When bedtime comes, Giggles pretends that she’s happy to go outside, then she takes one look at the frosty grass, hangs her head in disgust, swivels her little butt in the other direction and scrambles up the back steps, through her pig door into the warmth of our human house. She has a house of her own the Wolf built. It resembles a playhouse that any little Princess would be proud to play in. It’s filled with cushions and blankets (or straw depending on the mud factor) and it’s fully lined with pink batts. She slept in it just fine until the single digit temperatures arrived. Just like other first time parents of pigs, we made some mistakes with our first remarkable pig Squiggles that we vowed to remedy with our second piglet.

1. Buy from a better farm and get a healthy pig who will live forever
2. Build a warm outdoor house
3. Never feed from our hands
4. Make sure that food and water are placed outdoors
5. Have really good escape proof fencing
6. Get two piggies so they can love each other
7. Go on vacation before our days are consumed with a dependant bubba

So we did just fine with numbers one through to four. It was the Wolf that couldn’t help himself. It was he that longingly trawled through Trade Me looking for gorgeous creatures begging and pleading for a baby girl pig for his birthday.  So when we laid eyes on the spotted wonder with the same birthday as the Baby Jesus, practicality flew out the window. She arrived in an air-conditioned pet bus and made one birthday boy/man/wolf very happy. It took us a while to work out that Giggles is deaf. This creates challenges. She doesn’t sleep that well or for that long, and she thinks that the lawn mower is a fun toy to chase. She doesn’t come when she’s called and if we pop up from somewhere unexpected, she leaps out of her skin. It’s a bit like having a toddler to watch out for all day long, making sure she’s safe and happy. Love is reciprocal with a pig. Giggles brings us happiness in handfuls and is incredibly gentle and adorable.  Lately she has decided that the bedroom is a nicer place to sleep than our lounge. This now means we get up when she moans and make sure she remembers to go outside to wee or eat (mostly eat), and then make sure she is covered with her soft pink fleecy blanket upon her return. Perhaps the return of spring (and the double digit temperatures) may come just in time before she demands to get in our bed and share that too.