A generation ago, television made a pig named Arnold Ziffle famous as a character on the show Green Acres.
Today, Konnie and Rob Precious of Toledo, Wash., are making a houseful of pigs if not famous, at least well known throughout the Northwest with a traveling show called “Pigtasia”.
Wednesday Pigtasia visited the Sweet Home Public Library, where dozens of youngsters and their parents were treated to a show of skills and an opportunity to learn more about the world’s fourth smartest animal.
Pigtasia’s stars performed numerous tricks including dunking a basketball, jumping over a hurdle, spelling words such as “PIG” and spinning a wheel to reveal a secret banner “Eat Beef.”
They’re also trained to lay down, prepare for an earthquake by crawling under a table and to hide by sliding through a tube.
Each appeared in special costumes.
For the Precious family, pigs are more than pets. Some 15 of their 18 pigs actually live in their home on 2 1/2 acres.
“We had traveled all over the country showing Newfoundland dogs,” explained Bob, a retired air traffic controller who worked at some of the busiest airports in the country.
“My wife saw a pot bellied pig on TV and said she had to have one,” Bob recalled. “A year later we got our first pig and now we have 18.”
Training the animals came easily enough since Bob and Konnie had extensive experience in the field.
“Konnie started training our first one and every five minutes she’d come running out and say ‘you should see what he’s doing now,’ ” Bob said. “We knew they had a lot of potential. Pigs are very intelligent, clean and love to be around people.”
Pigtasia now includes 12 pot bellied pigs. Three farm-type pigs, a Duroc, Hampshire and Yorkshire, live outside.
Training pigs is much like training dogs, Bob said, except pigs are more easily motivated by food as a reward.
Pigtasia is a fulltime job, Bob said, since the pigs require care 365 days a year.
“We feed them regular pig food twice a day and they get their water and juice,” Bob said. “They let us know when they need to go outside.”
Traveling in their specially equipped cargo van, Pigtasia performed 325 shows last year on some 125 days. While they’re traveling Bob and Konnie’s daughter takes care of the pigs that remain at home.
“The shows pay for the cost of keeping the animals,” Bob said. “We perform in Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, Montana and Nevada, Nebraska and Kansas.
“It’s fun to educate people, to see the expressions on the kids’ faces,” Bob said. “For many of the kids, they will never get to see a pig up close or to pet one.”
In addition to their travels, Pigtasia is featured on a website: http://www.pigtasia.net
There are photos of each of the pigs with names such as Apache, Briquet, Buckwheat, Cappuccino, Cinnabon, Expresso, Hog-n-dazs, Jalapeno, Jamaiica, Jasmine Spice, Jemima, Murphy, Nicky, Pigstachio, Pillsbury and Snickers.
“I consider myself a “PigWhisperer” Konnie explains at the site. “I have the ability to understand every motion and read the eyes of a pig. I’ve trained over 36 pigs in the last 11 years and no two pigs are alike. My only problem is parting with a pig after I have had it for three weeks. We have a 24 hour help line to answer questions about your pig. We are educators and have first hand knowledge to help you. We love to talk pigs and consult anyone who needs it!”