Pigs and Pets

As a child my favorite place to go was the petting zoo. And, if I were to be completely honest, not much has changed. I had all sorts of pets growing up. My family always had a dog, but because I grew up on the Island of New Guinea, we also owned several more exotic pets. My favorite was a parrot named Blaze. She was beautiful with her bright colors, red, blue, yellow, and green. She would sit on my shoulder and nibble gently on my earlobe. One pet that was not a favorite was our wallaby, Roo. He was a cute little thing when he hopped around the house but he developed some unfortunate and violent tendencies. He would often attack my mom while she was cooking and dig his claws into her leg until she fed him a scrap of whatever she was making. Roo’s ultimate mistake was when bit a chunk out of my side after I shooed him off my bed because he had messed all over it.

Now that I am married and living in the US, my pets have become slightly less exotic, although no less exiting. Andre and I currently own two guinea pigs, Spoik and John McCain. You would think that guinea pigs would be stupid, dull creatures, but we have been amazed at the uniqueness of our pigs’ personalities. Spoik is an angsty creature while McCain is the strong silent type. The place where this is most evident is in their struggle for dominance. John McCain will plant himself in one spot and say “Spoik, I am alpha because I am a rock!” Spoik, on the other had does his best to annoy McCain to death. When McCain is hungry Spoik will join him at the food dish and start to slide himself over the top of it until his belly has completely blocked McCain from the food. Sometimes Spoik will threaten McCain with his “war dance.” He’ll sidle up next to the poor Senator and weave his butt around. Apparently this is supposed to seem ferocious, but it makes Andre and I laugh every time. My favorite is when Spoik decides to take food out of McCain’s mouth instead of getting his own from the food dish. Watching our pigs is never boring.

           

I’m sure my pigs are not the only ones with personalities. Does anyone else have any good stories?