I haven’t posted in awhile but I have a story this morning. Just a little back story first to get you caught up to where I am now. You know we added Russ to the farm a couple weeks ago. He was in a pen on his own to heal from his neuter. He has been running the fence row with the other pigs. So this weekend my husband and I got him in the pen with the other pigs. I was hoping they would get along and he would live in there with them and we could double the room in the pen by getting rid of the middle fence between the pens. It didn’t go too bad yesterday. There was some fighting but they really didn’t do like I thought they would. Didn’t even fight over food. In my head, I though, this was either than I thought. I went in the house and went to check a couple hours later. I didn’t want him to be without shelter and the top hog in that pen, Bacon Bit, hadn’t let him in the shelter. I go out and sure enough, they hadn’t accepted him enough to let him in the shelter. So, I took the dog house from the pen that he had been using and put it in that pen. I went back inside to let them figure it out. I ended up sleeping in this morning. When I got up, I started my feeding routine. I let the dogs out and they ran around a minute. I look out toward the pig pen and I see Russ... took me a minute to realize he was out of the pens completely just wondering the property. I panic. I get daisy (one of our black labs) back inside. And as soon as that happened Russ just walks up to me like, hey, good morning. I walk him back to the pen and was surprised he just followed me. I panicked because most of the others just run into the woods and it’s days before I get them back in. I put him in the pen and go to let Daisy back out. What I didn’t do was latch the bottom of the gate and I let Daisy back out and here comes Russ again. Daisy loves to try to herd the pigs when they get out. My worry was she has not acted friendly toward Russ since the beginning like she did with the others. So, I start screaming for Daisy. Well, she isn’t listening and add in my other lab, Bella, and they are running this pig in circles. I can’t get him back in because they want to chase him around the property. I just knew he was going to end up in the woods, which is my worst fear. At this point, Russ is in between the big pig pen and the little pig pen. He is standing between the fencing and the railroad tie. He is trying to catch his breath for a minute and is desperately trying to get back in the pen but can’t where he is. So is daisy at this point. Then once Daisy catches her breath and gets a drink of water, she is trying to get him out of there and the chase begins again.  I know I sounded like a crazy person screaming for the dogs and the pig. If I had been thinking rationally I would have just told Daisy to bring him to the pen and she would have. My husband comes out about then as I’m screaming like a crazy person and I said please get Daisy. He had no idea what was going on. I said Riss is out and he went in to put shoes on. Russ and Bella actually have a very strong bond so once Daisy was in the house, Bella calmed down and so did Russ. He just walked back to the pen with me. This time I latch the gate, top and bottom. I’m tired from chasing them also. I hadn’t even fed any of the animals yet. But, I needed a minute. The donkey is braying, the goats are bleating, the rest of the pigs are screaming. The wind has picked up and it’s about to pour down rain. I finally get myself together and go feed the animals. My husband is out with me trying to figure out where he got out and how the other pigs in that pen didn’t follow him out. Can you imagine 5 pigs running around?? Oh that’s a nightmare I hope to never face. The only thing we can figure is Russ got out while the other ones were asleep in the shelter which means he was probably out all night. He crawled under the fence they had been digging under and I hadn’t latched the gate when I put the doghouse in that other pen last night so he was able to walk right out. Looks like he has been rooting up in several areas throughout the night. I got the doghouse back in his pen and fed and watered him. I went back inside. Just went to check on him and the poor guy is exhausted. He was sound asleep in his pen. The moral to this story is, I don’t think he wants to be in with the other pigs. He has created more of a bond with my dog than with the other pigs. But in reality, he hasn’t been around other pigs except when he was a piglet. I’m not sure what happened in his first home, but the second didn’t have other pigs and the third only had a dog for him to interact with. So, we will be building him a shelter like the other ones have and leave him in there alone. He can still interact with the other pigs and still have his own space. Poor little guy.