The Coolest Client I Ever Walked (not a dog!)

As a pet sitter, of course I work with more than just dogs (though dogs outnumber everyone else). On our company client list we have cats, guinea pigs, lizards, fish, hairless rats (no joke!) and by far my favorite...a teacup pig!

Yes, that would be a pig who ended up living literally down the road from my house (same street but way on the other end). I'll call him Earl because he always seemed like such a...distinguished pig! Earl was a birthday present for the wife of his house, who came from overseas on a long journey. The owners already had two small rescue dogs who were already pretty nervous so wasn't quite sure how Earl would fit it.

He was very tiny when he first arrived, he was a teacup pig after all right? I'll get back to that part later. He had his own little mesh crate (with an open top) that was big enough to hold a water dish and his litter box. Yes, he used a litter box about 50% of the time. Early on, I would get to pick him up (he squealed every time!) and take him out the back deck where he would waddle around and do his business right there. As he got older, they bought a harness for him until they could fence in the yard and I would walk him around his backyard. I would constantly take pictures to show my friends because no one believed me!

As things sometime go, when change occurs, they started requesting less and less visits until they stopped completely. The story doesn't stop there though! Earl's backyard is up against one of the town's parks. My older daughter called me via video chat one day months later and was all ecstatic! Staring back at me was good old Earl in their backyard behind a nice new fence. Only Earl wasn't so little anymore. Perhaps not as big as a regular pig but definitely not teacup size! Needless to say, all the kids who visit the park know to look for Earl and say hi!