Lance Portelli takes Pansy the pig fishing with dogs Coco, Gip, and Collin

One Territorian’s morning walk ended with an unlikely new family member. Here’s how his beloved pet pig came to love a classic fishing trip.

“Take one, you’ve gotta take ‘em all.”

Lance Portelli has been taking Pansy fishing with his pack of pooches since she was a tiny piglet.

“Day one, I’ve got pictures of us in the boat, bottle feeding her,” he said.

“When you’ve got to do four-hourly feeds and you spend five or six hours on the water, sometimes eight hours on the water, you’ve got to take Porky Pig with you.”

Lance Portelli bottle feeds Pansy the pig while he is out fishing.

He found the little pig while he was out for a walk near Shoal Bay with dogs Coco, Gip, and Colin.

“In the back of my mind, being a semi-agricultural kind of guy, I’m thinking Christmas,” he said.

Pansy the pig fishing at the Elizabeth River boat ramp often. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

But now that Pansy has reached the tender age of about 10 weeks, she’s ingrained herself in the family.

“The girls would be devastated if I put her on the fork,” Mr Portelli.

Coco, Collin, Pansy, and Gip in the back of Lance Portelli’s ute on their way to go fishing. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Portelli said Pansy had a big personality but it didn't take long to become a member of the four-legged pack.

He said she initially “annoyed the hell out of” his Kelpie, retired pigging dog, and sausage dog when she nuzzled up to them seeking milk as a piglet.

“Dogs have got particular barks so you know when Pansy’s out and annoying them, especially old Gip, because he’s part deaf,” he said.

“You’d just hear a low, ‘woof’, like ‘you’re annoying me, go away’.”

Lance Portelli, Pansy, Coco, Gip, and Colin ready to go fishing. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Portelli said Pansy was incredibly brave and didn’t back down from anything – including “cranky” dogs barking at her through the fence during her morning walks.

“She’ll run around just to let you know there’s something there, and then the hackles will come on the back and she’ll come up broadside or sideways to them, chomping at the bit and challenging them,” he said.

“She’s done it since she was a little baby, so she’s definitely not scared of anything.

Pans’s favourite foods are red apples and sweet potato. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mr Portelli hopes to start a vertebrate pest control business – Problem Animal Control Man or ‘PAC Man’ – in the new year after he completes his necessary qualifications.

“My plan is to also use Pansy with a tracking device to locate mobs of feral pigs and conduct appropriate management practises,” he said.

Originally published as Lance Portelli takes Pansy the pig fishing with dogs Coco, Gip, and Collin