How to Easily Walk Your Mini Pig

Are you looking for a real-life look at what it is like to walk your mini pig? Can you walk a mini pig on a leash with a dog? Learn the words I use to train my mini pigs to walk on a leash successfully. 

One of the most popular pig posts I have on the blog is when I wrote my 8 dos and don’ts of life with a baby mini pig. I was in shock myself and still learning and had to share what we were going through.

Two years ago and two pigs later, I have learned so much.  I want to continue to share it with other pet pig owners or those who are thinking about adding a mini pig to their family here on the blog.

First, just a reminder, like all things, your mini pig won’t stay little forever. Walking a pig when it is a few months old is completely different than walking a pig when it’s a few years old.

Watch the video on the hilarious journey of me walking a mini pig- okay, it’s just real life, or scroll down for the tips and tricks.

Before you even attempt to take your pig out for a walk, you need to get it a proper harness.

With Bently, the first mini pig I have had since he was 10 weeks old, I used a puppy harness. It worked for about a month.

Then I bought a pig harness that worked for about seven months. I finally upgraded to a larger harness and still use the same one today.

To watch a video on how to put a harness on your pig with a pig harness and a dog harness click here.

Be prepared to pay a little bit more for a pig harness. There is no frugal way to getting a harness for your pig. However, the harnesses made especially for pigs are worth it.

This is the one I use and love. It is strong and durable and will grow with our mini pig for quite some time yet. I have ones with metal clips, not plastic.

Say the same word every time you go to put your harness on your pig. So I stuck with the word harness.

So every time Bently was going to go outside, he would stop at the door, and I would put his harness on. I would always repeat the word Harness when taking it off him as well.

It is incredible how quickly pigs can train a word and routine.  Putting the harness on our pigs works best when they know they are going outside or for a walk.

They tend to wait at the door and continue to stand still while the harness is being put on.

Bently knows that when he gets his harness on, he is going for a walk or roaming free outside.

Is it Easy to Walk a Mini Pig on A Leash?

8 times out of 10, no. Why? Because when a pig is out exploring and finds a delicious dandelion root, they tend to not care about anything other than getting that deliciousness.

They talk back, they yell, and they pull. Not anything ideal when you are going out for a stroll.

When we kept Bently, our mini pig, in the house full time, he would be on the leash every time he went outside. We got him in November as a piglet, so he didn’t start going outside for a while.

Like our dog, Bently stayed on the leash around our yard, and I would slowly just let him off the leash. It showed boundaries, but needless to say, if they see something across the way, they will probably go after it.

Heck, that’s the same with our dog too. So it’s typical of any pet you have out loose.

I have found to get an enjoyable walk one where Bently and I can actually get our heart rate up is when I let him out to roam for 10 or 15 minutes, BEFORE the actual walk.

Otherwise, he wants to root and sniff and eat and doesn’t care too much about walking.

The best thing you can do is stick to a routine.

Springtime was Bently’s first time being out, and the dandelions were everywhere. I didn’t have to worry about him running off because he was so content with eating the tops of every single dandelion.

Every night after dinner, we took him for a walk around our property, and as soon as we got to the woods, I would let him off the leash.

He learned to come when we called him, and he wanted to keep up with us. It didn’t take more than a couple of weeks for him to learn the routine. Of course, the more you do the same routine with your pigs, the easier it is to train them.

We just adopted a second pig Olive, and I am not sure if she ever had a harness on.

I can’t wait to share with you how training goes with her. The end goal is to have her come out of her pen and free-range the yard and take walks with us up to the woods.

First, we have to have her and Bently together. Right now, they are just sided by the side in their own separate pens.

I also trained Bently after our walk to go back into his pen. I tell him the word “Pen.” and he runs to it. You can see this in the video too. To get him to do this, I gave him a treat every time he did it. So now, sometimes I will, and sometimes I won’t.

The only treats that work to get my pigs from the outdoors BACK into their pen are these from Tractor supply.

Can You Walk Your Mini Pig With a Dog?

We have a German Shepard Lab mix named Jake. After weeks of training him not to attack our chickens and ducks, he has become a wonderful addition to our little homestead.

I was terrified when we first got Bently in the house with Jake. He has a terrifying bark, and I’ve seen him kill plenty of woodchucks in his time.

I won’t go over how to treat the two together in this article, but I will say that I never let them together alone in the house or even with me for longer than 10 minutes.

When we are outside, they are both always together, and things have been good. Bently even gets the zoomies, and Jake plays with him. All the while, my heart is racing for that “what if” moment.

I feel more comfortable with them being outside and having such a huge space to get away when enough is enough. I also never feed them treats together because animals get so territorial over food.

When I walk, Bently Jake, our dog, always joins us. They both walk their own ways and sometimes run down the hill together and want to play. I am pretty sure that Bently loves Jake, and Jake could take it or leave it kind of thing.

You can see from the picture above that it was just a year ago compared to the size he is in the video now.

If you plan to walk a mini pig or even let the pig roam around your yard, be warned that they can root up a deep hole in seconds. This is because they are so strong and will dig fast if they smell something they want.

Words To Train Your Mini Pig for Successful Walking

The words I have used to train Bently to walk are outside, harness, walk, and run.

I already talked about the word harness, but I use the word walk when Bently is preoccupied with dirt instead of walking. Sometimes I will have to get right behind him and give him a little shove while saying the word walk. This is shown in the video.

When I knew we were coming up to a patch of dandelions or grass, and I didn’t want him to get distracted, I would use the word run, pull on the leash, and start jogging.

He quickly learned that means we need to move it. So even off the leash now, the girls and I can say “Bently Run,” and he starts running.

By the way, have you seen how fast a pig can run? It’s amazing.

Here is the most recent video of taking Bently out in 2020! Be sure to follow me on Tiktok too.

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I hope that was helpful to you and if you have any tips to share or feedback please leave a comment below. I love hearing from you and helping each other with this process of pet piggies!