Has anyone had any experience breeding a bitch born healthy from a litter including two Walrus puppies? I am wondering if the healthy pups of quality should be considered for possible breeding and what role heredity plays on this disorder.
Thank you for sharing your experience.

I had a litter with a water puppy. That was about 10 years ago. I never had another one and I have many generations from the same lines. The literature says that some breeds are more predisposed to have these puppies, so there must be a genetic component. I would not give much thought to it.

Thank you Breeder. I have read the same literature but really wanted some feedback from breeders who have experienced water puppies personally and have had multigenerational breeding experience from those lines. Your experience is invaluable. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

Been breeding 20 years.......what is this?...have heard of it in passing before, but clueless

http://www.royalcanin.us/library/water-babies.aspx

I have a bitch that had 1 of 9 in a litter that was a water pup. He was the last pup to be delivered. She had 2 other litters of 6 and 9 and none were water or walrus pups in those litters.

3 different stud dogs were used for 3 different litters with absolutely no relation to each other. All I can say is I only saw it once. I have no idea if it is hereditary or not. My vet felt it was not but he is a general practitioner.

I just lost an entire litter this weekend that were diagnosed as water puppies. It is generally believed to be caused by the bitch being exposed to a virus around 4 weeks of pregnancy. If you continue your research you will see that the prognosis for the adult dog, if they live which most don't past 3 days, is not good as there could be many things wrong such as heart and incontinance. If any of mine had survived I would not have bred them. If you research it be prepared for horrific pictures of puppies as a water puppy is horrific. I know that there are varying degrees of involvement, but once you experience a water puppy, you would never take a chance of breeding one and having a litter like that. Look at the survivor's tongues and see if they are a burgandy color, a little thicker than normal, or if the blood vessels show more clearly...this is a concern. I would suggest you pet home the litter.

In conjunction with this topic, what about breeding this bitch again? Is there a possibility that she would have another litter like this one?

We had one water puppy in my girl's second litter. She had 2 more litters after that, with no water puppies. None of my other girls has ever had a water puppy.

I have to agree that as a breeder, the research and learning can never stop. I've been breeding Pomeranians for 7 years and I'm always looking at other breeders posts to learn because you never know what you can encounter along the way. Well, about 5 days ago I was looking thru different sites as one of my girls was approaching her due date and eventhough during her last check up the vet said everything look fine, I just had that eerie feeling that something was terribly wrong. In my opinion, her belly looked unusually big (she had 1 litter of 2 before) it felt so tight, I couldn't feel individual pups bouncing around, it was like a big mass and her skin looked glossy. I came across this one page that talked about "water puppies". In all this year I had never heard of this (never stop learning) and as I read my heart sunk for apparently no reason. As I continued reading and saw the predisposed breeds (no where Poms were mentioned) I tried to brush of my fear. I did specific searches "Pomeranian whelping water puppies" and the like but could not find anything so I just said to my self not to worry about it. Well, Saturday 16 this little girl started labor around 3:00 am everything seems fine, no worries. At around 11:30 am her water broke. It was like an explotion, like a pipe had broken there were tons of clear liquid everywhere. I instantly panic and called the vet and she did not seemed alarmed at all so I tried to relax. An hour passed, no puppy. Another hour, no puppy. Called the vet, she told me that sometimes it could take up to 24 hours after the water breaks for a pup to come and as long as she was not straining for more than 30 minutes I shouldn't worry. I had to asker if she was completely sure about this because I had never experience something like this before and she said: "I am a doctor, I know what I'm telling you, stop over reacting". In a way I thought that maybe because I read the article about "water puppies" I was just being paranoic. My girl was not straining and she seemed fine so I tried to calm down but the feeling in my stomach just wouldn't go away. At about 10:30 pm she started pushing really hard and I thought this is it a puppy is coming and this will be over soon. Wrong!! She's been pushing for 30 mins and no baby, ok I'm gathering my stuff I must get her to an emergency clinic now! While I'm getting dressed my daughter yells " Mom I see something coming out is a foot!" so I thought oh ok this baby is breech it will be a little harder but I know what to do so I will have it out in no time, but when I checked her I was horrified. There was a HUGE paw stiking out of her vagina completely swollen... It's a water puppy!!!! Now I'm frantic, it took me 40 mins to get to the emergency vet (going 90 mph)By the time I got there she was in distress trying with all her might to deliver this puppy. The doctor examined her and took an x-ray, there were 2 puppies and they looked pretty big, c-section it is. While they were getting everything ready, she was able to push out the hind legs and the tail, the doctor came in and manually help her deliver the pup (very difficult)it was indeed a "water puppy" with severe edema to her neck, face and right side paws, it was already dead. The doctor suggested that since she was able to help her deliver that pup she will give her some oxitocyn to see if my girl would be able to bring the remaining pup down far enough for her to help her deliver and spare her from the c-section, after 45 minutes the doctor could touch the feet but unable to get a hold of them. At that point I said just get her to the OR I can stand to see her struggle anymore and spay her on the process (my girl is only 3 1/2 and this was her second litter but I just couldn't imagine her going thru something like this ever again). She was taken in immediatley and when the doctor came out she told me there was no way my girl would have deliver that pup, it was double the size of the first one. My baby is now home and recovering, as for this experience, I do not wish this for anyone. I have parted ways with my vet, I feel that she dismised me without taking in consideration any of my concerns, I know that no matter what the pups wouldn't survive but at least she would have suggested to do x-rays and we would have save my baby from all the hours of labor and the horrifying ordeal she went thru. I usually follow my gut and this time I allow the "doctor" persuade me but this taught me that even when I don't have a "veterinarian medicine degree" I know my dogs and I've learn throughout the years to sense when something is wrong so no matter what the "doctor" says I will over react and demand for something to be done!

In my experience it is VERY unlikely that your "entire litter" were water puppies, Ma & Pa Labradors.
This is a condition that affects usually one pup in a litter and it's not common. In my years I have had 3 of them, all different lines.
True water puppies do not live. They are born dead and decomposing, as in their skin will slough off or as in my case once, tails will come off if pulled on by the vet attempting to help deliver one.
These are not viable puppies.
It is a phenomenon that occurs due to some inbalance of sodium in the puppies system and is considered congenital (NOT hereditary) or at least thats what vets have told me in the past.
The rest of the litter will be normal and thrive and there is NO reason to spay or place all the siblings.
That is the kind of alarmist attitude that uneducated breeders fly off the handle and over react to.