12.22.2007

issabella, pt.1

issabella, or miss bella, or bell is an ossabaw island hog, and lives in the farmyard at the baltimore zoo of maryland. and this is her tail...or tale, rather.

she is very moody; i think it is a combination of food aggression and bad habits she has been accidentally taught over the years. her skin gets dry and cracked in the cold winter weather, and to help, i have to go into her enclosure and rub her side until she lies down, and then (and only then) i can rub udder balm on her little piggies.

so far for me she she will lie down and thoroughly enjoy a belly rub and udder balm treatment one day, and the next day she takes terrible offense to you intruding on her space, and tries to bite you. actually, she did bite me, despite the broken rake i was told to carry for protection.

and thus i decided we need to work on our relationship, and embarked on a training journey. i've started working on bridge association (more on training later!) i also pulled out a soft bristled brush that had previously been used to brush the donkeys, and yay! she totally digs it; i have been brushing her while standing on the other side of the little gate and she will practically fall asleep standing up while being brushed. and the past two days when i step inside, and show her the brush, she is much calmer, quieter, and less aggressive.

i think it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear tamer of the crazy hog,

Is that actually a picture of Ms. Bella?

Love that you started a bloggity blog. Now you can be cool and say things like "I'm totally going to bloggit!" in public.