Did you Meeeeeettttttt..... NORMAN!

 

Once upon a time there was a little juliana mini piggy named Prince JP. JP lived in the kingdom of Blackburn. JP was a lonely little pig and decided he wanted to take a bride. After a long exhausting search he met a princess named Anna Mae. She came from a mysterious kingdom from far far away. A kingdom named Alderaan. (What? I can't add a bit of Star Wars in here? It's my story!!!) 

At first Anna Mae wanted nothing to do with JP. He tried to impress her by being very macho and domineering. When the trained human servant named Jim would come around JP would puff up, scowl and run at Jim.  He would then, feeling very proud of himself,  turn to Princess Anna Mae, only to see her rolling her eyes in disgust. 

Prince JP thought long and hard about what to do to get the beautiful Anna Mae to love him. The other trained human servant Dawn came up and JP was a complete gentleman. He treated the human servant with kindness, Anna Mae was pleased. 

As weeks went by Anna Mae and JP spent more time together. She continued to rebuff him, but as he showed off she couldn't help but notice. After several months they became friends. They were friends for a very long time. Until one day, Anna Mae realized that under the ridiculous macho exterior hid a silly, warm pig. Two years later they were married and lived happily ever.......

Oh wait, Norman....

Early the morning of August 25, 2013, Anna Mae woke up to a sunny day. She and JP had been excitedly waiting for her first litter of piglets to be born. She had fixed up the kingdom preparing. This morning she felt funny. Perhaps today was the day the babies would be born. They had picked out many names. She was just waiting to find out which they would use. 

Later that five babies were finally born. Having a love for cartoons they named their beautiful babies Sponge Bob, Pearl, Puff, Patrick and Squidward. (I'm not making that up.) All were very healthy except little Squidward. He was born with a bad hernia and had to have surgery when he was only a day old. The human servant Dawn had to come everyday and give him shots for ten days. Dawn hated having to hurt Squidward, but it had to be done to keep him healthy. He  was a very tiny pig, but he was strong enough to make sure the human Dawn knew he was not pleased with her. 

Once the shots were finally done, the human Dawn worked very hard to gain Squidward's trust again. Being much like his mother,  Squidward rebuffed Dawn at every turn. She was relentless. As days wore on and Squidward realized that Dawn was no longer going to give him any more nasty shots. He would watch her as she cared for his brothers and sisters. She was kind and patient with them. She would play with them and give them treats. She was especially kind to Patrick. Patrick was very shy. He didn't enjoy doing tricks when the others were around. She would take him aside and play with him. She gave him the time he needed to feel more confident. 

Squidward watched and then one day realized the evil shots did make him feel better. He could now run and play with his siblings. He was getting bigger very quickly and catching up with the rest. Maybe he could trust Dawn again. Finally, Squidward jumped into a play session with the rest and mastered all of the skills Dawn was teaching them faster than anyone else. Dawn was so happy and excited she cried. Squidward learned to love Dawn very much, and shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but she became his favorite human servant. 

Who wouldn't like coming home to these faces
greeting you at your back door.

Squidward and the others played together in the Kingdom of Blackburn all summer. They grew and learned and played. They spent time playing in the yard with other strange looking four legged creatures. Two were small and had long white hair, the boy made a strange barking noise every time he heard something outside. The girl would just sit on the couch sleeping. There were other furry barky things as well, some big, some small. There were also these other animals. They seemed to think they were smarter than everyone else. They were furry with long tails. They weren't as noisy as the barky things, but they sure were conceited. Though, they were also warm and snuggly. 

There were these other creatures as well. They only had two legs like the human servants, but they were round and feathery. Squidward was fascinated by these strange quirky things. He enjoyed spending the afternoon startling them so they would run their goofy run and make a loud BAAK BAAK sound. They were funny. 

In their own special part of the kingdom were majestic, magical beings. They were bigger even than the human servants. The human servants would ride on their backs occasionally. They were beautiful. Squidward was to afraid to get very close to these amazing beasts. He watched them from afar. 

The time went by very quickly for Squidward. He found himself growing up faster than he could imagine. He had learned much from Dawn and Jim. He grew smarter every day. Soon it was time that he and his siblings were ready to go out into the world and find their own kingdoms. Except for Patrick. He was still very timid. It was decided it would be best for him to stay in the Kingdom of Blackburn, with the very kind human servants Dawn and Jim. They loved all of the piglets, and would miss them dearly, Patrick would have his hands full loving them and making sure they were ok. 

Squidward found his way to the Kingdom of Carter. It was a very strange kingdom. Browner than the greens he knew in his former kingdom. It was in a place he heard a human call Texas. He met two new human servants. Misty and Shane, they told him he could call them mom and dad. This felt a little strange at first. He had left his mom and dad behind with Dawn and Jim. He slowly warmed up to the idea though. They were very kind to him and let him get used to them at his pace. This made it much easier on him. He could tell they knew how to be very good human servants.... errrr, mom and dad. 

They also did something else. They started calling him Norman. He wasn't sure why. Did Dawn and Jim forget to tell them his name was Squidward? It didn't take long for the name Norman to grow on him though. Squidward really isn't a very pleasant name. He decided he liked his new name Norman very much. Very much indeed. 

Norman's new mom and dad liked to play a lot of the same games as Dawn and Jim. They would let him show off his skills and give him treats. They showed him new things to learn and he loved it very much.  Learning new things was exciting. He learned new tricks in about two hours. He did so well at it, his mom and dad started taking him places to show off. Norman realized he loved showing off. He could do 21 tricks and his mom and dad still had more to teach him.

Mom and Dad started taking him to charity events. He especially likes doing this. He would get to make other human servants smile, and help them at the same time. He did a 5K walk called the Mutt Strut to help raise money for other animals for the Dallas SPCA. There were lots of other barky things at that event. Norman actually rode in a wagon. A 5K is an awful long way for such tiny legs. He was the only pig out of thousands of participants. 

He especially likes going to daycares and birthday parties, teaching children how wonderful pigs are. He loves watching them giggle and laugh as he does his tricks.  He thinks that is his favorite thing to do. 

One day he was thinking, if he made people so happy maybe he should find a way to make people who need some happiness feel better, too. He decided he wanted to become a pet therapy pig. His mom and dad thought this was a wonderful idea! They helped him find out what he needed to learn and do to make his dream come true. They found there were very specific things he needed to learn and very important ways he needed to act. He would have to have a physical and pass behavior tests. They are very particular about who they give official pet therapy badges to, and Norman was determined to get one. 

This is one page of things required of a therapy pet

Norman worked very hard. He became the Rocky Balboa of the pig world. He jumped his hurdles, and he ran his stairs. He would not be stopped. He would wear the pet therapy badge and wear it proudly. His mom had to take classes, too. He was very proud of her. She did very well. They worked together day after day until the day came when it was time to be tested. 

Norman and Mom found their way to the testing area. They were both a little nervous. They knew they had practiced very well together. The knew what was expected and had studied hard. They waited, just a bit impatiently, for the handlers to come. There would be two handlers to test him. At least they is what they were told. Suddenly, through the door came two, then three, no, five handlers to test Norman. None of them had ever worked with a pig before. They were so excited that they couldn't decide which two should get to do the tests, so they all came. They loved Norman. He passed with flying colors. He beamed with pride and looked forward to getting to make more people smile. 

All that was left was the health screening. He was a very healthy pig. His Mom and Dad made sure he was kept up on all of his shots, which he still to this day hates. They feed him a very healthy diet, though he'd like more acorns like Patrick gets to have. He knew he would pass the health screening just fine, and he was right. 

He knows that his Mom and Dad are very proud of him. He is very happy to live with them and wouldn't trade them for anything. He also knows that if Dawn hadn't been such a great loving human servant for him in the Kingdom of Blackburn he never would have done so well with Mom and Dad. He still loves her very much. 

Norman is also very sad that his brother Randy has been stuck, all alone, at Longmeadows Rescue Ranch. He shouldn't be there. He's NOT livestock, he's family! He should be home with Dawn, Jim, Patrick and all of the other strange beings in the Kingdom of Blackburn. 

Please, go and sign this petition. Norman wants Randy to be home again. Norman helps so many people, please help him get Randy home!

Bring Randy the Pig Home                                                         #bringRandythePigHome