Kitty the Gardening Pig Animals at Work

This is Animals At Work, the show that brings you...animals at work!

Around the world, there are millions of animals that have jobs.

When we say we've got animals at work, we're not kidding!

This is the show that brings you the most extraordinary,

bizarre and unusual animals at work.

Coming up...

We've got a spoilt pig that just won't work.

If she doesn't want to do something, you're not gonna get her to do anything.

This sensitive sniffer stops an emergency at the fire station.

We didn't realise there were so many termites.

Plus, see a lady getting otter under the collar!

All this and more on Animals At Work.

Hi, and welcome to the show.

OK, so, if I said that there was an animal

working as a landscape gardener, what would you say?

Pigs might fly, huh? Get it? Pigs?

Actually, there is a pig that will happily chop your grass.

You could say she's a loin-mower!

Loin-mower!

Anyway, it's time to go snout and about with

Animals At Work to meet one Tamworth who's not to be taken for grunted.

That's right. Grunt away, baby.

First, we're flying to Canada

to meet some horticultural hogs.

In Nova Scotia, Canada, Bob, Jane and Matt manage the land.

And their farmhands? Well, they're just filthy pigs.

From dusk till dawn, these Tamworth porkers plough the fields using only their skilful snouts.

This is one of the fields that has already been worked on

by our gardening pigs.

Not quite finished, but it's getting there.

And this is the field that the pigs have worked on last summer.

You can see what a wonderful job they've done here.

Pigs root and eat the dirt because it gives them vital vitamins and minerals.

They also eat the grubs, insects and worms that they find as they forage.

It's a natural instinct...for most pigs.

Meet Miss Kitty. It seems she wants to keep her nose clean.

This is Miss Kitty's first day on the job.

-It turns out this trotter doesn't want to work.

-Kitty?

Come on.

Wakey.

Wakey wakey.

Come on. There we go.

This is Miss Kitty, and she's a Tamworth pig.

She's about nine months old.

She may be young, but her refusal to even try her new duties is leaving her employers somewhat frustrated.

Miss Kitty is stubborn.

When she wants to do something, she does it her way and her way only.

And if she doesn't want to do something,

you're not gonna get her to do anything.

She definitely lets us know when she's unhappy.

She communicates through making noises. Little grunts. Or big grunts.

You have to dig the ground.

Miss Kitty should make a great gardener.

It's been in her family for generations.

This is Morris.

Morris is Kitty's dad, and he's probably about three years old now.

This is Heather. This is Kitty's mum.

She weighs around 350lbs.

Come on.

Her piggy parents are a little upset that Kitty stubbornly refuses to join the family firm.

After her first morning on the job, this spoilt pig, for some reason, still isn't cutting it.

Kitty!

This way.

Uh-oh. Heather's not happy.

At this rate, Miss Kitty could be in danger of being disowned.

Even a demonstration from Jane won't make the earth move.

Coming up...

Could the lack of work ethic just be a case of mistaken identity?

We learn that Miss Piggy is one spoilt pig...who has been treated like a lapdog.

See, that's how it's done.

Next, we follow our noses to America, and feel the heat in Florida.

Ah, Florida, the Sunshine State.

And also...the termite capital of the world.

These tiny termites cause massive damage by munching their way through buildings.

They reduce properties to mere shells and cost billions.

Feeding on wood, these insects will literally eat you out of house and home.

And in parts of Florida, one in five houses are always at risk,

and by the time signs are visible to the human eye, it's often too late.

Step forward, intrepid termite hunter Tracker.

He works for this pest control company and gets an average of 30 phone calls every week.

This beagle's nose is busy.

In Florida, there's two types of homes.

There's those that have termites and those that will have termites.

Tracker hasn't always been an ace pet detective.

As a puppy, he was just difficult.

He was a bad dog. He was a troublemaker.

He was a typical beagle. He liked to run away, he barked a lot.

He dug holes. We had to go through some obedience, but he had

a strong desire to please, and that's what's important.

Bill spotted a puppy with potential...

..and turned this boisterous beagle into a professional termite tracker.

Good seek. Good boy.

We build walls and we hide the termites in there.

And when we hide them, we have about 10 or 15 termites in there.

We know in a home that you're gonna have 10-20,000 termites in your

walls, so it's much easier actually in the real world than training.

With a nose a million times more sensitive than a human's...

Show me, show me, show me.

..Tracker is now a much-sought-after insect investigator.

And today's task is a real emergency.

Termites have targeted this fire department.

Tracker must detect these beastly bugs before they scoff the station house.

As a fireman, we're on call 24 hours.

Living here in the station, we didn't realise there were so many termites.

Tracker comes along and may alert in an area that we

haven't seen damage yet, but they're already in the walls, eating wood.

Tracker's super-sensitive sniffer can smell termites in the ceiling from the bottom of the wall.

And whenever he gets a whiff of the unwanted pests, Tracker will

indicate to Sharon by, well, sitting down on the job.

Seek. Seek. Tracker show me.

Show me. Good boy! Good boy!

That means termites. But, more importantly for Tracker, a tasty treat.

Seek. Seek.

Show me. Show me.

Good boy, Tracker man! Good boy!

Seek. All right, show me.

Show me. Show me.

Good boy, Tracker. Good boy.

And here's an extreme close-up of the creepy culprits that threatened to eat the fire station.

Seeing Tracker the dog come in and find the termites in the wall, it was really amazing.

As you see now, they're tending the station

to get rid of the problem.

Disaster at the department avoided, thanks to one clever dog.

Now that the pest control people know where the termites are hiding,

they can stop them in their tracks.

Well done, Tracker.

A great day's termite tracking.

We've been surfing the world wild web and checking out what some

crazy critters get up to in their spare time.

And look at Snowball. This is one funky chicken.

Well...cockatiel.

That's one bird that sure can boogie.

And now, it's back to Nova Scotia.

Let's go!

Come on. Wakey.

This is Miss Kitty, a sluggish sow that would rather sleep than do her gardening work.

These pedigree porkers naturally root in the ground.

And these tiny trotters have learnt how to use their snouts as shovels.

But it would seem a life digging in the dirt is not for Miss Kitty.

There could be a reason for that.

You see, she's not had a typical Tamworth upbringing.

She was attacked by a bobcat when she was just a couple of weeks old.

I didn't think she was actually alive at first, but then her little feet started moving.

She had to go through six operations.

As you can see, she has one funny, floppy ear and that's where the cat had grabbed.

I brought her in the house and we nursed her back to health.

We have quite a few dogs in the house too, and she became part of our family.

A-ha!

This pig is part of the family.

No wonder, then, that this little porker won't plough.

The hog now thinks she's a dog, and all because her owners have brought her up like a puppy.

When I was training Miss Kitty and doing obedience, she would pick up

things a lot faster than some dogs do.

Good girl.

# Now I wanna be your dog

# Now I wanna be your dog

# Now I wanna be your dog. #

And she does a lovely heel-on-leash.

So when I walk her, she walks right beside me.

She actually picked up dog bones and chewed them too.

She sits for treats.

Ahem.

After you, Miss Kitty.

Thank you.

Now, if you think you've seen everything, prepare yourself,

because this spoilt pig was also taught dog agility.

Pigs don't usually participate, but Jane couldn't leave Miss Piggy out of the family fun.

See, that's how it's done. You're supposed to run fast.

This is a flyball course that we usually teach dogs with.

But since we had Miss Kitty in our house, I decided to have some fun and we did some jumps.

It might be a rather odd pastime for a pig, but there's little surprise

she would rather do this than dig outside in the dirt.

Over. Over.

Ready?

Come on. Let's go. Over.

Yay! One more.

What a good girl. Yay!

When she was little, she could go a lot faster.

Over. Good girl!

She actually ran quite quickly. Yes. Good girl.

Faster. Yay! Good girl! Good girl.

Over.

But because of her size now, she's a little slow on the course.

Are you helping, Jack?

When she was a piglet, Miss Kitty weighed a tiny two kilos.

This is actually lemon loaf.

She has a sweet tooth!

But this is a hog with a hearty appetite, and that means she could

check in at a frightening 300 kilos.

That's the weight of four average men. Imagine that lump on your sofa!

She was getting a little too big for the house and she was starting to smell up the place.

PIG FARTS This is why we don't have our pig in the house any more.

Pigs pass wind up to 50 times a day.

Imagine that smell on your sofa!

Sadly, for a very spoilt and very stinky Miss Kitty,

after nine months, this life of luxury had to stop.

We decided we were gonna move her out to the barn.

We threw in a whole bunch of straw with her so she would stay warm.

So...we left her out there.

Forced to live like a pig against her will, Miss Kitty just doesn't want to pitch in with the fieldwork.

Understandably, she rather preferred the good life.

Coming up - what's it going to take for Miss Kitty to get her snout to the grindstone?

Maybe she'll meet her match in mentor, Margaret.

Since I've been doing Animals At Work, requests for my autograph have gone wild!

John, you "otter" have a look at these.

Oh, yeah. More autographs.

What can I say? Thanks, everybody.

Otters? Ottergraphs?

"I otter have a look at these."

Why's it always about the animals on this programme?

Next, we go to Gloucestershire, in England.

Meet Rudy, Bertie and Belinda.

These wriggly critters are Asian short-clawed otters and they all live with boss Daphne.

She's looked after abandoned otters for almost 30 years.

And Rudy here is the latest to sweep everyone off their feet.

Rudy's two years old now and he gets on really well

with the other two otters, Bertie and Belinda.

Otters have this wonderful capacity for enjoyment.

They're the natural actors of...

of the animal world.

Together, Rudy and Daphne teach the world about otters,

and today they are booked for a display at an agricultural show.

It's one of his biggest gigs of the year, so it's important that Rudy looks and acts his best.

It's Rudy's third time. He went when he was a tiny baby first of all.

Rudy was abandoned by his mother at two months old, so Daphne hand-reared him.

His outgoing personality made him a natural at public relations.

People have always said for years and years and years that otters are natural actors.

His job as a public relations officer is important for his race.

Man is the otter's only natural predator,

so the more educated people are about these slippery suckers,

the more likely they are to survive in the wild.

At the Frampton Country Fair, there are thousands of visitors.

Rudy will soon be clocking on and mingling with the crowds.

But Daphne's first job is to catch him.

Everything he does is quite funny, really.

Even though he has double thick fur to keep him warm, it seems Rudy wants to be a little "otter".

Daphne has played with him this way since he was a young pup.

Ooh, look, look, look!

There's a good boy. They've got a name for

being shy and reclusive, but that isn't really their nature at all.

No, no, in a perfect world, an otter can be quite mischievous.

Playtime over, time to get Rudy to focus.

And what better way than with his favourite food?

Now in the wild, otters eat a lot of eggs.

Obviously they'd be raw.

Would you like a second one? There you are.

Fish is another favourite on the otter menu.

And co-worker Belinda is tucking into a juicy trout.

Although otters don't live in water, much of their food does.

This is why Belinda and Rudy help to educate people about the dangers of pollution.

Would any of you like to ask Rudy some questions?

How can they swim underwater with their eyes open?

Well, they've got special lenses on their eyes

so they can see the fish clearly when they swim underwater.

You hold out your hand.

That's right, four fingers.

One, two, three, four. And a thumb.

That's right, just the same as an otter. See their little hands?

Otters use those hands to swim and can reach speeds of up to 12 kilometres an hour.

But it's on dry land where they really move.

Oh, Rudy's always doing something quite unexpected, and that's what I think the crowd loves.

So, besides all the messing around, what has Rudy taught his audience?

And what do you think about when you watch my otters?

Little rotters, basically, going up your trousers.

They're really, really playful, and they look really, really playful.

They're not just swimming, walking things, they're also sweet little playful things.

You'll be amazed at what some creatures get up to in the comfort of their own home!

Kelsey Green here in Aylesbury has to share her bath with a very prickly character.

This happy hedgehog is Spikey.

There's no work for him. His life is going just swimmingly.

Uh... Do remember to rinse the tub when you get out, Spikey, there's a good boy.

And now it's over to California for some canines.

Say hi to Harris the Welsh Pembroke corgi and his buddy Barack the black Labrador.

These two service dogs make life a little easier for their hearing impaired owners Dennis and Natalie.

And today, these Californian canines face the challenge of their lives.

If they don't pass a tough hearing dog test, they'll lose their jobs.

These dogs are always on duty, and when they hear anything...

-OVEN BEEPS

-they alert their owners.

Look, Dennis, Harris says dinner's ready!

Hey, no napping there, Barack.

-PHONE RINGS

-The phone's ringing!

They're always on duty 24/7.

Even if they're playing, if the doorbell rings,

the microwave goes off, whatever,

they are obligated to come and get us, take us to where the sound is.

So it's vitally important that Barack and Harris's hearing is always in tip-top condition.

That means that these mutts' ears are tested to the limit.

Good girl.

Today it really is time for these hearing dogs to listen up,

because they face a very tough exam at this training institute.

These tests are very serious. If the graduates don't pass them, then they don't get public certification

which means they're not able to take their dogs out in public.

So the pressure is on these pooches to pass. Test one, a physical.

Good girl. Nice weight.

I think she looks good. Great job.

Her weight looks good.

You survived. That wasn't so bad.

Judged fit and healthy, Harris and Barack must now impress the panel with their obedience.

Service dogs must always wait for their owners to get out of the car

first and stay by their side.

Barack is certainly on the ball,

and Harris has no problem either. Is there anything that would distract these hard-working dogs?

Time to get tough.

Will the tasty temptation of French fries take Harris's mind off the job?

Mmmm! Mmm, Harris.

Get your eyes on the fries.

Mmmm, mmm. Come on Harris. No?

It seems that not even fast food can tempt this most professional of pooches.

And that's it. Exams are over. How did they do?

The dynamic duo, Harris and Barack, did great today.

I love watching them work together, both the two dogs and the two handlers.

Well done, boys.

Keep up the good work, ya hear?

Finally, it's time to fly back to Nova Scotia.

Miss Kitty is one pampered pig.

As her fellow Tamworths do their duty and plough up this land with their noses,

she would rather sleep.

No, you're not going down.

Do you need to get a drink?

But it's hardly surprising given that for all her nine months, Miss Kitty has lived a life of luxury...

..behaving more like a pampered pooch than a pig with a job to do.

-Good girl.

-Against her will, this spoilt porker has been forced into the field.

You're supposed to be working.

Finally, Miss Kitty is living like a pig.

But for the last few days, she's been on strike.

To get her motivated, Jane has enlisted the help

of an old hand. Well, an old trotter.

Margaret is an expert muncher and will be Miss Kitty's mentor.

This is Miss Kitty's co-worker, her name is Margaret.

It's a little warm so she's trying to cool down right now.

She's about a year and a half.

Miss Kitty is nine months old.

So there's almost a season difference in their age.

So Jane is banking on this full season's worth of experience in tilling the land,

to get Miss Kitty motivated enough to get started. Let's go, Margaret!

And they're talking to each other.

Don't beat her up. Be nice.

Unfortunately, it looks like Miss Kitty wants to turn the staffroom into a real pigsty.

Time for Margaret to give Miss Kitty a pep talk, girl to girl.

Whatever she snorted seems to be working, as Miss Kitty

finally gets off her porky behind and makes her way into the field.

Wait for it...

Is she going to do some work?

Yes, she is!

Margaret's mentoring has finally had its desired effect on Miss Kitty.

Ordered out into the field, Miss Kitty might have a promising career in gardening after all.

Much to the surprise of mentor Margaret,

mum Heather, dad Morris, three little pigs and her bosses.

Nobody can quite believe the soil success.

Miss Kitty has found a corner of our garden to start

tilling, so she's been doing this for about five minutes.

It's taken some time, but the sow's got her nose into the business.

At last, she's stopped acting like a dog.

She's getting her rewards right now

by tilling up the dirt and eating whatever's in there that she likes to eat.

So I think she's a pretty happy pig.

As you can see, she's done quite a good job so I think she did a great day of work today.

I think she's a pretty happy pig.

Good gardening there, Miss Kitty.

After all that digging, you deserve a bone.

Great work today, Kitty.

You did a very good job.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for joining us on Animals At Work. That's all we've got time for, so it's goodbye from me...

..and it's goodbye from him.

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