This page is all about my friend and Baby Ming is his name, and he is a Pekenise (as you can see) Misty is also included here. She was our other Baby, Ming's playmate and his best friend too.

Misty 1986-1994

Ming 1987-2003

I first met Misty when she was born. I was in charge of taking care of the newborn kittens while their 'Mom and Dad' were on a trip. This little kitten, eyes barely open, would crawl out of the box and cuddle up contentedly in my lap while I played with all the others. I was so delighted when I was given this precious one at 6 weeks old, for my very own.

We named her Misty because at this time she was mostly a silver grey color. This little one was quite nervous around other people, but took to Elmer and I. She was not really a cuddler until much older, but loved to play with anything and everything we could devise. It did not take her long to rule the home..

Misty and siblings about 2-3weeks old.

Here she is being cuddled by my Grandson Christopher, on her first halloween night. She was all of 11 weeks old and already her color had changed.

Misty was a year old when we introduced her to Ming. For weeks we had been going to the Mall, past the pet store, where I would look at the puppies. One in particular, a little black and white Pekenise, that always seemed to have a couple of children petting him. I am very partial to Pekes, especially ones of this coloring, having had a black one in my youth, but did not feel as if I could pay the price they asked for him. After all we had a cat. Soon he was the only one left in the cage. Elmer knew just how attached I had become to this little pup, and decided he would buy him for me. Just in time too! The store owner was going to return him to the owner that weekend. For some reason no-one had bought him yet. This was the third pet store Ming had been placed in, and his last three months had been spent in a cage waiting for someone to give him a home. He was 4 1/2 months old. I felt he had been waiting for us, and we almost did not follow through. Both Ming and I thank you, Elmer, for bringing him home where he belongs.

This little fellow displayed some very definite characteristics from the day we brought him home. Up till now he had only been given dry Science Diet for food. Now he refused to eat any dry food whatsoever. We were becoming frantic until we found a pet store that sold frozen meat packages. These I would cook up for him and from then on this became his main food. It was only a few years ago that he started to accept a few "kibbles" (which is what we call the small pieces of dry dog food) as an addition, but he is still very selective as to brand.

Where food is concerned, he will not eat anything processed, such as baloney, or hot dogs. He is strictly  a meat eater, except for my spaghetti, which I have had to stop making with onions in as I used to do. We found out the hard way that onions are highly detrimental to a dog's health.. As to our introduction of a new member into the family home, it really did not go down too well at first. Ming was naturally interested in checking out Misty, while she was NOT going to have anything to do with him! It took a couple of weeks before there were some ground rules established and Ming understood that when Misty was on top of the couch, or on the steps or one of our laps, that these were her "safety zones" and he was not allowed to disturb her. Once he did understand this, though, he immediately established his own "safety Zone" - which we were not to violate, especially while trying to house train him and he knew he was in trouble. These zones were "under the coffee table" and "under a small glass-fronted cabinet"

August 1986

This was a common sight. Every morning, when Elmer had breakfast, the two of them would join him at the kitchen table for a small piece of egg or bacon. Misty knew she had to keep a certain distance back from the food, and Ming had learnt he was not allowed to join her on the table.

I would like to tell a short story about Ming, which happened shortly after we brough him home. We had had him about one month when we went on a vacation to Hawaii for two weeks. Before leaving, we took him over to my Mother with all his little toys, rawhide bone, leash and bed. I wondered if he would remember us when we returned - Oh yes! Did he ever! Not long after, we had a disagreement with him regards 'house training'. You could tell he was quite upsett with the discipline. The next thing we heard was grunting, thumping and huffing.  Wondering what was going on, we looked for him.  There, going down the stairs was Ming pulling his bed down with him. Inside the bed were his toys and bone.  As we watched, he then tried to get it to the door at the bottom of the stairs. The two of us laughed so hard. The statement was obvious! "I'm taking my things and leaving here! I'm going back to where you left me before. She loved me!"

Here is Ming with one of my Grandaughters and Myself. Ming never forgot the children that petted him while in that cage, and has always loved little ones. He is highly protective of babies, and while he has never bitten anyone, he has on occasion threatened those whom he thought were being agressive towards a baby. (even in play we had to be careful) Over the years he has now limited this to only those babies that I make a fuss of, but in the early years, any baby he saw he had to check out and protect.

This could be sometimes a little embarrasing as we took him wherever we went, and he would insist on going over to any babies he spotted regardless of whether the parent agreed or not. ( He was not always on a leash, so this could be quite easy for him to do).

Here he is a month after we brought him home

When Xmas time comes around, and it is time to put up the tree, decorate it and put gifts underneath, Ming gets very excited. While Misty was still with us, she would be the first to check it out, and we allowed her to do

this prior to putting anything on. They both had their own ornaments hanging on the lowest branches, Misty's being a cloth figurine with bells on the toes, which she always checked out. Ming is much more interested in seeing if his present is there, and he always seems to know which one is his (almost as if he can read the

Usually he gets a stuffed toy. Here you see him checking his gift out.     Xmas 1990

label). He is a dreadfull nag if he cannot find one for himself, but we tend to keep it hidden until the last day, as he will sneak it away when he thinks we are not looking. .

Cuddling up with Dino on the couch

Here are a couple more photos of Ming with other Christmas presents. Dino (1994) is still his most favorite, and he cuddles up with him almost every day. Santa did not prove to be too good a hit, but you can tell from the picture that he was happy with him at least until the season was over.

Ming with his new Santa toy  Christmas 1998

Ming loves to explore new places, and gets very excited when he sees us preparing to go away on a camping trip. Every year we start the summer season with a trip to our daughter's lot at Allison Lake in BC., joining her and her family for the May long weekend. Here we enjoy fishing, and Ming gets to roam free from the leash, and visit with his beloved little ones (our Grandchildren)

This was taken a t Alison Lake. Elmer is holding up his prize winning Trout, for the fishing Derby my daughter holds every year for friends and family. I am holding one of her youngsters. Ming is checking out cleaning table and hot dog campfire forks - sorry Ming, nothing on them!.

Over the years, we have travelled extensively throughout the Western States and BC.  To Ming, as well as us, these are great adventures, and he has become quite a seasoned traveler.  Here are a couple of photos taken at some of the places we visited..

Elmer and Ming enjoying a beach on the Oregon Coast. 1991

Ming Posing for his picture at a lookout post along the Snake River, on our way home from an extensive touring trip through several States.

Here we are at Soap Lake Campgrounds. Ming is keeping me company as I work on some craft projects I brought with me on this trip.

Here you see him. on the picnic table, keeping me company again while I read. Being high up, I think, makes him feel he can keep a look out for intruders, and can guard me better. This was taken at a campground on the Washington Peninsular in 1994, while visiting my son, who lived in this area at the time.

Last but not least, taken in our old motorhome, this one shows Ming and Elmer taking a relaxing coffee break after a busy morning exploring the new territory.

As I said earlier, Ming loves to explore. While he was little, we really had to keep an eye on him while he was outside, as we had no true fences surrounding our home. He and Misty had become inseparable very quickly, and he would follow her everywhere. She and the neighbor's cat Molly used to team up with him, and off they would go, through the back hedge, and over to the Menno Home, which is a couple of blocks behind us. After finding him there a couple of times, we eventually put up a wire fence along the back. in order to put a stop to this. Elmer also takes Ming to the Centenial Park for his walks almost daily (about a mile from our home) In the beginning, they used to go by car. Somehow, Ming figured out the way, a couple of times of dissappearing on us, and we would find him there, or on his way home from there, after franticaly searching the neighborhood. I can only assume he became tired of waiting to go for that walk, and took matters in his own "paws". Terrifying when one thinks how little he really is and how busy the traffic is on the roads he had to cross.

Somewhere along the line, Elmer bought himself a bicycle, put a paper carrier on, rigged it with a Ming Harness, and started to take him to the park via this means on fine days.. Here you see them leaving for one of their trips to the park.

This is Ming's most favorite means of transport. He just loves to feel the wind in his face and encourages Elmer to go fast!

Just one more tid-bit before I change the subject. One sunny day, Elmer decided to go by car instead of the bike. Ming just refused to get in, eluding Elmer, and kept running to the bike, looking at it intensly. The message was received loud and clear!!!  Result - bike trip it was!!!!!!

Well, most of the story is told now. We lost Misty at the age of eight. Somewhere from the neighborhood she ingested Antifreeze, and we had to put her down before she suffered any more than she already had. As for Ming, he too is now suffering the consequences of a neighbor that took a dislike to him after years of encouraging him to come over and play with their children. Ming could not undersand why they no longer petted him, but instead turned on him the way they did. The Father beat Ming with a cane across his back, and the children threw a rock at him that injured his shoulder badly. This area has now developed arthritus, and on bad days he can barely put weight on his font leg. He now has to be carried down steps, and helped off his favorite chair, where he likes to sleep on our afghan in the afternoons. At the Vet's suggestion, we give him supplements of Glucosamine and Shark's Cartiledge, to help ease the situation, and on really bad days have to give him a small dose of children's Tylenol, or a prescription medicine, to ease any pain.  I am pleased they moved away, but the fence we put between our homes then still remains, as we do not wish to take any more chances with more neighbors like this. UPDATE - it is now summer 2002 This last year has been one hard thing or another. Just before Christmas we took him to have his teeth done. They had to remove 4 of them, and in the process his kidneys stopped working. They had to put him on a dialosis machine. Somehow this seemed to herald the beginning of a down trend in his health.  Then on Christmas Eve his one eye was cut badly. The vet thought he would have to have it removed. We refused this, but it took about 3 months for it to heal. He is getting very deaf now, and quite weak in his back legs, cannot walk very far, and has lost a lot of weight. He has developed small pebble like lumps all over his body, and his skin has become super sensitive to the point he no longer enjoys having his coat brushed or even bathed. For all this, he is still a game little fellow. He used to Love to tease us by hiding our socks or slippers if he can, now he just gives us a token of this game. Still he is always ready to join us in whatever activities we include him in. He is a dedicated companion to me, especially when I am on the computer - nagging me dreadfully if I do not get to it when he thinks it is time.

This page was transferred and redone from another website hosting that has been discontinued.

UPDATE  - July 2003  A couple of months ago we had to take him to the vet as he was having eye problems. Diagnosed as failing tear ducts, we have had to keep a constant watch and put visine in on a regular basis. It was suspected he may also have an ulcer, but nothing confirmed. Otherwise Ming had ralied round quite well. Then, while on a camping trip at the end of June, Ming suffered a stroke. He recovered fairly quickly, but his back legs were weaker than ever. On July 9th he suffered another major stroke, and after watching him suffer over night we had to put him to sleep the next day. In honor of his passing and tribute to his life my friend Sharon has put his memorial in the pets live on website. Please take a moment to go there and see it.