Swimmers are not genetically-defective; the condition comes about because of ownership ignorance/laziness, not anything wrong with the pup. This means anyone who "culls" a pup over this is a retard twice over as a dogman, first by creating the situation through poor whelping protocol, and then by not understanding WHY the situation happened in the first place. Plainly and simply, the condition of "swimming" happens generally in smaller litters, and generally in whelping pens with no bedding, which creates a combination of factors:

  1. The pup get too fat by having too much to eat;
  2. There is no traction for the pup to stand up on as he develops and tries to learn to stand, so he "slips" every time he tries to stand up, and then quickly develops the bad habit of "swimming."

Therefore, swimming is an ownership/kennel mismanagement issue, and is not any indication of a defect in the pup. The remedy to correct the condition is easy as pie, simply by reversing the conditions that created the problem in the first place: 1) get the bitch out of the whelping pen for most of the day, so the pup/s will lose weight (as swimmers are generally hog-fat), and 2) get some bedding in that whelping pen, so the pup has some traction to push off of and "get a leg under him." Swimmers generally slip-and-slide on the greasy wood or kennel crate, because the owner didn't have any bedding in there.

If people follow my weaning method, they will never have swimmers. It is only people who leave the mama in there with the pups too long with no break, and have whelping pens with little or no bedding, and are not paying attention to how fat the pups are getting, who suddenly go, "Damn! This pup can't walk!" the next time they bother to take a look at the litter. The few times I have gotten swimmers have always been because I wasn't paying attention and was getting lazy in my care.

Jack