My son started college away from home and, it seems, Hubert hasn't been the same since. He just mopes all day long and lays on his bed and just goes out to poop. He is also a lot less vocal these days even when he's hungry which isn't often. His food often goes uneaten (never his fresh fruit or peanut butter, however). We'd be worried but he really hasn't lost any significant weight. Of course, just laying around how much weight can he lose. He used to like being stroked with a brush; often lying down immediately so as to give access to his belly but that's a thing of the past.
We suspect that he may be sight impaired because he gets awfully close to objects before sidestepping them. He seems to be using his sense of smell to guide him. When walking along a paved narrow walkway, he will swing his head from side to side as if he's smelling either side of the walkway.
I want the old cantankerous Hubert back.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Hubert starts his Summer
Hubert has an excellent sense of timing, as do dogs. At 3PM, Hubert comes out into the yard and waits for me. I have discovered that if you stick to a schedule, you will not hear a peep out of Hubert. VPB pigs are great at figuring things out. When his food sources were random, Hubert did nothing but complain about his next meal.
When we settled into a schedule, Hubert had the patience of Job. Not only that but he seems to require less food! We've cut back on his calories and he's slimming down--well, at least his belly is not as rotund as it used to be.
If you miss his accustomed feeding times, Hubert will be very vocal but if you go up to him, pet him, and tell him some story, he'll shut up and follow you 'cause he knows you mean well. I love Hubert. A few days ago, I found out that he's illegal in our town. His owner, my son, has vowed to move into another, more progressive town in order to keep Hubert from ending up in a petting zoo.
Just a note about his "crankiness." If you chill with Hubert, you will find that he occasionally grunts and tries to "bite you." In the hundreds of times he has done this, he has never bitten me. What I think is happening is that he is frustrated over not being understood, so he feigns belligerence. That's right, he acts like a cranky bastard until you do what he expects from you.
In these situations, I merely scream out in Spanish, "Maricon, hijo de puta," and slap him lightly on the face (I mean LIGHTLY--like you might do if you had to fake it in a Hollywood movie). Hubert will quiet down and wait for you to try and "understand" him. Many of these "attacks" have come when Eddie (our Jack Russell) is around and he wants to let you know that Eddie upsets him. He never has this reaction with Abbey (our pit Bull/Terrier mix). That's because Abbey always shies away from him.
When we settled into a schedule, Hubert had the patience of Job. Not only that but he seems to require less food! We've cut back on his calories and he's slimming down--well, at least his belly is not as rotund as it used to be.
If you miss his accustomed feeding times, Hubert will be very vocal but if you go up to him, pet him, and tell him some story, he'll shut up and follow you 'cause he knows you mean well. I love Hubert. A few days ago, I found out that he's illegal in our town. His owner, my son, has vowed to move into another, more progressive town in order to keep Hubert from ending up in a petting zoo.
Just a note about his "crankiness." If you chill with Hubert, you will find that he occasionally grunts and tries to "bite you." In the hundreds of times he has done this, he has never bitten me. What I think is happening is that he is frustrated over not being understood, so he feigns belligerence. That's right, he acts like a cranky bastard until you do what he expects from you.
In these situations, I merely scream out in Spanish, "Maricon, hijo de puta," and slap him lightly on the face (I mean LIGHTLY--like you might do if you had to fake it in a Hollywood movie). Hubert will quiet down and wait for you to try and "understand" him. Many of these "attacks" have come when Eddie (our Jack Russell) is around and he wants to let you know that Eddie upsets him. He never has this reaction with Abbey (our pit Bull/Terrier mix). That's because Abbey always shies away from him.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hubbie and "the dogs"
Hubert hates Eddie. Eddie didn't really do anything to him or at least not anything that we witnessed; but, just to smell Eddie is enough for Hubert to start grunting up a storm. I actually ran an experiment where I petted Hubert with my left hand and then the second I switched overt to my right hand (that had previously petted Eddie), he showed his displeasure. WE NEED a PIG WISPERER. I actually felt Hubert's teeth on my hand.
I'm going to determine if it's Eddie or dogs in general that Hubert dislikes. I'm going to pet Abbie before Hubert and see how he reacts.
Another anecdote with regard to dogs and Hubert is when my daughter, Adrienne, the Veterinary Assistant, came by to visit after work. With her, Hubert was much more of a a "cantankerous bastard," as a friend of the family had pegged Hubert. We surmised that Adrienne, dealing with dogs all day, had--to Hubert--smelled like a dozen dogs caught in the rain.
I've never been as understanding with other animals as I've been with Hubert. I ask myself how I would feel if my only tools for conveying information to a caretaker were a snout, a mouth, and some grunts. I allow Hubert to feign biting me because that's a built in "word" for him to convey displeasure. Hubert, to his credit, always lets me "fight back." He never escalates the fight except perhaps to keep grunting for he must have the last word especially on issues that are important to him (food & chillin).
A quick note on his sense of smell. The other day I poked my head through the basement door. I looked to see if Hubert was around. He wasn't eating so he must have been in his room about 25 feet away from where I stood at the door. It was just a momentary look and I was on my way. As I ascended the stairs to my room, Hubert came out grunting for me.
I'm going to determine if it's Eddie or dogs in general that Hubert dislikes. I'm going to pet Abbie before Hubert and see how he reacts.
Another anecdote with regard to dogs and Hubert is when my daughter, Adrienne, the Veterinary Assistant, came by to visit after work. With her, Hubert was much more of a a "cantankerous bastard," as a friend of the family had pegged Hubert. We surmised that Adrienne, dealing with dogs all day, had--to Hubert--smelled like a dozen dogs caught in the rain.
I've never been as understanding with other animals as I've been with Hubert. I ask myself how I would feel if my only tools for conveying information to a caretaker were a snout, a mouth, and some grunts. I allow Hubert to feign biting me because that's a built in "word" for him to convey displeasure. Hubert, to his credit, always lets me "fight back." He never escalates the fight except perhaps to keep grunting for he must have the last word especially on issues that are important to him (food & chillin).
A quick note on his sense of smell. The other day I poked my head through the basement door. I looked to see if Hubert was around. He wasn't eating so he must have been in his room about 25 feet away from where I stood at the door. It was just a momentary look and I was on my way. As I ascended the stairs to my room, Hubert came out grunting for me.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Hubert shows hi s displeasure
"Dad, will you come and look at Hubert. He's acting a little strange," said my Son, Andre, this morning. I went out on the porch to look out towards the yard. "Do you think he's all right?," continued my son.
Hubert had been laying across a flower bed for about 15 minutes according to my son. It was unusual only because it was a very chilly day with a nasty wind chill added on. Hubert preferred his warmth. I said to myself that he might have had a fever; knowing that animals under God's care usually know how to take care of themselves.
I told my son I had no idea what was wrong but I wasn't too concerned because my son managed to call him into the basement
Well, a few hours passed and I saw Hubert chilling with my daughter on top of the hill at the far end of our yard. I went out there to do what I usual do with Hubert (walk him, scratch him, and bring him back for some fruit treats). On our way back, Hubert had seen me take down a rug that he had used for most of the winter and which was cleaned and laid out in the Sun for drying. At the point where the rug had hit the ground, Hubert started sniffing and refused to come with me into the basement.
I took the rug back into the basement where I was going to lay it out in his room. My son stopped me and with paint roller in his hand and said that I wasn't going to be able to set up the rug because he had moved a whole bunch of stuff into Hubert's room temporarily. Aha! Poor Hubert had been expressing his displeasure over what Andre had done to his sleeping quarters. The poor thing had no room to even turn around.
In the chilly air, poor Hubert was telling us that he didn't like what we had done. When he smelled his old rug, he was telling me that he wanted his life put back the way it was.
When an animal acts strangely, when he refuses to do things he's always done, you should stand back, look at the situation and figure it out. They act differently for a reason. Find out why and maybe God will look down upon you a little less harshly for having taken an animal away from nature and into human society. IMHO.
Hubert had been laying across a flower bed for about 15 minutes according to my son. It was unusual only because it was a very chilly day with a nasty wind chill added on. Hubert preferred his warmth. I said to myself that he might have had a fever; knowing that animals under God's care usually know how to take care of themselves.
I told my son I had no idea what was wrong but I wasn't too concerned because my son managed to call him into the basement
Well, a few hours passed and I saw Hubert chilling with my daughter on top of the hill at the far end of our yard. I went out there to do what I usual do with Hubert (walk him, scratch him, and bring him back for some fruit treats). On our way back, Hubert had seen me take down a rug that he had used for most of the winter and which was cleaned and laid out in the Sun for drying. At the point where the rug had hit the ground, Hubert started sniffing and refused to come with me into the basement.
I took the rug back into the basement where I was going to lay it out in his room. My son stopped me and with paint roller in his hand and said that I wasn't going to be able to set up the rug because he had moved a whole bunch of stuff into Hubert's room temporarily. Aha! Poor Hubert had been expressing his displeasure over what Andre had done to his sleeping quarters. The poor thing had no room to even turn around.
In the chilly air, poor Hubert was telling us that he didn't like what we had done. When he smelled his old rug, he was telling me that he wanted his life put back the way it was.
When an animal acts strangely, when he refuses to do things he's always done, you should stand back, look at the situation and figure it out. They act differently for a reason. Find out why and maybe God will look down upon you a little less harshly for having taken an animal away from nature and into human society. IMHO.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Winterizing the Pig
Hubert, I discovered, doesn't like snow--he thinks he's going to sink into it. He also doesn't like slippery surfaces like ice-covered sidewalks--he hates it when he slides. It's related to his dislike of hills or slopes. Hubert is a pig who enjoys his low center of gravity and anything that threatens that joy soon becomes an object of scorn.
During a particularly nasty climate in NJ, Hubert had the hardest time leaving the basement to venture out to the yard to poop. I finally had to entice him with dried apricots onto the patio. He normally avails himself of the lawn but, being that it was snow-covered, he would not go there. Still, no pooping. Then I saw him trying to dig into the hard patio surface. I reasoned that he was looking for evidence of earth. Apparently, that's there main criteria for suitable defecation surface. I got some of his old poop from the compost heap, added some dirt and threw it on the patio. Hubert then lifted up his tail because, for him, or was right with world. Prior to this episode, Hubert had used his own carpet to defecate. Why? Well, it was because the carpet had not been kept very clean of mud and the smell of dirt had triggered Hubert's release of poop.
Concerning brushing, VPB pigs definitely need it to get rid of large skin flakes that stick to their hair with a tenacious static electricity. This year, we're looking into the possibility of buying skin conditioner by the gallon. Speaking of hair, Hubert is growing the most splendid "Mohawk" atop his head. His hair has grown to a length of 3 inches over most of his body.
During a particularly nasty climate in NJ, Hubert had the hardest time leaving the basement to venture out to the yard to poop. I finally had to entice him with dried apricots onto the patio. He normally avails himself of the lawn but, being that it was snow-covered, he would not go there. Still, no pooping. Then I saw him trying to dig into the hard patio surface. I reasoned that he was looking for evidence of earth. Apparently, that's there main criteria for suitable defecation surface. I got some of his old poop from the compost heap, added some dirt and threw it on the patio. Hubert then lifted up his tail because, for him, or was right with world. Prior to this episode, Hubert had used his own carpet to defecate. Why? Well, it was because the carpet had not been kept very clean of mud and the smell of dirt had triggered Hubert's release of poop.
Concerning brushing, VPB pigs definitely need it to get rid of large skin flakes that stick to their hair with a tenacious static electricity. This year, we're looking into the possibility of buying skin conditioner by the gallon. Speaking of hair, Hubert is growing the most splendid "Mohawk" atop his head. His hair has grown to a length of 3 inches over most of his body.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
