October'07 - Greyhounds Queensland

RIGHT: Barry Morris laid up inhospital. BELOW: With SeriousHondo his first Albion Park winnersince his kidney transplant.Owen EdmondsGreyhoundsBACK in July, Barry and Sharon Morrishad 22 greyhounds on their property.A 2.10am phone call, a call that came threeyears earlier than expected, changed all that.The Morrises have been amongQueensland leading greyhound identities fora couple of decades now, always with a highclass dog or two, and among the nicest peoplethis industry has.But nine years ago Barry was diagnosedwith chronic kidney failure and from that timehis health has gone down hill.In May 2006 he went on dialysis and hisname was placed on a ever-lengthening listof people needing a replacement kidney.He was told it would be four years at bestbefore a suitable kidney came up. He andSharon went about their greyhound trainingduties with the success and devotion they havealways had.Until that 2.10am phone call on July 16came and shook them up for the next coupleof months.“It was the PA Hospital,” said Barry. “Atfirst they tried to ring on the mobile phonebut we were too slick for them, we had itturned off at that time of the morning.“But they rang the home phone and said aperfect match kidney had been found and Ihad to get to the hospital immediate.”An hour and a half later Barry was beingprepared for surgery.With the new kidney in place, Barry wasconfined to hospital for seven days, but forthe next five weeks he and Sharon had tomove into a unit near the hospital because heneeded a daily check-up.“I had to go in a 7am every day to makesure the kidney was not rejected,” he said.In the meantime, the greyhound racingfraternity came running and moved all 22 dogsfrom the Morris property at Lowood.“Our daughter Tracy came down for thefirst week to look after those that were in theprocess of being moved,” said Barry. “Ninewent to George Zammits, the racing dogs wentto other trainers and we made otherarrangements for the rest.”Fast forward to today and Barry andSharon again have 18 dogs on their property.“We have been 25 years non-stop ingreyhound racing and it was nice to have aBarry,and histeam,buildupagain‘holiday’, if you can call it that,” said Barryof the almost two months away from racing.He’s on 25 pills a day “more tablets someof those footballers” but says he’s living anormal life.“The doctors call it a treatment not acure,” he said. “The tablet numbers willdecrease as time goes on, but some I’ll haveto take forever.“But it has shown Sharon and I that weneed to have a break from the daily routineof greyhound racing and we will endeavourto do that every year at least for a couple ofweeks,” he said.In the meantime they have, as usual, somesmart dogs coming through.“One is by our great old race dog TotallySerious-Coonowrin Red and a brother to thosetwo of Ray Gatti’s that show so muchpotential,” said Barry.“He was ready to start when all this blewup and it will be a while to get him back tohis top again.”But Barry and Sharon aren’t complainingabout the interruption. They’d hoped it wouldcome sooner, rather than later.You will never know that feeling till you’ve gazed into their eyesWhen they stare at you tail wagging you can almost see them smileThey seem to fix their eyes on yours to gauge your thoughts of themAnd they wait for your reactions till there sure that you’re a friendI have felt at times they’re psychic; they can read your every moveThey can tell when things are not the best, judge you’re present moodThey know by sound when mealtime comes the clatter of the platesAnd when the feed is passed around they become your lifetime mateSome say they have no feelings no emotions do they showBut I have seen it first hand with a broodbitch years agoTo her the family was her kin could do everything but speakThe verandah was her domain and her favourite place to sleepWe would try hard to entice her with grapes and scraps of foodBut never did she come inside nor try to break the rulesShe knew her place was hers to keep and never wanted moreAnd we in turn knew we were safe and never closed the doorThe years went by as they do and my children aged and grewShe’d be standing at the front gate to greet them home from schoolShe’d join in games of bat and ball and could take a catch with easeThen hand it back to the one that bowled providing they said pleaseSix long years post racing she blessed our family homeAnd I feel she gathered more respect than I had ever doneShe lived the life of Riley on her verandah lairAnd she knew we had to pass her by each time we came up stairsThen came the passing of her time the time the family fearedAnd like a psychic seemed to know time was drawing nearCame into our room at three am obviously in painWoke me up then ambled back to her bean bag bed againI went and sat beside her bed and she lay her head on my armThen closed her eyes took one deep sigh then lay there still and calmNever again did she open her eyes I doubt if she ever triedAnd I feel she came to that room that morn simply to say goodbyeFlying Scott - Now ProvenAwesome Assassin x Highland Bride (Irish damline)A seriously fast greyhound.Short listed 2003 Topgun.Free progesterone testingAlbion Park 30.05Stud fee $880Ipswich 30.58 (track record)Wenty Pk 30.16, best 30.11Pat Hennessy: 0266725183Sandown 29.76Meadows 29.88Producing fast pups winning at City & TAB venuesfrom only 5 litters racing, a second to none strike rate.The (October, 2007) Journal Page 27