Critter Encounter

Piggys' Story

I'm Miss Piggy...and this my friend, Sydney!  We're playing dress up!  This is my very first Easter!  I'm 9 months old in this picture!  I wasn't always big and beautiful...
Here I am...when I was cute and cuddly!  I was only 12 weeks old when Dottie found me at a chicken swap...of all places!  Needless to say...it was love at first site! 
This is my brother, Mat!  We came from the same farm!  Our family loved us very much...but had too many critters...and wanted to find us homes before winter came.  They set their pen up...and out came the alpacas, donkeys, sheep and goats!  That's when Dottie saw Mat.  After she bought him...the little girl brought us pigs out!  That's when Dottie saw me!  So here we are! 
This is Bunny!  She was at the chicken swap, too!   Now she's with us!

This is our very first night together.  I remember feeling scared ...then hungry... and then... very...very... sleepy!  Once we snuggled up...I felt warm...and my tummy was full!  It was quiet and peaceful!   I started to fall asleep... but then Mat woke me up by sucking on my ear!  Really loud!  Dottie had to feed him a bottle every time he got hungry!

Mike and Diane are the ones who brought Dottie to the chicken swap!  Joe says it's all their fault!  Ha Ha Snort!  They came over to spend time with us, while Dottie built our pen!

This is our new pen!  Can't really call it a "Pig Pen"...because I share it with a goat and a bunny!
This is the inside!

This is our first night in our new pen!  We've been a family for one whole day, now! 

Mike would let me sit on his lap!
Even as I got bigger....

...and bigger! 

Talk about bigger...Mike...you need to grow a bigger lap!

This is Andy!  He came to meet me!  What a sweetie!  I got to be held all the time...by lots of different people!  It's what Dottie called "socializing"!  She said it was very important for the work I would be doing!
This is our very first Thanksgiving!
I'm 4 months old, now!  I've been here for a whole month!  I get all kinds of love and attention!  I get scratches and rubbings every day!  I am just a happy pig!  My tail never stops wagging!
This is our out door play area!
This is the house Dottie built just for us!
This is the inside of the under ground house!
Dottie even put lights in because I was afraid of the dark!
I have my very own dog!  His name is Wrex Puppy!
I have my very own Zeek Kitty, too...who I love very much!
I liked to do my poo in the outside kennel instead of the indoor litterbox!  But one day, Dottie hurt her back and couldn't carry me to the kennel...so she started bringing me over and back in the wheelbarrel!  Hey!  It worked for us!  The first time I got in the wheelbarrel...I screamed so loud...that our neighbor... way across the field... came driving up... thinking Dottie got hurt and needed help!  It was just me...being scared!  By the time Mary drove up...there I was...just sitting in the wheelbarrell...happier than a pig in a pile of hay!
When she couldn't lift me to put me in the wheel barrel...she built me this ramp to my very own poo area!
Dottie had to bribe me with treats at first!   But then...when I had to "go"...I was more than glad to go down the ramp... even without treats!
These are my brothers, Solly and Donk E!  They live in the Big Boys barn!  Donk E's a little tiffed that I get to watch TV...being a house pig and all!
It was fun having Mat to grow up with!
We stayed together all the time!
This is the first time I wore a harness and leash!  Mat had a hard time about me wearing a leash!  As a matter of fact...he still does!
Diane is taking me for my very first walk outside the pen!
Now I'm so good on the leash...that even Kiara can walk me...and she's only two!
As a matter of fact...I was so good on a leash...that Dottie trusted me without one!  This is my very first...unleashed...run through the forest, with Mat!
I just had to make sure I ran back to her everytime she called me!  I promised!
This is my very first Piggy Gram!  That's when I get to visit people...and make them happy! 
I got to meet Santa, too!  Did you know Santa had his own Pot Belly Pig?
I was the "Cupig" for Valentines Day!

I got to visit people and put a show on for them!  We're at Brenda's house...and she just asked me to sit!  She was very impressed that I was so well behaved! 

Ha Ha  Snort!   I was doing my tricks for another family, earlier today!  It was a half hour into my show, when the Grandmom said "what a well behaved dog"!  Her daughter told her..."Mom...it's a pig"!   I went over so she could feel my nose!  Then she believed!  And told me "what a well behaved little pig"!

I'm such a good girl...that I get invited for sleepovers!  (Girls night out!)  Have litter box...will travel!  Although now...I don't even need a litterbox...I just go outside!  This is our friend,Terry!  She's asking me to sit for a treat! 

Mat and I even got to be props at Terrys haunted house!  We were raising food for the food pantry for Thanksgiving dinners!

Dottie's been teaching me all kinds of tricks!  This is one trick that I taught myself!  I could pop the cover off the food bucket!  I only got to do that once!  After that...she put the bucket up where I couldn't get to it!

But Mat could!  This is when I talked him into jumping up there to knock the food down!  I felt bad... because he got in trouble and had to go into the pen for some time out!
When I get to visit Grampa...he always takes the time out to make me feel special!

I'm putting on a show for Grandma and Grandpa!  Kiara's holding the hoop so that I can go through!  This is just one of the tricks I do for my show!

I can open a jewelry box that has a raisin inside!  I just started to learn how to close it after!
Finding which basket the apricot was under, was just... way... to... easy... for me!  I have an excellent sense of smell!
I flip this tire over three times for three pellets!  It's another counting game!
I can get a goal by hitting the ball... into the net ...with my nose!  I can also roll the ball back and forth with someone! 
This is my Bop Toy!  It's filled with pig pellets!  As I push it around...pellets will fall out of a little hole... for me to eat up!   This has got to be the best pig toy ever made! 

Dottie used this toy to teach me my colors!  And then I taught Dottie four different ways to play it!

I can line them up by size...big one goes on first!
When Dottie said "yellow"...I point to yellow...like this!  When she says "green"...I'll point to the green one!  I'll even push them to her as she calls them ...for an extra pellet per color!
I can even do it backwards!  Sometimes she'll put the colors in a circle...with me in the middle!  I spin like the needle on a compass, as she calls out the colors!
This is Dotties hand signal for "stay". 
I had to learn how to stay...so that Dottie had enough time to set the pins up...
...so that I could knock them down...when she says "go"!  I also learned how to count to three playing this game!  As I knock the pins over...Dottie counts them as they fall!  One... two... three!  Then she claps! One...two...three!  Then she counts out the pellets...one for each pin!  One...two...three!  I love to bowl!
 I taught Dottie, that if I bring her my harness...we could go for a walk!
Putting on my harness is what she calls a compound command!  That means there's a bunch of steps to do the one trick!  Here...she put my harness on the floor and put a raisin in the center.  When I go to eat the raisin...she slips the harness over my head...says "under the belly" as she slides the strap under my belly...then says "click" as she clicks the lock!  When she's done...she'll say "fix", move the harness around, scratch my back and tell me "good girl"!  Then I get another raisin!
Dottie did a lot of sensitivity training with me since the day she brought me home!  She learned that most pigs did not like to have their nails trimmed...so that's what we worked on the most.  She would rub my legs and feet, massage them, turn, bend and twist them in all different positions!  I didn't care!  To me...it was like getting a foot massage!

We finally found a vet who would see me!  Most vets wouldn't touch me because they considered me an "exotic"!  Dottie went over every inch of me...every day...so that I would feel comfortable when it came time for my first visit to the vet!

I love my ears rubbed till I go to sleep!  She turns them, pulls them, wiggles them and cleans them out with a cotton ball!  We visit a friend who is almost blind.  She "sees" me with her hands!  I just lay there!  It's all good to me! 
Ahhhhh!  The belly rub!  I will drop on a dime for a belly rub!  I get a full body massage every day!  Dottie says she's checking for any lumps and bumps!  I don't care!  I'll just lay there and let her do what ever she wants!
After all that training...I'm ready for my first visit to the vet!  Diane came to relax me with a massage while we wait for the Doctor!
I finally got to meet Dr. Emilie!  She did everything Dottie did to me, so I wasn't scared in the least!  I even had to get my shots...which was the only thing I wasn't ready for!  I was such a good girl...that Dr. Emilie invited me back in three weeks for a "boosta"!  By my second visit...I was already a celebrity!  All the staff came in to meet me and have their pictures taken with me!
When it came time to get my nails trimmed...it was like going to a spa!  Dr. Emilie trimmed one side...and Dottie got to learn how to trim the other side!  Dottie couldn't believe how hard they were to cut through!
This was the worst part of my whole visit!  I got weighed!  Dr. Emilie told us I needed to loose weight...and I had to go on a diet!
We knew that was coming!  This is me at my biggest! 
It's hard to believe that I could live on 3/4 of a cup of pellets...a day!  I could eat that up in 5 seconds!  Instead...I have to work for each and every pellet I get, by doing tricks!  I do a lot of tricks!  And then I find ways to make the trick different...so that I could get even more pellets!
I can only have 2/3 of a cup of mixed veggies and 1/3 cup of fruit!  Dottie tosses it on the floor so that I can "root" for it, just like I would in the wild!  Sometimes...she'll even toss it one piece at a time.  that way I have to run around to find it!  She started teaching me "hot and cold" when she tells me to search!  If I hear cold...I go the other way!  When I hear hot...I know I'm getting close!
We had to go for walks...run around the house and do exercises!
I can do five sit ups!  The down part is easy...but the getting back up again is kinda tough! 
This is me then!
This is me now!  Ta-Da! I lost enough weight so that I could get spayed soon.  Dottie lost weight just helping me exercise, and eating salad and veggies with me!
When I get spayed...Dottie won't be able to lift me out of the truck because I'll have belly stitches.  So we started training for that already!  It took a half hour of coaxing to get me to walk onto the platform, from the truck!  It's really the port a crate with a rug!  I needed the rug, because the plastic was too slippery and I didn't trust it!  Once I get use to that...then she'll turn the other half over...and have me walk in that.  Once I get comfortable with that...that will be like my stretcher to get me into the house after my surgery!
'Till that day comes...I'm glad to just hang out with Bunny and Mat...and enjoy life!  We've been together only 6 months...and it already seems like a lifetime!
So this has been the first nine months of my life!  I went from cute and cuddly...to big and beautiful!  Very quickly!  I've learned all kinds of things...and still have a lot to learn!  I love to do my visits...and make people smile!  It's what I was born for!  Thank you, Wendi...for taking such a beautiful picture!  It soooo...me!
Ya...I'm a happy pig!  How good is this!  I get to help Dottie work on our web site, by making sure her feet don't fall asleep!  Just keep 'em moving!  Good girl!
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