Harnessing Pig Power

I haven't done a post on my surprise Christmas present, Preston the pot-bellied pig, for a while. Preston had been living in his little shed over the winter months, but now that the weather is warmer and he can be outside some, we decided to move him to bigger digs. Here is is previous house:

And here is his new and improved pig palace:

LL and I also decided it would be a good idea to get Preston a harness, because previously LL has had to pick him up and carry him to our yard so he could run around in the fenced in area. And Preston does NOT like being picked up. He squeals and squeals and tries to twist and get away. So we went to Target and got a lab-sized dog harness. It may sound funny to get such a big harness for such a small pig, but his pot belly is substantial so he needed the girth. :o) This week we went down to his pig house, LL picked him up and moved him to his new house, and we put his harness on him while he ate some treats. I picked a nice burnt-orange color because I thought it would go nicely with his black and white hair. :o) Here he is in his harness chowing down:



Then we decided to hook up his leash to the harness to get him used to it:

Collette enjoyed holding his leash and watching him eat:


Up until that point, Preston had done very well tolerating his new home, new harness, and new leash. However, when LL decided to try to walk him, Preston turned into Ninja Pig. LL pulled on the harness, and then Preston started squealing, jumping, twisting, and almost doing back-flips. He was really freaked out, and when he squealed, I screamed, and since I was holding Collette when I screamed, she started crying. LOL. We promptly decided that perhaps Preston had had enough changes for one day. :o)

The eventual goal is to get Preston used to his harness, so that he can either walk to the yard on his leash, or we could tether him out in his yard for some fresh air. We'll keep you posted.