Jamie's Hoglet

Meet Dobby the Hedgehog.

Jamie's beloved guinea pig, Sam, moved on to piggie heaven which gave him room to start lobbying for a new pet. He thought that he really needed a reptile... some kind of lizard or maybe a turtle. I wasn't so thrilled about those kinds of creatures and we settled on a baby hedgehog... a hoglet. Jamie named him Dobby after the house elf in the Harry Potter books, and is now the proud parent of Dobby J. Hedgehog. Dobby has learned to recognize the "oduer de Jamie" and turns on his little hedgie charm when Jamie goes to pick him up. When anyone else tries to get him he curls up and sticks his spikes out... like a dangerous looking softball. And if Jamie is holding him and he develops concerns... he pulls his forehead down and squints his eyes and looks really ticked off in a completely adorable way. Jamie has a similar expression when he is grumpy so the two of them are a lot alike.
I learned that once you decide to add a hedgehog to your family... it takes some perseverance in order to locate a spiky little guy. We found a very nice woman in Montpelier Ohio (Gail Dick- www.critterconnection) who breeds them and will also give you a a lesson on their care. So Jamie, Henry and I went on an adventure to northern Ohio...about a three hours north. We left after school, spent the night in Defiance (I love saying that) had our hedgehog lesson in the morning and drove home. While we were there, we also learned that Gail and her husband are adoptive parents with two Ethiopian born daughters.
It was really a fun and interesting sort of multi culti experience there in farmland of Montpelier Ohio, with our Ethiopian and Guatemalan born kiddos being well represented.