joanneswift813
New Born Pup
Hello everyone,
Bear with me whilst I given some background to the situation![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
Sadly, we lost Desmond on Friday. He had recurring bladder stones, and didn't recover from the second surgery.
Absolutely heartbroken
but in focusing on the best thing for 3 year old, bereaved Terrence, who was coping ok but was quieter than usual, today we brought home Patch.
We bonded them in a neutral space with plenty of room, reading all the absolutely amazing guides on this forum (thank you to everyone who contributed to them - they are an invaluable resource!). There were a couple of minor power struggles, but as expected, Terrence emerged as top piggie. There were no major squabbles, just following each other (mainly Terrence following Patch), a little bit of nipping (mainly Terrence), a little bit of rumble strutting (both), along with washing (both of them), Terrence licking Patch's ears, and little nap which ended peacefully. Terrence was very chilled during his nap - we had a double feet out Friday, which is rare for Terrence!
This progressed over the course of about 3 hours. We deemed this to be successful, so they are now in their permanent pen, which was Terrence and Desmond's pen, but we thoroughly cleaned down everything in there so it smells as neutral as possible (including a wooden house). Terrence has accepted Patch into the permanent space with no issues.
MY QUESTION (finally, thanks for your patience
) - Since Patch backed down and Terrence was established as top piggie (about half an hour in to our bonding session), any time that Terrence goes near Patch, Patch starts squeaking quite loudly and in a distressed manner, cowering and walking or running away from Terrence. Not squeeling, just distressed squeaking. Terrence is being wonderfully patient with Patch, he's a laid back guinea pig anyway. There is no bullying behaviour from Terrence what-so-ever.
So I'm questioning why Patch is scared of Terrence? Is just that he's been through a lot today (leaving his family, unfamiliar people handling him, etc etc)? Or does he not like Terrence's personality but is too small to fight back? If the latter, I'm concerned it might not be the right long term match. But maybe it's too early to say that.
It's worth noting that it's gradually improved since moving to the permanent pen with houses (the bonding pen just had a tunnel and a huge pile of hay (plus water), with Patch hiding a lot in the hay). Just now, Patch was flopped on the floor outside a house, and has just got up to eat some biscuits/pellets (which are quite close to Terrence), and there is no squeaking! So maybe I'm worrying for nothing and it will settle
but all the same, I'd be delighted to hear any thoughts from experience boar bonders ![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
If it makes any difference, Terrence is a fairly laid back Abysinnian, and Patch is a short haired/American. the description from the breeder was that he's quite chatty but shy due to his age. They are live indoor. Patch came from a local breeder and had mixed with a male group. Also - Patch is definitely male. His testicles are already dropping, and we checked his penis as per the sexing guide on the forum (again, thank you! Invaluable resource). He's 100% male![Grinning face with smiling eyes :smile: 😄](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f604.png)
Look forward to all your thoughts![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
Bear with me whilst I given some background to the situation
![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
Sadly, we lost Desmond on Friday. He had recurring bladder stones, and didn't recover from the second surgery.
Absolutely heartbroken
![Broken heart :broken_heart: 💔](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f494.png)
We bonded them in a neutral space with plenty of room, reading all the absolutely amazing guides on this forum (thank you to everyone who contributed to them - they are an invaluable resource!). There were a couple of minor power struggles, but as expected, Terrence emerged as top piggie. There were no major squabbles, just following each other (mainly Terrence following Patch), a little bit of nipping (mainly Terrence), a little bit of rumble strutting (both), along with washing (both of them), Terrence licking Patch's ears, and little nap which ended peacefully. Terrence was very chilled during his nap - we had a double feet out Friday, which is rare for Terrence!
This progressed over the course of about 3 hours. We deemed this to be successful, so they are now in their permanent pen, which was Terrence and Desmond's pen, but we thoroughly cleaned down everything in there so it smells as neutral as possible (including a wooden house). Terrence has accepted Patch into the permanent space with no issues.
MY QUESTION (finally, thanks for your patience
![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
So I'm questioning why Patch is scared of Terrence? Is just that he's been through a lot today (leaving his family, unfamiliar people handling him, etc etc)? Or does he not like Terrence's personality but is too small to fight back? If the latter, I'm concerned it might not be the right long term match. But maybe it's too early to say that.
It's worth noting that it's gradually improved since moving to the permanent pen with houses (the bonding pen just had a tunnel and a huge pile of hay (plus water), with Patch hiding a lot in the hay). Just now, Patch was flopped on the floor outside a house, and has just got up to eat some biscuits/pellets (which are quite close to Terrence), and there is no squeaking! So maybe I'm worrying for nothing and it will settle
![Grinning face with smiling eyes :smile: 😄](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f604.png)
![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)
If it makes any difference, Terrence is a fairly laid back Abysinnian, and Patch is a short haired/American. the description from the breeder was that he's quite chatty but shy due to his age. They are live indoor. Patch came from a local breeder and had mixed with a male group. Also - Patch is definitely male. His testicles are already dropping, and we checked his penis as per the sexing guide on the forum (again, thank you! Invaluable resource). He's 100% male
![Grinning face with smiling eyes :smile: 😄](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f604.png)
Look forward to all your thoughts
![Smiling face with smiling eyes :blush: 😊](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60a.png)