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Skateboarding pig named Norbert is a hit in Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove
A skateboarding fanatic himself, Vince Baren thought surely you’d be able to teach a young pig new tricks. And he was right! Natalie Bomke reports.
BUFFALO GROVE, Illinois - Buffalo Grove is going hog wild over one of its most popular residents and his new-found talent. It’s definitely not something you see every day: a skateboarding pig named Norbert.
As he skates down the sidewalk residents might think they’re seeing a "pig-ment" of their imagination.
"It's like something out of the movies, you're not supposed to see a pig on a skateboard," said Norbert’s owner Vince Baren.
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Vince and his wife Alicen feel like they got the "pig of the litter" when they adopted Norbert three years ago from a farm in southern Michigan.
"I met my wife and we got married and we're both animal lovers and the first question was ‘Oh what kind of animal should we get?’ and kind of half serious I was like ‘What about a pig?’"
A skateboarding fanatic himself, Vince thought surely you’d be able to teach a young pig new tricks. And he was right!
"They're considered the fourth or fifth smartest animal behind elephants, dolphins and primates. So he picks up on things very, very quickly," said Vince.
It took about a week for Norbert to pick up all the right moves.
"I had the skateboard in a crack so it wouldn't slip out from underneath him and I brought a treat so he got his hooves on there. Got him comfortable, doing that a few times. Started introducing the commands like ‘on your board’ or ‘on your skateboard’ and sure enough, I started letting the skateboard roll a little bit," said Vince.
While he’s not bringing home the bacon just yet for his new-found talent, he does call the shots around the house.
"He's super, super smart. We don't have any kids, but our whole house is baby proofed. It's also kind of their way or the highway a little bit," said Alicen.
A "pig-ture" perfect love story, as long as you have peanuts in your pocket… everything’s "swine."
"The high value reward is unsalted peanuts," said Alicen as she gave Norbert a handful.