A pig amidst the puppies? Will it work? Only time will tell. But the committee of Kintala, the club where Penny trained for a couple of years, from puppyhood, has accepted a pet pig for training. Kintala, as I understand it, was the pioneer in Australia of the Gentle Modern method of training dogs (ie reward-based). I am thankful that we started there, because training is all off-lead, and I'm sure that gave Penny a good start in life.
The club's senior trainer, Katarina Behan, say that seeing food is used as a means of inducing behaviours and rewarding them, the method should suit a piglet. At first the little piggy will train independently, but eventually it will be introduced to dogs, starting with a gentle rottweiler-labrador cross.
If you'd like to read more, here is a link to Carolyn Webb's article in The Age newspaper.
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