Is Your Pet Pig Food Aggressive?

*** This episode is sponsored by Mikko's Choice. Mikko's Choice is a small women owned business that provides high quality CBD for your pig.  Use code pigpodcast to get 25% off your first order. $5 from every sale is donated to animal rescues. Go to Mikkoschoice.com or email info@mikkoschoice.com for more information. *** Food aggression is so common in pigs. It’s easy for them to become food aggressive because they are so food obsessed. If we can work with them while they are young, so they don't become food aggressive, we will save ourselves so much stress in the future.  What is food aggression? Food aggression is when a pig can not focus on anything else except the food in front of them. They become aggressive and try to get the food. They are not always deliberately trying to hurt us. Many times they are just trying to scare us so we let go of the food more quickly so they can have it. We have to remember that in the wild pigs are foragers and scavengers, this is how pigs find food. They spend a lot of their day trying to find food. Since they do not have that stomach to brain connection they always feel hungry. They are always starving and think if they don't eat now they will die. So we can have a little empathy for them, nobody wants to be starving. But as a pig owner, our job is to keep our pig healthy so that means enough food. They shouldn't have too much and too little food. We love our pig but that doesn’t give them the right to bully us. Food aggression is one of those things that we do not want to happen with our pig.  In my opinion, many times food aggression is caused by us. I see it in underfed, malnourished pigs. But, another time I see it is in spoiled pigs. If we are not a leader and inconsistent in making them work for their food they can become aggressive because they feel like they have to fight for the food that they get. We are not talking about squealing for meals. Squealing for meals is not true food aggression. Food aggression is sheer panic. They are on edge because they feel like they have to fight to get that food. What are some examples of when we might see food aggression and how to handle it? Training sessions Before or during meals People food By following the tips I share in this episode you will be able to prevent food aggression or fix food aggression if they already are aggressive. We have to remember that a lot of lessons that we teach our pigs can only be taught when they trust us. If we build a bond and they trust us they will know that what we say we will do will happen. Pigs are naturally food obsessed so we have to teach them that they will get their food but they can not have it if they are being mean, bossy, aggressive and rude.   Kitchen Shenanigans Episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5sGXPKGVDmnZx2iKgBI0GX?si=f33dd09d1f1b415e https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/thepetpigpodcast/Kitchen_Shenanigans.mp3   Autumn’s Links:  Website: https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/ Email: Autumn@autumnacresminipetpigs.com Educational Membership Group: https://www.autumnacresminipetpigs.com/support-group-subscription/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autumnacresminipetpigs/ Facebook:  HTTP://Facebook.com/autumnacresminipetpigs Mighty Networks: https://autumn-acres-mini-pet-pigs.mn.co/share/EPW2Ie5isMX4T0Ve YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCGue5Kp5AwOXkReCGPUyImA Stan Store: https://stan.store/autumnacresminipetpigs Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hDNizT