts out of desperation. Some symptoms of a pig in heat are swelling, potty accidents, obsession with a pet, person or thing, escaping, aggression and running away.

Spaying and neutering goes a long way towards making piggy a better indoor pet. If you don't know of a local vet, there's a list of veterinarians and schools at www.farec.org. Contact the one nearest you for a reference.

I think the best thing is to start training from step one, as if piggy was never socialized or trained. Give her a safe space, in a laundry room, bathroom, small bedroom or large closet. She should have enough room for her litter box, bed, water dish and to play with a couple of toys, but not much more.

Because she seems to have bonded with your daughter, let her start the process. Have her sit on the floor of piggy's safe space with treats in her hands. Let piggy approach and sample the treats at her own pace.

ALWAYS tell piggy what you're going to do before you do it, for example, say "Touch piggy ear" then touch piggy's ear.

Have your daughter feed piggy all meals, from her hands or from a dish in her hands. Ideally, have her put piggy's harness on piggy while she's eating, then take it off an hour or so later, so piggy gets used to wearing the harness. This is important because it's easy to harness train a young pig, and the pig will remember her whole life.

If your daughter feels up to it, have her start teaching piggy simple tricks.

Because the two have already bonded, after a day or two at most piggy will feel very comfortable with things. Now, it's time for you to go through the same process.

Start by sitting on the floor, with piggy's meal in a dish in your hands. Let piggy approach you and sniff you at her own pace. She might take her time at first. But, in a few days, she should be as bonded to you as she is to your daughter.

Now, you can start letting her out of her space. She will be much less territorial because she knows now which space is "hers" and which space is "public". Put her harness on her first. Then, make her go potty in her litter box. Keep her in the box until she pees. The idea is so she won't be able to make a potty mistake when you let her out.

If she begins showing aggression toward other people in the house, have them do the same thing you and your daughter did. And have everyone in the house make piggy do tricks.

Pigs see the world as a ladder, with each person, pet or pig having his or her own rung. Pigs in a herd show each other which rung they have by making lower pigs move. For example, if a low rank pig is sleeping under a tree, a high rank pig might come along and make the low rank pig get up and move away. The high rank pig may or may not take the sleeping spot. Because it wasn't about the spot at all. It was about the fact that the high rank pig could, and did, make the lower rank pig move.

Apply that Move The Pig concept to your daily interactions with piggy. Make piggy get up and move at random times for no reason. Never, ever step over or around piggy, always make piggy get out of the way.

When piggy head swipes or snaps, push piggy's head to one side. Then make piggy move. If piggy is on a chair with you, make piggy get off the chair and take a few steps away. You can let piggy right back up if you like, because the point was made when piggy had to get up and move.