tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post8403672878380388409..comments2023-06-11T07:16:26.798-04:00Comments on Adventures with Animals: My Tribute to Amos the Wonder PigGay L. Balliethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020274214614962128noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-83272977644353997162010-11-03T17:55:04.627-04:002010-11-03T17:55:04.627-04:00Amos has been a wonderful member of our family and...Amos has been a wonderful member of our family and we will all miss him so much. He brought a smile to so many people. He always seemed to get a chuckle of his own by making everyone happy. All those wonderful tricks he could do! And so very intelligent! He did it all for one Cheerio at a time. I swear he only took that Cheerio to be polite - I think he just got a kick out of doing his tricks and making all of us smile. It's been a blessing and a privilege to know Amos and, despite my tears, I still find myself immediately smiling when I think of him. Thank you, Amos for being such a special friend to so many of us all. And thank you, Amos for taking such good care of Jeannie and Geoff and Frosty, Pilot and Oscar for all these years :)Aunt Margeauxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-20282327598891173992010-10-30T08:50:25.821-04:002010-10-30T08:50:25.821-04:00Cheerios for Amos, with love from Mom:
Getting a ...Cheerios for Amos, with love from Mom:<br /><br />Getting a pig was all Geoff’s idea. I thought this would be a nice “yard pet” who might sleep in the greenhouse in winter. When we went to Ross Mill Farm, Susan opened a pen and we were at once swarmed by young pigs. I found myself sitting on the dirt floor of the old barn, instantly loving something I never expected to love. A pig put her head in my lap, and I knew my pet would never spend a night alone outdoors. We chose our little boy. He already knew how to sit for a piece of apple. I remember that Susan hugged me and cried as we put him in the truck. She told me later that she cried because although we had just met she felt we had made a very special match with that baby pig. It was May 1st 1994, May Day, and oh yes that boy was the King of May. We took him home and loved him so; very soon he learned to jump on our bed and spent every night with us until he got too big to jump that high. At that point we brought home his little sister Frosty April and they bonded for life.<br /><br />A friend from the Delaware Valley Pot bellied Pig Club taught me target training and encouraged me to teach him letters on flashcards. It was something new and Geoff and I were the third set of pig parents to try it. Amos’s first trick was ‘circle’; he followed my hand target around in a circle and received a Cheerio as reward. It took only 10 minutes; I was hooked. This was best game ever. I rushed home each night from work to teach Amos. Now came the ABC’s. I showed him cards with A and B on them, doing repetitions, while he walked forward to touch a chosen card with his soft nose. At first the results were random, 50/50; I kept count on paper. After two weeks of repetitions his score shot up from 50% to 98% in one session. I remember the moment he “got it”; I saw a spark in his eye and that was the beginning of the magic. He learned the rest of the alphabet within another two weeks. He worked hard at every new trick, loving to learn, and all he needed as reward was praise and Cheerios.<br /><br />That first summer Susan suggested we enter the Sussex County Fair with the pig club. She said “he’ll love it!” Was she ever right! Over the years that we showed our pigs, Amos relished every moment and was a fierce competitor. He won Best Trick over and over and held the title of Apple Bobbing champ for years. He loved wearing his costumes. We went on to work in pig rescue where Amos did indeed serve as an ambassador representing the best in pet pigs and showing the world what a companion pig is. He accompanied us to countless demonstrations and fundraisers, and to one-on-one interviews with potential pig parents. He was responsible for many adoptions.<br /> <br />When Amos was learning to play basketball he would practice on his own, until he learned to aim accurately, and when he felt like amusing himself he would play his own tunes on his toy piano for 20 minutes at a time, even with no one in the room to watch. He just loved doing it. But best of all he loved applause; oh did that make his tail wag. He traveled long hours by car, van, ferry boat, and even stretch limo to do his show at fairs, circuses, and even on TV. At home he was hard to keep up with, opening doors and cabinets, zippers and locks, exploring all the time. He opened the refrigerator so often we had to lock that too. He once removed a container of Chinese take-out, carrying it on his nose by the handle, and sought out his daddy with it. We were never sure whetehr he wanted to share it or he just wanted help getting the lid off.<br /><br />I could write many pages about our baby and maybe eventually I will. There are so many stories to tell. For now I have to admit that I cry every day but know that he is well and happy at the Rainbow Bridge, a young pig once more. I like to think that he has found his great friend Tucker and that they are up there together, performing for everyone. For them that surely is heaven. Back here at home, I am still finding Cheerios in the pockets of my jackets :-)Jeannie Watson - Mommynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-55405784827677508712010-10-29T12:40:59.206-04:002010-10-29T12:40:59.206-04:00What a beautiful,loving tribute to Amos, Geoffrey....What a beautiful,loving tribute to Amos, Geoffrey. I'm crying once again. <br /> <br />Friends, you have to know that if I am again brought to tears by the death of Amos the Wonder Pig, then you really know how special he was, for I had met him maybe about five times. But each time Amos and I met we "talked," both of us smiling, me rubbing his belly, he with his grinning snout in the air. Between us there were two intelligent beings that shared a connection. Not one was superior to the other; Amos was my equal. <br />This animal, much like Reggie, Becky DiNolfi's pig, one I wrote about in my ms. THE CELEBRATED PIG: HOW AMERICANS MEMORIALIZE THEIR ANIMAL FRIENDS, just made such an impression on people that it is almost indescrible and unbelievable. My heart is with Amos and Geoffrey and Jeannie. I know just how tough and miserable it is to lose a family member like Amos. It's the worst feeling in the world.Gay L. Balliethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13020274214614962128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-87547061364218088052010-10-29T10:01:43.391-04:002010-10-29T10:01:43.391-04:00Tribute to my Best Friend:
“Amos The Wonder Pig” h...Tribute to my Best Friend:<br />“Amos The Wonder Pig” has left this world, and left a very large hole in my life. But Amos leaves this world a better place for having been in it. Amos’s legacy is written in the thousands upon thousands of smiles that he has left in his wake. Amos had made his sole purpose in life making people happy. No one every referred to Amos as a “Pig”, just Amos. Entertainer extraordinaire, bringer of laughter and the pied piper of smiles. Weather it was at a Children’s shelters or Schools, Nursing homes, Country fairs or Street fairs, expo’s, at the farms in both PA and NJ or just in the yard with some of the local kids. It might have been his antics dunking basketballs, playing his piano, spelling their names with his flash cards or just one the myriad of funny costumes from his extensive wardrobe, he always left them smiling. Amos took his final bow and exited the stage of life with more grace and dignity that any human has ever done. He now crosses that Rainbow bridge to catch up to his parents, Maggie and Codey, friends Thelma, Casper, Manny and more who have gone before him. In a place I always believe should have always existed for such noble animals, where there are not fences, harnesses or leashes, Just sun shine and endless clover fields, where there is nothing that they need to do except be pigs to forever roam at will. Someday I will catch up with Amos in the clover field where once again we can sit in the grass and enjoy one another’s company. Farwell my best friend, I will always love you, for you are tattooed on my heart. I was very lucky that you selected me as your human companion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-56898813803389498462010-10-28T10:48:40.246-04:002010-10-28T10:48:40.246-04:00aww he is now a piggy angel entertaining in heaven...aww he is now a piggy angel entertaining in heaven...RIP AmosRosiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01769753187324680280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-50762869025067690722010-10-28T06:10:45.326-04:002010-10-28T06:10:45.326-04:00Thank you Gay for this tribute to our sweet Amos ....Thank you Gay for this tribute to our sweet Amos . I am one of his human Aunts. We did many trips together to the State Fairs and nursing homes in PA and NJ along with my own pigs Reggie and Pepper. We competed in the ring for the best trick and the best costume as well as many other things. Amos has always been one of the most loving pigs in pigdom. He will be remembered for his part in bring the public something wonderful to talk about after his show. Somehow he was always 1 step ahead of my girl Reggie with his amazing tricks and he kept the bar high for all the other pigs to shoot for. I too am sitting here crying for Amos and his family Jeannie Geoff, Frosty and Piolet. I also cry for me who will never be able to see him and give him belly rubs on this earthly plane again. He was a great ambasider for pigs everywhere. RIP my dear sweet boy you will be missed more than you will ever know.Rebecca DiNolfihttp://www.petpigzone.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1071787092736866043.post-78305845171411102562010-10-27T22:32:58.249-04:002010-10-27T22:32:58.249-04:00Condolences on the passing of Amos...he sounds lik...Condolences on the passing of Amos...he sounds like quite the pig!Stella Dora von Swineburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14587838490220630046noreply@blogger.com