It’s my understanding that most pigs don’t like having their ears, hooves or eyes touched. Therefore, I’ve made it my mission to touch Lucky’s ears, hooves and eyes as much as possible. It’s not that I want to annoy him; it’s simply that I want to get him past that potential dislike so that he will naturally be inclined to being touched.

Now, when I say his eyes, I don’t mean I poke him in the eye! I mean, I stroke his face with an open hand from snout to ear and gently run over his eyelid. He actually seems to really like this. Lucky’s lips curl into what I can only interpret is a smile, his eyes close and a look of serenity flows from him.

I play with the outside of Lucky’s ears by rubbing them as I would a dog’s ears. I scratch them, knead them and I stroke them. Piglet ears are the softest part on of the piglet, it was impossible for me to keep my paws off of them! Now, I just like his ears and since we have young kids, I want Lucky to accept being touched kindly.

Hoof care is really important. Pigs show their stress through their hooves, their hooves need trimming and may require cleaning. When we come in from outside, I often remove grass that got stuck between his cloven toes and when he steps in feces, I wash his feet. It’s challenging enough to cut my 14 lbs dog’s nails, I don’t want to have to deal with a 200 lbs squealing screaming pig every time I have to check his hooves!