rescued pot belly

Question
We rescued a 6 month old male pot belly still in tact he has been left out side in a hay pen, feed once a day with little to no human interaction. It's about 12 degrees outside so we have him in a large metal dog kennel, he stinks of urine his skin looks tan scaly he is all black. He likes our puppy when she comes to sing the kennel, but if we get close he hides in the back coroner. I set a blanket in the back some food in a dish in on the side with a water bowl. I folded the sides of an aluminum turkey pan down and put some newspapers in it. We don't really know where to begin or how to get him to that us. And he was so hard for the previous people to catch him im afraid to let him just roam the house. We will build him a good size area to play outside but it needs to get warmer before he can be out. I think? We would like to earn his trust.Ideally we would love to be able to bathe him, put a harness on him so at least we could take him out to walk around the house and outside till he gets used to us. Any ideas and advise would be more than appreciated!

Answer
Piggy has had a rough life and now he has to adjust to everything new. It will take him a little bit to warm up to you, but he will.

For now, keep him confined to a relatively small space like a laundry room, bathroom, large closet, small bedroom or big crate. Give him a water dish (as tip proof as possible), litter box, and bed.

Start by just sitting in his space or outside his crate door and talking to him. Have a few treats in your hand. Let him approach you and explore at his own pace. Tell him what you're going to do before you do it, like "Touch piggy ear" then touch the ear. Do this several times a day, and also sit and talk to him while he eats his meals.

After a day or two, start feeding him from your hand only (or a dish in your hand). It won't take him long to snuggle right up to you for food. Now is an ideal time to get him used to being in a traveling crate by feeding him all his meals there.

Piggy may have mange, so plan on getting him to a vet in the next few weeks for neutering and a check up. Pigs recover super quickly from neutering.

Do not let him roam the house freely. Young piglets need to pee often, and they don't know they have to go until they are practically going. There is no time for them to dash through the house to the litterbox, so they pee where ever they are, and that makes bad indoor potty habits.

I highly recommend the book Pot-Bellied Pig Behavior and Training by Priscilla Valentine, and the dvd There's a Pig in the House from tophogs.com  Both of these resources cover potty and harness training. I recommend the harnesses that fasten on the back and never go over the head, like the ones from Rossmillfarm.com