Pig, Pomeranian friends adjust to new home

By Matthew Nojiri   –   Reading Eagle

Pattie Pig, Pickles and Paprika have a new home.

On Friday, a York County woman adopted the pot-bellied pig and the two Pomeranian mixes who drew national attention when the story of their eternal and unlikely bond came to light last month.The three were dropped off at the Animal Rescue League of Berks County on Sept. 11. Staff at the shelter were determined to find an owner who would take in all three because Pattie Pig, Pickles and Paprika go everywhere together.

In stepped Kristi Dimond Maher, owner of Blue Hound Farm in Newberry Township.”You can’t help once you meet them,” Maher said Saturday, a day after picking them up from the shelter, “to fall in love.”Maher said a friend shared a link to the story about Pattie, Pickles and Paprika, and Maher felt like she could help. She already has two dogs and six pigs, in addition to goats, horses, chickens, ducks and cows on her 72-acre farm.

Now, she said the trio are getting used to their new home. Pickles and Paprika are doing just fine and have been well-behaved amid a wave of company at the farm.Pickles, 2, is clearly the protector of the other group, standing guard to make sure their new home is safe. Paprika, 4, is very playful and is known to hitch a ride on Pattie’s back.The 100-pound Vietnamese pot-bellied pig is still getting settled, Maher said.”Pigs are like kids: They don’t like change,” she said.Pattie’s been a little nippy, but that’s expected in this early stage, Maher said.

Still, the pig is already jumping on the bed, and Maher said she will need some gates to keep her away from the refrigerator.The shelter named Pattie Pig, Pickles and Paprika, and it’s unclear what their previous owner called them. For now, Maher said she’ll keep trying different names just in case she finds a match.She doesn’t have any information about the previous owner but suspects that person didn’t know how hard it is to raise a house pig. It can be a 23-year commitment, she said.

The staff at the ARL said they believe they got the perfect owner for the peculiar pig and her two buddies. They have said it’s the first time in memory that they have tried to place a dog-pig combo.”This was the happy ending we hoped for Triple P,” said Sarah McKillip, shelter manager, in an email. “The staff, volunteers and board of directors at the ARL are over the moon with this adoption.”Maher said the inseparable trio are in for a good life in York County. As she gets settled, Pattie will get to choose whether she wants to live in the house or in the pig stable with the other pigs. People can’t seem to get enough of the trio.”Our Facebook page has been crazy,” she said. “It’s been hysterical how much press these three have gotten.”

Contact Matthew Nojiri: 610-371-5062 or mnojiri@readingeagle.com.