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31/1 2008 - 12/3 2009 e. J Huntmans Panter u. J Huntmans Gwen stamtavla
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| Stila - the unfortunate puppy Stila was a 1 year old IS bitch that came to us in the beginning of February 2009, as kind of a rescue dog. Actually the story about Stila starts some 13 years ago. When our late ES bitch Foxy was around 1 year old, there was this Game Fair held somewhere south from us. Among many other activities there was a competition for young pointing birddogs. They had huge stubble fields around the Game Fair with put out partridge. The young dogs were started in braces and the best one in each run went on to the next qualification. Our Foxy did well and the star on the field was a young Irish setter, bitch or dog I do not remember. The IS was run by an elderly gentleman that we did not know at all in those days. Foxy and the IS were about to meet in the finals, when the old man suddenly pulled his dog from the competition without any explanation. He just stayed there watching the finals and when our Foxy won them he turned very happy and came to congratulate Maud and to show his admiration for Foxy. Some time later we learned that this gentleman was one of the most famous IS breeders and field trialers in Sweden. He had seen how good and talented Foxy was, but he had also seen that Maud and Foxy lacked experience. He knew that his dogs might very well win the finals, not because it was better but because he and his dog were so much more experienced. He wanted to encourage the novice Maud with her talented Foxy by pulling his dog out and letting them win. Now, there was a true sportsman to whom the continuity and rejuvenation of the sport was more important than his own success! This man came to breed Stila many years later. When Stila was born at the end of January 2008 the old man intended to keep her as his last dog. However, when Stila was some 4 - 5 months old his powers started to ebb and he felt that he had to sell the puppy. Stila was sold to another elderly hunter who lived not very far from us and Stilas breeder died shortly after. Unfortunately the new owner too soon got low in health, as did his wife. When Stila was one year old they felt that they could not handle her any more and since they knew Maud and her great interest to birddogs they offered Stila to her. Since Stila seemed to be a quite normal young setter from pure working lines and with an excellent pedigree we took her. We had not had her for much more than a month, and had not learned much more about her than that she had a very strong, powerful body with a lot of drive, before disaster stroke her. One day she came out from the forest limping with the right hind leg. Young dogs often hurt themselves both here and there so we were not too alarmed first. When the limping continued for a couple of days she was taken to a vet. The vet sent us to an orthopaedist who sent us to an animal hospital in Stockholm with some of the best veterinary surgeons in Sweden. X-rays showed that the patella was torn out of its place and its sinew was broken. Worse yet, the attachment for the sinew was gone. The prognosis for the surgery and the very long and testing recovery period to become successful all the way, was far from promising and the slightest mistake, there were no room for anything to go wrong during maybe 3 - 4 months, would ruin the entire operation and cause even more suffering for the dog. Considering the circumstances we to our great sadness and sorrow found that Stila had to go to the angles, for the sake of her own best and animal welfare in general. We still have her empty bed on the living room floor…. Torsti 
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