Guinea Pig Shaming

Bertie wonders where the corn husk went

Have you heard about a website called Dogshaming?  I discovered it through the Guinea Lynx forum in an inspired post labeled Guinea Pig Shaming.  Dogshaming has spawned similar sites for different pets, including rabbits and cats.  I even found a Guinea Pig Shaming page on Facebook and a brand new tumbler blog.

The forum post inspired me to start taking photos.  Or perhaps I should blame it on Pinniped's recent behavior.  It's amazing how much badness can be wrapped up in a little rodent.

It was Pinni's constant eating and guarding of food that caused me to separate Willow from the Newbies.  Now that Bertie hasn't been feeling her best, I've seen some of Pinni's bad behavior returning.  Bertie can hold her own, for the most part, squaring off against a single pig.  But Pinni pushes her advantage whenever she can.

This Spring I had to add chew-guards to the coroplast edges on the cage because Pinni insisted on scalloping the edges.  Even now, she chews on the protected edges to get my attention if I'm in the room.  I swear she knows it drives me crazy and does it on purpose.

Any attention is good attention, right?  Even if it leads to being picked up and squeezed?  Well... maybe.

Signs inspired by Willow and Pippin's behavior

I don't know how well shaming works for dogs, but I think that guinea pigs are oblivious to it.  I've attempted my own version for several years at the Boston Pignic with the Time Out cages.  My own guinea pigs, Pippin, Willow and then later Pinniped and Bertie have all spent most pignics in these pens for all sorts of badness including hair pulling and bloody noses.  Initially, my signs were hand-lettered, but as my pigs showed no signs of remorse, I printed out some new ones.  I also added the gender-neutral signs, so bad boars wouldn't be left out.

Being stuck in the time out pens hasn't seemed to affect my girls in the least, although other pignic-goer's reactions have ranged from horrified to amused at my tactics.  I have seen a few sulky boars in the time-out pens, but their attitude had less to do with feelings of guilt than the aggravation at being pulled away from their victim(s).

Tammy and I had some fun at our last Pignic, posing with a couple of the signs.  I guess I'm as unrepentant as my pigs.