Dog ownership has inherent responsibilities. Hunting and working dogs have far more chances to get hurt than the average dog. We do have too look after our dogs, but if I, and most of the guys I know, took our dogs to the vet at the first sign of an injury, I would be broke. That doesn't make me a bad owner. My dog runs on my property for 8 hours a day, and he is constantly running. There have been times I have noticed he had a limp. On the first occassion I noticed this, he went right to the vets, there was nothing wrong. Hunting and Working dogs get a lot of bumps and bruises, our job is to watch them and take care of them, but that doesn't always mean a vet visit. I hope you are all not misunderstanding me, my basic point is that you don't rush to the doctor everytime you stub your toe or roll your ankle, you wait a few days and take it easy, then if it still hurts, you go to the Dr.
I would have handled it the same way as Mr.H handled it. He clearly cares for this dog and its unfair to make him a villian here.
