As a way to preserve our 3 adopted kids' heritage, we decided to get them
a Vietnamese pot belly pig. The pig is also one of the 12 Asian honored
zodiac animals. "The pig is said to be noble and physically strong." We
spent weeks deciding which breeder to use, and if we could really take on
another pet. Next we prepared for piggy to come home. He was delayed in
travel a few weeks because of the heat wave. So piggy arrived much bigger
and older than we expected. (Kind of like a real adoption!)
The first day
he came home from the airport, he refused to come out of his airplane crate.
The poor thing was shaking and smothered in his own feces. After about 4
hours, I shooed him out of the crate. The next day the piggy refused to use
the litter box and had been holding it for 16 hours! Dumb mom took piggy out
to the back yard to eliminate. I fenced off a grassy area so he could not
get away. Well, Mr. Piggy leaped over 3 feet of fencing, and boy can a
scared piggy run fast! For 4 hours, I tried to coax the pig to come to me
and eat out of my hand. I attempted to train him to follow me. He would get
about halfway to the house and turn around and run away! Talk about
panicking! It was 95 degrees out! Next, I got two kids to help me shoo the
pig into the house. What we call shooing, that pig definitely calls chasing!
Finally Dad came home and caught the pig. We chased him into a portable
fence area and trapped him. Thank goodness the back yard was already dog
proofed and fenced in!
The next two days were horrible with piggy. Every time I got near him,
he made such a fuss! My husband had no better luck. At this point, our kids
hadn't paid much attention to this cranky pig. Finally, Tommy our
10-year-old adopted Vietnamese son, comes into the bathroom laughing at mom
and dad. He shooed us out and told us we were doing it ALL WRONG! My
Vietnamese kid was laughing at us! In 5 minutes, Tommy had baby piggy laying
in his lap, wagging his tail, and eating out of his hand! I couldn't believe
my eyes. I asked how did you do that? He said, "Oh Mom! Everyone in
Vietnam has pigs and they have babies all the time!" Tommy said his
neighbors let him play with their piglets.
This was our piggy's big turn around. For the next two weeks, I let
Tommy train the pig. We knew we hit home when one day the pig got very vocal
when the kids left him in the bathroom all by himself. We took piggy to the
vets for his check up. The vet was so impressed with how well trained he
already was. When I told the vet Tommy did all the training, that kid was
shining!
The Vietnamese kids named the pig "Gooey." Con Gooey (sounds like) is
the Vietnamese word for pig. We call him by hollering "Here Goo-E,Goo-E,
Goo!" Oh by the way, mom and piggy have kissed and made up. He knows who is
going to feed him first thing in the morning!
Gooey is being hysterical! Last night at 7 am sharp he marched into the
TV room to watch TV. No one was there as usual, because the kids went back
to school. He hollered his head off until the whole family came to see his
him. Then he jumped up into a chair to watch TV. Such a funny little pig.
Now he is wandering the house looking for the kids. Poor little piggy!
Cindy
