Bonding-3 Failed Dates! Is This Normal/possible?

[oxtinamona]

Hi, after I separated my two sows that have fallen out, we are trying to find the boyfriends.

We took them to the rescue which was recommended to me on here on Saturday.
Each of girls was tricycles to two neutered boars and one girl to another girl.

All these matches failed and the rescue said they've been both very feisty with laid back boys and literally were rearing up so they had to split them up. That as second boy. First match Ginger the piggy that used to dominant and sad to add, a bully disliked the boy after 30 mins or so. Second boy, they told me , that she acted the way boars do usually! Doing their dominance dance and reading up.
The other girl ( the submissive and bullied one) rejected first boy after he continuously was mounting her and she had enough at some point. However they said that second boy she was just about to go for rearing up when he was just in the corner ! They also tried pairing her with other girl, it was ok to point and they started yo rear up as well.

I thought when paring mixed couples it pretty much always works out! Even the lady in the shelter said it was interesting to see submissive piggie's behaviour change?

I don't understand what's happening and shy they didn't like boys in particular...
Are they both ASBO piggies ?

Biscuit doesn't seem too happy on her own at all...

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, after I separated my two sows that have fallen out, we are trying to find the boyfriends.

We took them to the rescue which was recommended to me on here on Saturday.
Each of girls was tricycles to two neutered boars and one girl to another girl.

All these matches failed and the rescue said they've been both very feisty with laid back boys and literally were rearing up so they had to split them up. That as second boy. First match Ginger the piggy that used to dominant and sad to add, a bully disliked the boy after 30 mins or so. Second boy, they told me , that she acted the way boars do usually! Doing their dominance dance and reading up.
The other girl ( the submissive and bullied one) rejected first boy after he continuously was mounting her and she had enough at some point. However they said that second boy she was just about to go for rearing up when he was just in the corner ! They also tried pairing her with other girl, it was ok to point and they started yo rear up as well.

I thought when paring mixed couples it pretty much always works out! Even the lady in the shelter said it was interesting to see submissive piggie's behaviour change?

I don't understand what's happening and shy they didn't like boys in particular...
Are they both ASBO piggies ?

Biscuit doesn't seem too happy on her own at all...

Some sows, especially older ones are very difficult to bond. I have a few of them!

The good thing about rescue bonding is that you can explore options and learn more about what is possible and what doesn't work without having to bring a piggy home. sometimes, it can take a bit, but it is worth it! I just had a failed bonding session with my Tegan (her mum lives now with toy boy Gethin instead and Tegan with Tesni's ex-partner) after my peru sows fell out with each other. @VickiA also had a failed bonding session with her rumbunctious old lady, but has found a happy solution.

Just hang in there and persevere! There is currently a huge (over 300 piggies) rescue underway with over 100 pregnant sows, so a goodly number of rescues will be swamped with babies and youngsters looking for homes in a few weeks' time.

Rearing is not aggression, but fear - it says literally "stay away from me and don't invade my space". It is likely that your undergirl did react to her first failed bonding and was very wary of any newbies. Give her time to calm down. Perhaps try her with a younger/smaller pig that is not threatening for her?
Look especially at the chapter about fear-aggression: Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics

 

[oxtinamona]

Some sows, especially older ones are very difficult to bond. I have a few of them!

Rearing is not aggression, but fear - it says literally "stay away from me and don't invade my space". It is likely that your undergirl did react to her first failed bonding and was very wary of any newbies. Give her time to calm down. Perhaps try her with a younger/smaller pig that is not threatening for her?
Illustrated Bonding Behaviours And Dynamics

Hey Wiebke, thank you for replying so quick. These are Ginger and Biscuit we are talking about. I was talking to you before... They are nearly 8 months old.

I took them to Wood Green rescue to pair them up for us, as we dare not do it and they just seem really aggressive from what they're saying...each girl rejected 2 boars and they were bog lovely and tame as I met them. Biscuit didn't like slightly younger girl either...

Is there still hope? They do not have many neutered boys in the shower st the moment sadly and Biscuit ironically gets more and more sad and skittish and weird unlike herself...ironically, as she doesn't seem to like any new friends they introduced them to...

Just so puzzled be her behaviour mainly as we thought she'll be ok and expected Ginger to be a torublesome one.. Which she of course proved, but not our Bissy

 

[Wiebke]

Hey Wiebke, thank you for replying so quick. These are Ginger and Biscuit we are talking about. I was talking to you before... They are nearly 8 months old.

I took them to Wood Green rescue to pair them up for us, as we dare not do it and they just seem really aggressive from what they're saying...each girl rejected 2 boars and they were bog lovely and tame as I met them. Biscuit didn't like slightly younger girl either...

Is there still hope? They do not have many neutered boys in the shower st the moment sadly and Biscuit ironically gets more and more sad and skittish and weird unlike herself...ironically, as she doesn't seem to like any new friends they introduced them to...

Just so puzzled be her behaviour mainly as we thought she'll be ok and expected Ginger to be a torublesome one.. Which she of course proved, but not our Bissy

It may be worth trying her with a baby girl. her behaviour to me doesn't sound aggressive, but dominated by fear of being dominated by other piggies after her bad experience with Ginger. You have to allow for that.

 

[oxtinamona]

It may be worth trying her with a baby girl. her behaviour to me doesn't sound aggressive, but dominated by fear of being dominated by other piggies after her bad experience with Ginger. You have to allow for that.

Yes, we did think that as well... Poor thing. I wonder if the Woodgreen rescue is extra cautious as well, as of course they can't have any of them hurt.
I don't think they would have any baby pigs there soon though... Not sure where I could get some really...

 

[oxtinamona]

I just re read your message - My gosh, 300 piggies and some pregnant!. Why oh why people do this to these poor lovely (albeit complex ) animals ?

 

[Wiebke]

I just re read your message - My gosh, 300 piggies and some pregnant!. Why oh why people do this to these poor lovely (albeit complex ) animals ?

Most of them are very neglected, so it will take some time to bring them back to good health. You may have tro travel a bit further. Perhaps worth asking around whether they have some in the pipeline?

With fear-aggressive piggies, the slowly-slowly next door approach can work; it is not something you can work out with a round of speed dating, though as it can take several days to a couple of weeks.

Piggy socials can really give you headaches, can't they?

PS: I am waiting for some baby girls from that big rescue in the hopes that this can help my very fear-aggressive Briallen who is very much in an outsider/borderline bullying situation at the moment.

 

[VickiA]

My Mollie rejected 4 young neutered boars in the most spectacular way! She now lives with a baby sow who we adopted from rescue for her. Big relief all round. Not all piggies like all other piggies. It's like humans - some people we click with and others we don't.
It may be worth trying your girls with baby sows in future. There will be large amounts of baby sows in rescue in the next couple of months as part is a huge rescue that is ongoing.

 

[oxtinamona]

My Mollie rejected 4 young neutered boars in the most spectacular way! She now lives with a baby sow who we adopted from rescue for her. Big relief all round. Not all piggies like all other piggies. It's like humans - some people we click with and others we don't.
It may be worth trying your girls with baby sows in future. There will be large amounts of baby sows in rescue in the next couple of months as part is a huge rescue that is ongoing.

Hi @VickiA thank you for replying. Do you know what rescue they are most likely to be? We live in Norfolk and we travelled to godmanchester in Cambs, as I don't see any reliable rescues who know enough about pigs around here

 

[oxtinamona]

Most of them are very neglected, so it will take some time to bring them back to good health. You may have tro travel a bit further. Perhaps worth asking around whether they have some in the pipeline?

With fear-aggressive piggies, the slowly-slowly next door approach can work; it is not something you can work out with a round of speed dating, though as it can take several days to a couple of weeks.

Piggy socials can really give you headaches, can't they?

PS: I am waiting for some baby girls from that big rescue in the hopes that this can help my very fear-aggressive Briallen who is very much in an outsider/borderline bullying situation at the moment.

Oh poor Braillen @Wiebke . I hope you'll find a friend for her too. Piggies are amazing and as much as their politics are fascinating obviously to us as owners its always hard to understand or make definite decision. I should have gotten a gold fish !

 

[Wiebke]

Oh poor Braillen @Wiebke . I hope you'll find a friend for her too. Piggies are amazing and as much as their politics are fascinating obviously to us as owners its always hard to understand or make definite decision. I should have gotten a gold fish !

But not even a quarter of the fun...

Some piggies are unfortunately less social than others and some, like humans, are socially more adept than others.

Don't lose faith yet!

 

[oxtinamona]

But not even a quarter of the fun...

Some piggies are unfortunately less social than others and some, like humans, are socially more adept than others.

Don't lose faith yet![/QUOTE

Ha, indeed! They're are extremely endearing! I could watch the, for hours! And we do.
They have been in rescue for two days and flat seems so empty it's unreal. I am missing them terribly
There's one more boar they will try pairing the, with. They need to waits ill Friday, as he had been neutered in last few weeks, so we left them there.

He is rather feisty too, so I don't know if it's good or bad, but perhaps Ginger needs a strong headed man? Who knows, piggy heart wants what it wants x

 

[VickiA]

Hi @VickiA thank you for replying. Do you know what rescue they are most likely to be? We live in Norfolk and we travelled to godmanchester in Cambs, as I don't see any reliable rescues who know enough about pigs around here

They are likely to be all over the country. The rescue has been conducted from the south -east and the piggies are being spread among rescues all over the country as no single rescue could accommodate them all. I'm not great at geography I'm afraid so I'm not sure where your nearest rescue would be. Have you checked the rescue locator on the forum?

 

[oxtinamona]

I have, Wiebke provided it kindly to take our piggies for matching in one of the Cambridgeshire ones. Hopefully, one of them two will be there ...that's kinda East so fingers crossed as poor Biscuit really needs company so she start eats normally and be back to her normal self

 

[Tigermoth]

There is another branch under the woodgreen umbrella toward Royston, probably not a huge amount of difference in distance to you than going to Godmanchester. It's where we got out two from. Not sure what they do dating wise though.

 

[oxtinamona]

There is another branch under the woodgreen umbrella toward Royston, probably not a huge amount of difference in distance to you than going to Godmanchester. It's where we got out two from. Not sure what they do dating wise though.

Thank you @Tigermoth, if the last match on Thursday fails that's what we will do X see what they've got

 

[madguinealady]

I had a girl that would only accept babies, she hated older girls and went for them straight away.The girls I have at the moment are pretty good, they accepted an adult girl with Very little hassle