Vancouver Island dog obedience class's unlikely participant

When Tyler Kyle of Nanaimo decided his four-month old pet pig Rupert could do with some manners, there was no pig obedience class he could send him to, so he decided to put him in a dog obedience class instead.

Rupert, the only pig in the class, has now learned to sit and lie down on command.

"The dogs do it to please their owners, Rupert does it because he knows he's going to get fed," laughed Kyle, who takes Rupert to an obedience class every Wednesday evening at Best Paw Forward in Nanaimo.

"He doesn't care what we think."

Piggy needed some manners

Kyle and his partner have had Rupert, a kune kune mixed-breed pig, since he was only six weeks old.

They decided to put Rupert in an obedience class because they had heard of another pet pig in Nanaimo that had previously taken the same class, and because they thought "a little manners for Rupert wouldn't hurt."

"The reason Rupert wakes up in the morning and goes to bed at night is just to be fed," Kyle said.

"Like a begging dog, he just needs to … know that you're the boss, and he can't have everything he wants all the time, and to be quiet at certain times."

Kyle said the other dogs in the class were curious at first and all took turns sniffing him, but have since left him alone.

"Nobody's been ever aggressive or anything towards it. It's not a dog, so they just carry on with their lives after that. They just sniff it, say okay, see you later."

'Instantly fell in love'

Kyle said he decided to get a pet pig because "the internet is full of these little piglets, and they're adorable," and because he had also heard that they're highly intelligent and make good pets if cared for properly.

He visited a breeder on Salt Spring Island, and said he and his partner knew right away that Rupert was the one for them.

"The mum pig rolled out of the barn, and then we see four little black and white pigs roll out, and thought, 'Aw, that's cute.'

"And then this little orange one rolls out, and it was, 'That's him. Can we have him now?' [I] instantly fell in love with the little guy."

Kyle said Rupert was nervous and skittish when he and his partner first took him home,  but he warmed up to them once they fed him. He is particularly fond of tomatoes, lettuce and bananas.

When asked if he thinks Rupert will pass the obedience course, Kyle said he was confident he would.

"He'll pass on his looks alone."

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled: Nanaimo man takes pet pig to dog obedience classes