GARTCLOSS PAT – MAKING DAY CARE PAY

Many people will know the story of the bullied young black kid from Brooklyn, overweight and with a lisp, who first discovered his potential to box when a local yob killed one of his pigeons. Society has countless tales of hard-as-nails guys who will go toe-to-toe with anyone, yet go all squidgy when it comes to their love of animals.

A legend in these parts is former scrapyard and nightclub owner, Derek Law. Derek must be approaching 80 now, but one glance and you would still hand over your last Rolo.

When it comes to his greyhounds though, Derek Law is the biggest softie you will ever come across.

Because as we all know, and despite what the public is told, this industry is dripping in animal lovers. They come in all shapes and sizes – and this is a story of just one – writes Floyd Amphlett.

(BTW if Derek asks, I said ‘early 70s’).

 

Pat Kennedy had a very tough upbringing with a drunk abusive father living on a tough estate in Coatbridge, in eastern Glasgow. (The lady who brought him into the world was Nurse Kane, whose two sons Pat and Greg would form the band Hue And Cry). You wouldn’t suspect Pat’s brutal background in speaking to him – he is a deep thinker, quietly spoken and affable.

But ask him about his past and he doesn’t duck it.

“I think you’ve heard about me when I was younger. I did have a bit of a temper back then” he concedes.

After starting out in the building trade, including a spell working for wrestler Mad Murphy, he had a time working for a glass maker, and then in a factory making uniforms. But the body builder and fitness fanatic also had a sideline, working “on the doors”. Plus the allied trade requiring a similar skill set, debt collecting.

(Night club bouncer and debt collector on the Glasgow council estates!! Probably not many people’s career choice.).

But Pat’s first love was always animals; despite an unpromising introduction!

He said: “It would always be dogs before people for me. My first dog was a pup was out of a guard dog from the scrapyard. I picked him up and the mother bit me. But it never put me off. I had dogs around me always. For several years I used to breed Staffordshire Bull Terriers.”

From his early days, Pat also developed an interest in greyhounds and was a regular on a whole host of tracks who readers of a certain vintage will recall from the Star’s ‘Dogs To Follow’ pages: Armadale, Ashfield, Wishaw, Mount Vernon, Gretna, and of course Coatbridge itself.

As the flaps closed, Pat took out a licence and spent several years at Shawfield. Despite his background, he was never interested in ‘stopping and starting’ dogs. He only ever had one ‘stewards’ for having the first three winners on the card but it was dismissed at the local level.

He said: “That kind of thing was of no interest to me and I certainly never used a drug on a dog. I’ve no time for any of that. I’ll have a bet if I think my dog has a chance, but this game has never really been about gambling for me.”

When Covid hit, Shawfield closed (never to re-open!) and like various Scottish handlers, including Graham Rankin, Pat had a spell travelling south to Pelaw Grange. S

everal of ‘Gartcloss’ runners became regular’s in the Star’s ‘Performance of the Week’ charts with a big presence in top heat.

A little under two years ago, and with limited opportunities due to the lack of fixtures and quality of his runners, Pat jumped ship and switched to Newcastle where he currently has around a dozen dogs on the strength.

He said: “I did increase to about 18 at one stage but have since cut back.”

Interestingly, despite having plenty of space, Pat refuses to double up in kennels, and he also has some interesting ideas of feeding.

He said: “All my dogs are kenneled singly. I don’t like the risk of them turning on each other and I absoutely hate the idea of muzzles. I never muzzle my dogs unless it is absolutely necessary at the track.

“I also feed my dogs three times a day. I know that isn’t for everyone, but it came about when I was into my body building. The body takes in so much more goodness when you eat a little and often. I realise that if you have a big kennel you may not have the time to feed more than once a day. It just isn’t for me.”

Like many of his countrymen, Pat is prepared to make great sacrifices for his hounds. Apart from the cost involved, each trip to Newcastle takes three and a half hours.

He said: “I have to allow twelve hours away if I have runners. For an afternoon meeting, kenneling is at midday. The journey takes three and a half hours but I have to plan for hold ups so I leave at 8am. By the time the meeting is over and I have driven back, it is 8pm at night. The night meetings are tougher still. If I have a runner in a late race, it might be 2am before I get to my bed and I get up at 4am every day.”

 

But apart from being another story of a Scotsman’s love of his greyhounds – and we have published quite a number – Pat Kennedy has a story to tell that may be of huge interest to some of his fellow trainers.

The story goes back eight years when Pat and wife Andrea decided that they wanted to get out of town so they could enjoy their dogs surrounded by a little more countryside.

Pat said: “I have lived in Coatbridge all my life and thought I knew just about every part of it, and virtually everyone who lived here. But when Andrea mentioned this property (Gortcloss) that was for sale, I couldn’t imagine that I didn’t know about it. But it is way out of the way with a drive up of about half a mile.

“We went to see it on a Sunday morning and we knew straight away. The lady who had it had some geese and chickens and as soon as I saw it, I could picture where I would be building my kennels. By the afternoon we had put our offer in and got it.”

Pat built his small kennel and the couple were soon loving their new home.

Pat said: “A little while later, we had a letter through saying that the farm next door had gone bust and were we interested in buying any land. We weren’t really bothered so we put in a silly offer, never expecting to get it. We heard back that we hadn’t been successful and that the place had been bought by a company.

“We thought no more of it until about 18 months later when the same company who had originally written to us wrote back and said the sale hadn’t gone through and that the farm would be up for auction. It was out of our league so again we thought no more about it.

“Then one day, these travellers turned up and asked about the farm. They were thinking of buying it and would be turning it all over to horses. Andrea was quite upset, you don’t know who will be coming backwards and forward and how you will get on with them. We had a long discussion about it and decided to take out a mortgage to buy the place ourselves, which we did.

“We then had 50 acres and had to think of a way to make it pay so we decided to do dog boarding.”

That might have been the end of the story – except for fate – mainly in the shape of Covid.

Suddenly, nobody was going anywhere. Millions of holiday bookings were cancelled and the repercussions hit the pet boarding business. Cancellation followed cancellation.

Pat said: “We had no idea what to do. I really didn’t like boarding anyway. You work hard for your money and it can be quite stressful. I go to sleep as my head hits the pillow but if one of the boarders started to bark or howl at night it would keep Andrea awake. Then we heard about this new idea, ‘Doggy Day Care’.”

For those who havent come across the concept, it is basically like child care for dogs. The family pet gets dropped off as the owner sets off for work and then picked up late afternoon.

The kennels are ‘Chicubes’, a modern UPVC type of construction (similar to the material used to make modern doors and windows), easy to clean and installed with lights, heaters and smoke detectors. Outside there are 50 acres of paddocks and gallops.

It is hard not to smile – picturing the tough Glaswegian dog man – as ‘mummy and daddy bring their baby for a play day with all his little friends’.

Pat said: “Some of the owners can be a bit eccentric right enough. But I’m used to it by now. When we were boarding I can remember we had one couple who insisted that we put a picture of them in the kennel with the dog.”

Unsurprisingly Andrea is ‘front of house’ and she and her two staff embrace the whole idea. There is a social element to the whole thing including parties and celebrations of various types.

But there is also a serious angle to this and one that might stop a few sniggers among the cynical greyhound trainers.

Pat said: “We charge £20 per day and we average around 30 dogs per day. We have none of the hassle of boarding. Some bring their own food with them, others don’t. By 5.30 the last of them are gone. The two girls who work with Andrea are registered as kennel staff and they clean the greyhounds out for me as part of their working day.”

Pat admits that but for Covid, they would never have switched to Doggy Day Care, and a huge opportunity would have been missed.

He said: “I can’t speak for other people but for us, it was the best decision we ever made.”