Hugh and Meg

Hugh’s dog Meg, is a master-tactician in the croquet world. The dog, a Chilean Chihuahua highbred, watches all her master’s games intently and doesn’t mind lending a paw from the touchline. If the delightful bitch sees Hugh is about to play a wrong ball she will alert him by barking once. If he appears to have forgotten a lift the hairy bitch will helpfully bark thrice and thus disaster is avoided.

For slightly more advanced manoeuvres such as sextuples, master and bitch communicate through a bark-bark-growl code similar to Morse. In such a fashion the strikingly attractive 19 year old bitch (who Hugh, a man almost twice her age, is so fortunate to have accompany him to all his tournaments) can instruct her master exactly where to position his balls throughout the break.

The only cloud on the horizon of this beautiful relationship is a rumoured intention by Baron von Plumb (see plate 3) to add a clause to the Laws making assistance by a canine genius illegal. Yours truly, not wishing to influence the situation in any way, is left only with this to say: Let us hope good triumphs over evil and Hugh can continue to enjoy Meg at croquet tournaments around the world, forever!