Jumping on your lap

Are you a little bit tired of your tea cup pig jumping on your lap?  It was cute when she was a baby, but now it’s getting a little out of control!  Well, she’s probably jumping on your lap because you encouraged the behavior when she was little.  Un-training a pig can be difficult, but it’s not impossible.

Firstly, as with all training, don’t punish your pig for jumping up.  She’s just being affectionate and obedient by performing what she’s previously been trained to do.  You also need to apply the training consistently – either your pig is allowed to jump on the couch or she isn’t, it’s unfair to let her do it sometimes and not others and it will confuse her.  Also, don’t teach her something when she’s a tiny piglet, then change the rules later.  If you don’t want her on the couch when she’s 120lbs, don’t let her on there when she’s 10lbs.

To start, what you need to do is learn to identify the point just before she wants to make her jump to your lap and then clearly say “NO” before she jumps.  When you’re doing this, extend your hand (palm out) in front of her snout.

The command along with the hand signal will start to send the message that she shouldn’t jump.  You then need to stand up and lead your pig away from the couch.  Circle the room and return to the couch and sit down yourself while giving your pig a nice tummy rub.  After you do this a few times, your pig should volunteer to roll over for a scratch instead of being led around the room first.  She may even be relieved that she no longer has to make the effort to jump on the couch!

Now if she still manages to jump on your lap, put her back down on the floor and say “No Jumping” and then ignore her.  Keep using the hand signals and eventually she won’t try to jump up.  When she stays on the ground giver her praise (“Good pig”) and then walk her around the room as per the above instructions.

If you want you pig to stay off the couch permanently, even when you’re not there, you can apply similar training – when she jumps on the couch, say “NO” and immediately lift her off.  Give her a small treat and put it on the floor.  You don’t want to train her to jump on the couch to get a treat, so use treats like this very sparingly.

Using these simple rules and training techniques, you should be able to keep your tea cup pig from jumping on your lap when you sit down!