So, I want a pig as a pet.

Dogs can be “potty trained”? You mean, like a toddler?

I raise a few pigs every year* (not as pets) and find that there is a lot of misinformation out there.

They are not as smart (or smarter than) dogs. I don’t know where that myth began, but I have never seen a pig as smart as any dog I’ve owned. Not that they are stupid, but pigs interactions with their environment generally consist of 2 tests:

  1. Can I eat it? If not, then
  2. Can I scratch against it?
    If a new object is introduced to them and it fails to pass either of these two tests, it is ignored.

Secondly, pig shit is really not that bad smelling, unless you have hundreds of them crowded together. My pigs are raised on pasture, so the chlorophyll in their diet probably helps mitigate the stink, but I’d much rather clean up after pigs than say, ducks or chickens.

*Cite

That test makes pigs and male dogs equally smart. The maile dog’s philosophy is:

If you can’t eat it or fuck it, piss on it.

Wiow. Maybe it is diet dependent, but pig shit really reeks to me. One of my technicians has no problem cleaning up bloody canine parvovirus laden diarrhea, but she puked last time she had to deal with normal pig shit.

What are you supposed to feed a pig? Anything it’ll eat? Dog food? Your just dismembered wife? I guess that the smell of pig shit would depend a lot on what you feed it. Although, I feed my cat dry food and her eliminations are just horrible.

David, that’s the best laugh I’ve had all day! How true. :stuck_out_tongue:

Most pigs are fed “Hog Grower” which is a blend of corn, soymeal, and who knows what.

Mine are raised on pasture, so they root in the ground for most of their food. I supplement it with spent grain from the brewery I work at and non-GMO corn that I buy. I also feed them whey from a cheese factory down the road every now and then. It makes damned fine bacon!

I couldn’t get a pig because it means I’d have to stop eating pork…