HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- She'll appear in an $80 million movie alongside Hollywood star actor Hugh Jackman next year. Local children snap photos of her like paparazzi anytime she's around.
It's safe to say Dottie is not your average pig.
Dottie makes her home at Giegler's Feed-Seed in Hartland Township, owned by Keith and Kim Porath.
"She's a very unique pig. Everyone in the area knows about Dottie," Kim Porath said. "She has a lot of character. ... She loves people, and loves kids."
It's not just 800-pound Dottie's personality that stands out.
Keith Porath purchased Dottie as a present for his wife five years ago on her 35th birthday. Back then, Kim Porath remembers Dottie as "the runt of the litter," but she soon grew into a massive hog with red skin and black spots.
Her look and apparent ability to handle herself caught the attention of the directors of "Real Steel" this summer. A portion of the science-fiction movie -- expected to be released nationally in 2011 -- was filmed in Hartland Township.
"They told us they might need a pig in the movie, and they looked around our farm and picked Dottie," Kim Porath said. She, her husband and her children, Danielle and Ethan, are extras in the film. "Dottie is in the film's opening scene."
Adding to her local celebrity, Dottie visited Round Elementary School in Hartland Township recently. As a reward to kindergarten students -- who raised the most money of any grade level for the school's parent-teacher organization -- three kindergarten teachers had to pucker up and kiss Dottie.
Kim Porath, whose family lives in Hartland, said Dottie eats up the attention like it's a stack of grain. You'd think loading up an 800-pound animal and transporting it to school might present a few issues, but not for Dottie.
"She just hops on the trailer and goes," Kim Porath said. "When we got her, she was housebroken, believe it or not, although we've never actually let her in our house. She's just a really cool pig."
Porath said that while Dottie's film credit and local popularity are excellent accomplishments, perhaps her greatest feat has been mothering six litters of piglets in her short life. With each litter containing close to 15 piglets, Dottie is a mother and grandmother many times over, single-handedly increasing the pig population at Giegler's Feed-Seed.
With all she's done, Dottie has earned a place in her owners' hearts. They compare her to the character Wilbur in the novel "Charlotte's Web." It's an inside joke for the family to say, "She's some pig," but it rings true.
"You know, if Dottie was the last piece of meat on Earth, I'd become a vegetarian," Kim Porath said. "Dottie will stay on the farm until she passes on, and she'll never be sold to anyone for meat or any reason. She's pretty special."
Published: Wed, Dec 1, 2010
