Chortens Tibetan Mastiffs

Ann Wynyard - an appreciation

It was with genuine sadness that we heard about the sudden death late last year of Ann Wynyard.
Although, as is the way of things, we had not seen Ann for many years, at one time our paths crossed
on very many occasions.This followed the founding of the Tibetan Mastiff Club of GB in October 1987,
when both of us worked very closely with Ann during the Club's formative years. Ann was elected the
first President of the Club at the inaugural meeting, Peter was elected Chairman and Eric was elected
Treasurer. Together with the dedicated group of people who formed the first Committee, we set about
carrying out the diverse aspects involved in getting everything necessary for seeking KC recognition of
the Club, in order.To have someone working with us of Ann's stature in the dog world and knowledge of
Tibet and Tibetan breeds was an immense boost for the Club. Ann's experience was also indispensible
when it came to drafting the Rules of the Club, the Code of Ethics and generally knowing what needed to
be done. Ann and her late husband Major 'Winnie' Wynyard very kindly allowed the Club to use her home
on a number of occasions, not least of which were the first Committee meetings. For these we were always
well looked after by the Wynyard's housekeeper Helen.

Ann's knowledge of the Tibetan breeds was of great help to those on the Committee who came into our breed from other breeds. There was a lot of disagreement in those days about whether the TM should rightly be in the Working Group and Ann agreed to host a meeting on her property at which this topic was discussed. Ann felt, and a lot of people agreed with her, that the breed's best interests were not being served by it being in the Working Group although to be fair it was not easy then to agree just what benefits there would be by seeking a move to the Utility Group. The meeting was extremely well attended. There was much informed exchange of opinions and although the 'Tibetan' and Utility Group faction won the argument that the TM is not a 'working dog', it is still in the Working Group. It is true to say that Ann remained of the opinion that the TM would be better appreciated by people familiar with the other Tibetan breeds.

It is also not generally known that for a short time Ann and Winnie had a TM living with them. This was intended to be a permanent thing but it did not work out that way. The dog the Wynyards took on was Zoe, litter sister to our Kaya. Zoe had had a bad start in life and was the first TM requiring rescuing. We did that as soon as we were informed by Pauline Brigden of Zoe's plight and brought her to live with us in Somerset. Unfortunately neither Kaya nor Zoe liked each other very much and there were a few confrontations between the two of them. Upon being told of this, Ann and Winnie decided that they would like to offer Zoe a home, and in the hope that she would settle with the Wynyards, we took her over to Northamptonshire and her new home at Home Farm. Ann quickly became very fond of Zoe but Zoe did not afford the same kind of fondness to Ann's Tibetan Spaniels and looked upon them as some kind of toys, there for her amusement. Zoe had also never been properly lead trained and this led to the wonderful story related by Winnie about taking Zoe for a walk. This always bears repeating. Helen saw Winnie return from a walk with Zoe and suggested to him that he couldn't have gone very far as he hadn't been gone for very long. Winnie's reply was that Helen was mistaken, he had indeed gone a long way but he just went very fast. This episode and some other unsocial behaviour by Zoe saw her being returned to us and although it had not worked out well, Ann had many tears in her eyes as she said goodbye to Zoe.

This is just part of the story relating to Ann Wynyard's involvement with TMs. I haven't even touched upon her unstinting generousity when it came to providing numerous prints and other items for sale at the many functions the Club organised in those days, the large amount of money she outlayed for the die to be made for the Club badge and her sharing of old TM photos and other memorabilia, so graciously made available to further knowledge of the Tibetan Mastiff.

I know Ann was particularly disappointed when the 10th anniversary of the Club was celebrated in 1988, the anniversay of its recognition by the KC instead of in 1987 when it was formed. Ann, like many others, felt that this was a snub to her and all of us who had worked so hard to organise the Club sufficiently and proficiently for it to be recognised by the KC within the extremely early period of about one year of its formation. This is the 20th year of the existence of the Tibetan Mastiff Club of Great Britain and we hope that something eminently suitable is going to be arranged to celebrate that fact and to honour the memory of a formidable lady.