Portraits:
A-Litter:
Cetta
Cikku
Guza
Peppu
Pupa
B-Litter:
Bahri
Barun
Hunter
Tita
Ziffa
Patsy
Ch. Patsy Safra
Tal-Wardija (Patsy)
Ch. Patsy Safra Tal-Wardija, 8th Jan. 1995 - 10th April 2004
Patsy was the litter sister to
Ram. When Patsy
was born she was the smallest pup in the whole litter, but slowly and
steadily she made it through the difficult times of finding a free teat
to drink out of.
Patsy as a puppy (right), March 1995
Patsy grew into a beautiful girl, quite the split image of her beautiful mother Brownie. When Patsy was young, Charles (her previous owner) took her hunting for rabbits.
Patsy, running in typical Maltese terrain
One day Patsy had a nasty accident and whilst chasing a rabbit slipped and fell off a cliff face. Patsy tumbled and rolled down some 200 meters to her doom – at least that is what Charles thought at the time. However, after the night’s hunt, when Charles returned back to his car, there he found Patsy waiting for him. How fantastic thought Charles, Patsy had walked all the way round to cliff, and found her way back to the car despite her obvious limp.
Charles thought nothing much had happened and presumed that Patsy had only bruised herself. Days went by, and months later, since Patsy did not seem to get any better, Charles phoned me up to tell me that Patsy was of no further use to him (as a hunter) and that unless, I call to collect her, he would put her down.
That same day, Lucienne and I called at Charles’ place to collect Patsy. She was not in a good state. Her leg had deteriorated considerably and her limp was extremely obvious. I had no choice but to take Patsy home and try to give her the best possible life. She was only one year and eight months old and had the rest of her life to live.
I took her home and bathed her. I give her some high protein diet and made arrangement for a visit to the Vet. After examining her, and seeing the X-rays of her hip, the vet diagnosed that Patsy had aseptic nucrosis. Lucienne and I visited another three vets for their confirmation. I had the choice of an operation to fix Patsy’s leg, however the vet could not assure me that she would become any better. At this stage he suggested that I continue to feed a good diet and with some exercise he thought that she would make a turn for the better.
He was absolutely right. Patsy grew from strength to strength. Her limp almost disappeared completely and soon she was running like the wind. In fact when she became much better, I used to take her out hunting with Ram and they used to have the time of their life. Patsy loved hunting rabbits and has quite a few kills under her belt!
Patsy and her brother Ram, hunting for rabbits
When Patsy turned three years, I started considering mating her. I wished to retain the strain that I had because both she and Ram were wonderful Klieb tal-Fenek with fantastic temperaments.
I had been looking long to find a good mate for Patsy and finally, after a lot of research I found her a beautiful male. “Spider tal-Mejda” was owned by a good friend of mine - Leli Briffa. We arranged for a mating to take place some time in the Christmas of 1998.
On the 28th February, Patsy delivered six of the most beautiful pups I had ever seen. Patsy was an excellent mum and brought them up well. One of the puppies went to Leli for his mating rights. Unfortunately this puppy did not live long. One week later Lucienne and I received a call with the dreadful news that she had died. Through my connections on the internet, I had a few bookings for these babies. Eventually, my good friends Jan Scotland, Daniela Felker and Clive Agius-Gilbert came over from Germany to pick up their babies. One week later Sybille Geberbauer-Nielsen came to collect the remaining two. These people have been entrusted with my babies and I am sure that I will not find better homes for them.
Patsy, with Tal-Wardija A-litter, spring 1999
Meanwhile, I was showing Patsy in the Malta Kennel Club shows. These are a few of her winnings;
25-26/10/97
|
MR. A.W. THOMSON
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
|
24-25/01/98
|
MRS. C. COXALL
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
|
28-29/03/98
|
MR. BOB GREGORY
|
BEST OF BREED
|
|
1-2/05/98
|
MR. DEREK SMITH
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
|
24-25/10/98
|
MR. JEFF LUSCOTT
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
|
30-31/10/99
|
MS. ISOBELL DYKE
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
(FCI) 1 EXC
|
11-12/12/99
|
RAITA RITVA
|
2ND BITCH IN BREED
|
2 EXC (RCAC)
|
19-20/02/00
|
DR. ZAFRA SIRIK
|
2ND BITCH IN BREED
|
2 EXC (RCAC)
|
25-26/03/00
|
MR. JACK TRAVERS
|
2ND BITCH IN BREED
|
2VG (RCAC)
|
27-28/05/00
|
MR. ERIC BROADHURST
|
2ND BITCH IN BREED
|
2 VG
|
4-5/11/00
|
MR. JOAO VIEIRA LISBOA
|
BEST BITCH IN BREED
|
1 EXC CAC
|
Despite her broken hip, Patsy became a Champion under the MKC rules before the Malta Kennel Club became an FCI associate member in 1999. Only once did a judge notice that she had a slight limp. After than, I retired Patsy from the shows.
One day I was judging the Klieb tal-Fenek at an agricultural show in Buskett and there I saw the most perfect dog for Patsy. Obtaining his services was not easy. I had to ask a friend who had to ask a friend to speak with the owner of “Jackie”. Finally he succumbed to the pressure. Early in 2001, Patsy was mated to this wonderful dog. He was an excellent hunter but had the nicest conformation I had ever seen.
On the 25th March 2001, six beautiful pups were born. At birth, I had made my choice. Lucienne had no idea that I would be keeping yet another puppy. She resisted, but finally gave in to my whims. Again as in the previous litter, one pup did not make it. However, the remaining 4 ( two males and a female) were all found extremely good homes. One female went to Henk Van Der Vorst from Holland. A male was delivered to San Francisco to Diana and Philip Lafornara, when I was cordially invited to judge in Lompoc – USA.
The other male and female had to remain with me for seven months before being taken to their new homes in Sweden and Norway respectively. The reason for staying so long was so that they would not spend any time in quarantine in these countries. The female was sent to Helene Siegmund from Sweden, whilst the male found a good home in Kjetil Stokka from Norway.