An introduction

Written by: Great Chalfield
Written on March 25, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Categories: Ming's Dog Blog

My name is Ming. I am 8 years old and I am top dog at Great Chalfield Manor.

I started my life in a cardboard box in a farm yard at Monkton Farleigh. My present owner, Patsy Floyd, came to see me when I was 3 weeks old and she said I was the pick of the litter (she was quite correct of course).

This was very lucky as I was moved from my rather noisy farm yard and a mother who had a screeching bark to the peace and magic of Great Chalfield Manor with Patsy and Robert and their very kind children. I quickly adapted to this way of life and escaped my doggie cage quite early on by persuading my new owners that I was really the perfect terrier.

At Chalfield there was already rather an old Labrador called Moby, who as far as I could tell did not have many brains, but he put up with my bossy ways and we got on quite well. Also there was a black cat called Liffey who seemingly was head of the house so I had to watch my step. When I insisted that I would wash her face everyday she was not sure to start with – but I soon persuaded her to put up with it.

Growing up at the Manor was great fun and after three years I was married to a very good looking Norfolk terrier called Tom – named after his owner who was a world famous race horse trainer and who had known my owner since she had plaits down her back. Looking back, that was quite a day. My owner was off to Scotland where she takes garden tours around the country on a train (for some reason she does not take me and I know I would be such good entertainment) so I was driven to this very grand house by two girls who worked at Chalfield.

As soon as I was introduced to Tom in the garden we got into action which I have to say I rather enjoyed and poor Tom was so exhausted that he fainted! At the sight of Tom keeling over the two girls picked me up and fled, so I did not see him again until he came to visit his children. Thankfully he only passed out for a little while and his owner came to the rescue. I don’t think she ever realized what happened.

I produced 8 Minglets in the armchair in front of the fire in the Manor’s kitchen. I thought this would be the best option in rather a cold house.  All my pups were brindle in colour and not one had my beautiful white colour – but thankfully they were all shaggy like me. I have to say I was a really good mother and enjoyed bringing my children up. One by one though they went off to good homes. I was not too sad as they were becoming quite boisterous.

In the mean time old Moby died and Molly, another black Labrador who is not nearly as clever as I am either, was produced to replace him at the age of 6 weeks. I soon put her in her place and she soon learnt  who was boss. We got along fine and now all my pups had gone it was nice to have a play mate; also she did not mind having her ears and eyes cleaned by me every morning.

Many years have flown by and I am now very much Top Dog and loved by all so I thought I would let all my fans have a glimpse into my daily life.

(Much as I would like to reply to emails and the like I’m really rather busy chasing mice and squirrels and keeping Molly from falling in the pond, so if you’d like to contact me it’s probably better to write to the lady I live with, Pats Floyd, whose email address is patsy@greatchalfield.co.uk)