Hunta was my heart break kid. This beautiful boy was the pick boy of his litter and everything we were hoping for when we planned the litter. I remember when he went to the vets for his vaccination the vet who had owned Mals herself singled him out and said "I really love that puppy" shortly afterward we were both in shock when she checked his heart and found a substantial murmur. Because he was otherwise healthy and well grown her advice was to have him rechecked at 8 weeks as she thought he may grow out of it. Well we checked him again at 8 weeks and it hadn't gone away. This information was relayed to his potential owner along with all the reasons he should not get him and despite all this Brent insisted on taking him home. Brent showered Hunta with affection as did his whole family but at 12 weeks of age he took him for a heart check up and then to a heart specialist and he diagnosed him with Tricuspid Valve Dysplasia. This is something we had seen once before in our second ever litter and after taking that puppy to the heart specialist (who incidently was the same one that had seen Hunta 9 years later) was told it "was just one of those things" and to continue with our breeding program. When I respoke to this specialist after Hunta's diagnosis he looked up his files and confronted with the evidence of his own remiss said "oh, sorry about that". Tricuspid valve dyplasia is hereditary and is a dominant trait with incomplete penetrance which means that it can come from a single parent and show up intermittently through a pedigree. This came from our original dog Ben through his daughter Genna and as such a great deal of time and effort was put into getting our breeding program back on track.

Hunta was returned to us so that we could provide him the best care and treatment for the remainder of his days which according to the vet would only be a couple of months at the most.
Hunta thrived however and grew into a big, handsome and beautifully moving boy and even went to a few shows with class in groups to his credit.
Regular check ups showed that he was not showing symptoms of heart failure and so he continued to be an active member of our pack and travelled to races (not that we ever let him race or even put a harness on), shows and trips away.
We were so thrilled to be able to have him with us in good health for his first birthday with his siblings at the Snow. He had long outlived the vets predictions for his life span and of course we hoped to have him for a fair bit longer.
It was a normal work day that morning, I heard him go down while I was filling up the other dogs water and although I got to him quickly I could only comfort him as the pain of a massive heart attack ripped through him. The vets thought he would deteriorate slowly as his heart failed to keep up with large body but Hunta's heart simply burst that sunny morning. My brother in law helped me carry him from the pen and later dig his grave. He was just 14 months old.
My hope in telling his story is that people become aware that this condition does exist in Mals and is lurking in many pedigrees. Please get all heart murmurs checked out properly and lets try to prevent anyone else having to go through the heartache of losing such a precious life so young.