Pig being aggressive towards me

Question
I just returned from being away for a week. My pig was cared for by my husband. Corky is two years old and neutered. When I returned home I immediately went out to his pen with a carrot. I was checking other pets when he lunged at me, knocked me down and tried to bite me. Needless to say I was shocked and scared. I showered and changed clothes because I was around a dog and horses prior to seeing him. Same aggression. He's wagging his tail but wants to bite me. He has behaved like this around my husband's male friends we've shown him to. I have no idea why he's behaving like thos or what to do about it. He comes in the house at night & I'm scared to let him near me. Any suggestions?  

Answer
Pigs reach adulthood between two and three years of age. A herd of pigs has a strict social structure, each pig has his or her own place on the social ladder. Babies and young pigs are at the bottom, they are small and not as strong as the older pigs. When they become adults, they have an instinctive urge to try to move as high up the social ladder as they can. They want to be Top Hog! Your family is your pigs "herd". At age two, his instincts are kicking in and he is trying to establish himself as the dominant pig.

He's probably been displaying small signals for awhile now. Little things like head swiping or general grumpiness. When you left, his social ladder was torn apart, and his instincts told him that this was the time to try to get to the top.

Get a laundry basket, or a similar sized piece of wood or sturdy cardboard. When Corky lunges at you, hold the basket up to protect yourself. He can not bite through the basket. Using the basket, push him back, make him take a few steps backward, and repeat NO firmly.

Corky needs to learn his place in your family. So, no treats unless he earns them in training sessions or by doing tricks. Establish your self as the person in charge by deciding who gets what space. In other words, do NOT let Corky push you off a chair or couch. When he is walking down the hall, do NOT step to one side to let him pass. Instead (using the laundry basket, if necessary), he must step aside to let YOU through. It isn't necessary to disturb him while he's in his bed, but if he is napping on the floor in a room, wake him up and make him move someplace else. This is what a dominant pig would do to him in a herd. People might think it's being mean, but it's really just communicating with him in pig language.

Problems like this usually brew under the surface for a long time before they explode. So it takes a while to correct them. It will probably be several days before Corky begins to return to his normal self, and he may throw a few temper tantrums along the way.

I highly recommend Priscilla Valentines book Pot-Bellied Pig Behavior and Training. Pris really understands how pigs think. She devotes several chapters to aggression, in much more detail than I can go into here. It's available from Amazon.com and her website, valentinesperformingpigs.com