Footrot Flats fairytale ends   (by Felicity Dargan, Nov. 1999)
NOW Dog is dead. Footrot Flats cartoonist Murry Ball has decided to hang up his pen. Finn, Ball's border collie which was the inspiration for Dog in the widely loved cartoons, died last October.   Ball, 60, was devastated after finding 16 ½-year-old Finn dead in his kennel. This week, he told the Sunday Harold Sun the time has come for Footrot Flats to end. Ball said he was about to release the last Footrot Flats book (volume 27).   "There are mixed feelings", Ball said from his 220ha New Zealand farm. "It was a relief I do not have to do the same thing over and over. But I still have great affection for the characters. I love them dearly and have had fun manipulating them. But no dog lives forever and eventually you have to say:	Thank you mate, you have done all a man could ask you for and let him rest".   Set on a New Zealand sheep farm, the stories of farmer Wal Footrot, his intellectually superior sheepdog and the other eccentric Footrot Flats characters first appeared in 1976 and developed a huge following. Their international profile was boosted when they starred in the 1986 film Footrot Flats - the Dog's Tale, which was accompanied by Dave Dobbyn's hit song Slice of Heaven.   Ball said his origin intention was to produce a cartoon that portrayed New Zealand life. "But New Zealand society has changed, and the cartoon became out of sync with what was going on" he said.   "Instead of portraying a truth, I was painting a cosy fairytale that no longer	existed. I felt uncomfortable soothing people's egos rather than telling the truth."   That truth hurts Ball, a former political cartoonist who has become disillusioned with New Zealand's main political parties leaning further to the right.   The father-of-three said life had not been the same since Finn had died. "Our other dog, Tess, which was also a boder collie, died a few weeks ago, so we are dog-less at the momen" Ball said.   "It is the first time in 30 years I have not had a dog, and I am really feeling it. But we have ordered another border collie."   Ball spends his time in writing and illustrating books and working on film scripts.
If you still want to know more about Footrot Flats , Wal, Dog and all the other lovely characters, click here for a journey to Footrot Flats.