TONTON AND BABIES

TonTon does not much like babies. But his job is to be wherever I am and in fact anticipate where I am going to go. And he is very good at that. But put him in with a passel of piglets and he will take on a ten-foot gate to get out. Yesterday I commanded him to stay put. 

He is usually not allowed in with the piglets when they are little but I was in there so long yesterday trying to get the nose to nose shot that he simply could not contain himself and had to come in to see what was going on, then before he could get back out he was told to Go Down and Stay.

 

Usually, Ton has something in his mouth to indicate that he is working and on instinct he keeps his head turned away from the little ones. This is an animal thing. Direct looks are interpreted as challenges. Animals use their peripheral vision with greater confidence than people. We turn our heads this way and that as our eyes see best straight ahead. But pigs and dogs have their eyes set into the sides of their heads so they watch using their swiveling eyes. Movement attracts attention.

I see this a lot in pigs too, they will wait very still and watch from the side of their head, their eyes unblinking, then when the dummy who is sneaking up is close enough they attack using the sides of their heads as their first weapon. Ton will watch from the corner of his eye, trying not to attract attention for a long time then when the piglet gets too close,  he quickly stands up and moves away.  In these images he is being commanded to stay still so as not to scare them. And he does not like it one bit.

BooBoo behaved and stayed on the other side of the fence. Molly would have chased him out so he was on command to stay behind the fence.  And Boo is more than happy not to get in the way of a protective sow.

See how Ton’s ears are quite flat. He wants to be out with BooBoo not in here being inspected and nibbled on by babies. (There is a very sweet Instagram video of this if you want to scroll down and join me in Instagram world).

This image below is probably my favourite of the set. The wee piglet under her mother’s ear. Nose to nose.

By this time of year, the piglet’s garden is looking a bit derelict.  I hope I get time to resow it in the spring and get some good growth before  Poppy’s next farrowing comes around early next summer if all goes well.

Here is a picture I took with my iPhone of Sheila doing a sitting bull imitation.

She is such a glorious creature, is Our Sheila.

Today I will make these images into Zazzle postcards so you can buy them if you like. This might be my favourite shot of Sheila this year! Shame it was with the phone and not the camera. The phone images are nice small but can do weird things when enlarged.

I hope you have a lovely day.

Love celi

WEATHER: Another good drying day.

Wednesday 10/18 0% / 0 in
Abundant sunshine. High near 70F/21C. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.

Wednesday Night 10/18 0% / 0 in
Clear skies. Low near 50F/10C. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Sun
7:07 am 6:07 pm
Moon
Waning Crescent, 2% visible 5:45 am 5:58 pm