[Gpdd] behavior--parents and pigs

[Leila Baldridge]

I just had to add my experience of parents and pigs. My Mother has always welcomed our pets from the time my brother and I were little kids ( I just turned 48 ).  In recent years she has never complained about (and I think she has really enjoyed) the visits of various grandpets including one trip in which we had with us 4 dogs, a terrarium of lizards, and a zebra finch. She even was a good sport about sharing her room with the lizards since her room had the best window for their sunning enjoyment!

 So her reaction took me totally by surprise when i casually remarked before one visit that our latest additions to the family, two guinea pigs, would be coming to meet her. Mother got very upset and said that she had never complained about anything we brought to her house, but this was just too much. She said they couldn't stay in her yard because they would root up all her flowers. I said that was silly because they never went into the yard, they always stayed in the house. Well, that totally set her off !  When she told me quite indignantly that she would not have pigs in the house, it finally got through to me that all she had heard was "pig"---the "guinea" part had slipped on by !

Well, once we got that straight, the grandpigs were welcome.  Now when we visit, she is the one that wants to be sure we are bringing the piggies and always has a fridge full of veggies for them and rocks them to sleep like they were little babies. But I will never try to bring a "real" pig for a visit !

Leila (piggiemom to Bryn, Patch, Koko, and Jojo, and remembering little PJ who has crossed over the Bridge)