HOG THINKS SHE’S A DOG – ARE YOU TELLING PORKIES?

SHE eats dog biscuits, knows how to sit on command and is the unlikely mascot of a Gold Coast pet store where she makes a pig of herself.

But Wilma is not a dog, she’s a placid pig.

Weighing 140kg, the 18-month-old hog originally destined for slaughter has made herself at home at the Ashmore Pet Discount Outlet shop.

Archie O’Sullivan, son of store owner Matthew, said Wilma loved to lie at the front of the store on the mat with her stuffed toy greeting unsuspecting customers.

“She’s exactly like a dog,” he said of the Cornetto and emu-stick eating pig.

“She’s completely friendly. We were worried she would flip over prams and stuff ... but you could put a chainsaw up to her she’s so placid.”

Archie, 14, said Wilma did not even blink when she met two pigging dogs that visited the store. He said the dogs began barking at her but as soon as she stood up to greet them they jumped back into the ute.

“She’s spoiled. We bring her home and she lies on the carpet. Just when she wants to go outside she squeals at the door.”

Archie said Wilma, who eats 15kg of vegetables, fruit, Weet-Bix and kibble each day, was toilet trained and people loved her so much they often returned to the store just to see her.

Store manager Loren Foreman said the RSPCA originally came out to make sure Wilma would be comfortable at the store and they needed to put sunscreen on her, especially her ears.

“Probably 60 to 70 per cent of the sunscreen we stock goes to Wilma,” she said.

Archie said the resilient pig had defied the odds a number of times, including when she was rescued along with her sibling, who later died from a lung disease.

In the days before she was house trained, Wilma also survived an attempt to sell her on Gumtree by Archie’s 17-year-old sister Charlotte.

Wilma visits the pet store on the weekend and occasionally throughout the week.