2002
Dear Kathleen,
Hi! I am ecstatic to report again, that Patches is truly a Super Pig. Not only is she sitting on command (for a treat), and coming when called, but she walks right into her harness and doesn't mind her lead at all. Tonight after another training session on the lead (a little more restrained) we went for our first walk outside...she was amazing! She follows the lead and is very cooperative. Gregory (our youngest child) decided at the end of our walk that he wanted to run, Patches got so excited that she had to run side by side with him. It was hilarious and exhausting, for me anyway.
She is not hesitant at all about going down the stairs to go to her rooting box. Allen even built her a ramp to use but she refused it (even with treats), and made her way safely down the stairs. This is the first night that we attempted to walk her out, and she definitely surpassed our expectations. We had been previously 
taking her in and out in the carrier. She needed a little help on the way up and decided to use the ramp.
House-breaking has been a little puzzling though. She will not use her litter box if we are home, only when we are gone. For about 99% of the time she goes outside for potty, we take her out about every 4 hours and she does great. However she has urinated twice today in the house without using the litter box, and I don't understand? Any suggestions? The box has not moved, and is cleaned everyday.
Thanks for Everything!
Kelli, Allen and Family
P.S. I am making a video this week of her for you so you can see all these amazing things for yourself!
Dear Kathleen,
Things are going great with Patches. She is totally house broken. We figured out the potty training issue we wrote you about last. She had just decided that if we were home she had no need to use that litter box, and we are also now able to recognize the snork that says "take me out".
She loves her rooting box out side. She comes in wagging her tiny tail and nose covered with chunks of mud and dirt, just smiling away. She is now walking with in the perimeters of the yard with the kids with no leash, and doesn't wander. She seems content to walk and run with her herd.
She had her first vet check and we were told that she was a very healthy baby. We have had to do away with her feed dish though. She gets so excited about eating that she would choke on her food (inhaling it basically), and then gag and vomit it up. She did this twice on two seperate occasions. So after consulting her vet we decided to scatter the feed on the floor so she couldn't intake as much at once as she could with her dish, that seems to have solved the issue.
Things with her and our eldest son Zachery are much better. I followed the suggestions you gave about having him sit with me or stand above her. She did challenge him on one more occassion after you and I spoke. He was sitting with me and we were practicing "sit". He had notice a small nic on her ear, (probably from sibiling rivalry), I went to investigate it and she snapped at my hand. So together with his hand under mine we gave her a good shove on the nose making her take several steps back, said "knock it off" sternly, then we got up and walked away, refusing to have contact with her. About five minutes later she was at the gate crying, (literally). It was like a much lower key & volume screaming noise. So we opened the gate and sat on the floor together, she walked over with her head low to the ground and sniffed her way back. We continued with "sit" after I investigated the ear, and all has been well since. Though we are still careful about watching for the signs you had mentioned and we dont allow the kids to be on her level with out adult supervision.
Sent seperately are the pigtures promised, sorry about the tardiness. The movie will be sent soon too.
Thanks Again for Everything
Allen and Kelli Bucklin
2002
Dear Kathleen,
I just wanted to drop a note and let you know that Little Ebony is doing great! She came right out of her kennel when she got into her room. Within 2 hours she was walking up to us and letting us give her tummy rubs. You must have spent a lot of time with her because she doesn’t scream. There is a slight whimper every now and then but she is really doing great. She has been carried out to the pen to do her duty and she has had NO accidents in the house. She sleeps a lot and loves to cuddle; again I assume you spent a lot of time with her. We tried the harness today and she did well, no fit or screams. We only left it on her an hour then took it off.
Patches and Ebony met after she came out of her crate, Patches is definitely the more dominant of the two. She has charged and bitten Ebony several times both last night and today. It started again at 5:30 a.m. this morning, Patches evidently didn’t like the idea of Ebony having her own bed and charged her away from it and then confiscated it. She even started to drag the baby’s blankets to her side of the room to her bed. We stepped in then, and told her no, and gave them back to the baby. We have only had to break up the fights once because of ear biting. We are hoping Patches will take to her by tomorrow. Ebony is constantly trying to cuddle with her and after being chased away comes to us. It almost seems that Patches is jealous because after each squabble she looks at us wagging her tail to see if we approve. Not to mention that she chases the baby away from us after the baby comes to us. All in all I think this will be good for all of us.
Thanks again for another perfect match.
Sincerely,
The Bucklins
1/2003
Dear Kathleen,
Things with the girls are going very well. Ebony is so sweet. She has harness broke,
leash trained, gives kisses, sits, comes, and has mastered the stairs, thanks to Patches. She
has even learned to go potty and go to bed on command. Patches has really come to the front.
She has had alot to do with Ebony's training. She has also learned some new commands,
such as "put the baby to bed." It is so funny. She nips Ebony on the bottom and oinks her into bed.
She even roots up the blankets and lets the baby in before she returns for her evening snuggle.
Two pigs are really better then one. Patches is also good in helping Ebony get over training tantrums.
She screams, (Patches taught her that too), when I have a treat and wont give it to her with out obeying
a command. Patches snorks at her and then we have instant compliance. Only twice was this not the
case and Patches bit at her and Ebony straigtened right up. Our families are in love too, as well as amazed.
I do have to say though that the bacon and rotissuerri comments are becoming old.
Thanks for Everything,
The Bucklins
3/2003
Dear Kathleen,
I know my mom constantly brags how good we generally are and really doesn’t like to emphasize that times that we are bad. But I feel it necessary to tell you that Ebony and I are going through a “phase.” Lately we are naughty pigs, even bad pigs, well let’s just say that we are being bad to the bone…hambone that is.
Today we decided to have a tantrum. So we got on mom and dads bed and climbed on their night tables and cleared them off. They needed to be dusted after all. Then we got down and overturned a clean load of laundry mom had just folded. We had a very good time playing in it, mom walked in while I had dad’s underwear on my head. I still don’t see why mom was upset about that. Then I went over and stole her slippers and hid them under my bed. We tipped over the water dish and played in that for a while, then we tore open the new bundle of shavings that dad bought for our potty box and strewed them all over our potty room. That was perhaps the funniest of all.
Though we are mostly well behaved kids, every now and then we like to stir things up. Yesterday I really wanted mom to snuggle but because she had to do dishes she couldn’t so I followed her to the kitchen and rubbed my head nicely up and down on her leg. She still kept about her business only occasionally speaking to me. I perused harder with a little rooting action at the ankle, and she gave a push and said to “knock it off.” So I decided that enough was enough and stomped on her feet. I squeezed between her and the cabinets and marched right across. Boy didn’t that get her attention. Unfortunately it also go me shoved and sent to bed with out any snuggle. This is not something I would suggest doing again.
