MING OLLEY

March 1995 – December 2008

We fell in love with this lively fluffy pup many years ago and never regretted our choice. A shitsu/ poodle cross, his young face reminded us of the lion in the Chinese Lion Dance so we called him Ming, the name of a Chinese dynasty. He knew what he wanted, had a real mind of his own but was easy to train. An operation on a torn cruci-ligament, the result of jumping up in excitement, gave him back his frisky nature. He survived eating a whole bag of chocolate coated coffee beans, running madly round and round the house, out the back door and round and round the garden. We were concerned for his heart but he survived and lived for many more years. He greeted the birth of seven grandchildren and allowed them to rough house with him but gently telling them when he had had enough and sat down to enjoy being stroked. Ming kept us healthy with the need for regular walks until the day we walked just down the corner and he dug his feet in and refused to go any further but was very happy to walk home, cheeky boy. That was the first sign of his aging and we realized he was, like us getting older, yet he survived three or four more years.

We still miss him trying to peek around into the kitchen to see if he could disobey the rules. We still feel we have to go open the laundry door for him when we come home. His spirit still seems to be around, and yes we still miss picking up his droppings each day as it also gave us a morning walk in the garden, discovering a flower we hadn’t noticed or a weed to be pulled out. He lives on in the memories of three generations of family.

Elaine and John Olley