We have a lake on our property which is must loved by all our dogs for swimming and water retrieve games. It is not a place where humans would wish to swim particularly since the terrible weather we had last year and to date. The heavy rainfall has stirred up the debris at the bottom of the lake and run off from the road has exacerbated the problem.
I've always allowed my girls to swim in the lake once the heat season is fully over , regardless of whether they have been mated or not . We never had a problem with this and healthy litters have been born from girls swimming until they were pretty well in labour ( but no water births so far !) Until a litter born in September 2012. Seven apparently healthy GR puppies were born  -repeat mating of previously healthy litters. At around  4 weeks of age mum developed a hideous skin condition which resulted in her coat developing scabs and falling out in  clumps. Worse than this a girl puppy developed a serious case of Juvenile Pyoderma/lymphadenitis/Puppy Strangles. This was the beginning of a very bad time. I was fortunate in so far as I identified the 'Strangles immediately and although my vets had never encountered the condition, they listened to me and 'Abi' ( Scabby Abi) commenced steroid and antibiotic therapy immediately. She made a full recovery eventually and was found a lovely pet home at the age of 4 months once she had been weaned off the steroids and been fully vaccinated. She is doing well and scarring is minimal and improving all the time. Mum has also made a full recovery and swims in the lake with no further problems. You can imagine, however, how difficult it was showing prospective buyers the puppies with mum in the state she was in and this poor puppy -fortunately the only puppy affected in the litter.

So, my question is should I forbid any future bitches in whelp from swimming in the lake? I will always worry that some bacterium or whatever provoked the both the skin condition in my girl which perhaps in utero provoked the immune response in the puppy.

Any suggestions welcome.

I wouldn't let any in whelp bitch swim in there.  there are lots of bugs that can be picked up and I have a dog who eats soil and he's picked up an internal bacterial infection which the vets couldn't identify and I got his hair analysed to find out the problem - he's now on a digestion aid to avoid similar problems...

There is a problem with blue/green algae which can lead to illness & has caused death in dogs(I believe). I would be extreamly careful letting dogs in rivers/lakes & wouldnt let an in whelp bitch in rivers/lakes at all.
I am fortunate that my dogs dont particularly like water at all.

We definitely don't have blue/green algae but the waters are very murky and we don't seem to have the abundance of fish that we had in previous years.

I would err on the side of caution, it is only a few weeks out of their lives to curtail this pastime they enjoy.

i wouldn't let a bitch that had been mated swim anywhere - you can never be too careful

You mentioned that there had been run off from the road getting into the pond. I wonder if there was something coming in from that, such as the salt used in gritting, that affected your dog. A high concentration of salt could also be the reason for lack of fish

At around  4 weeks of age mum developed a hideous skin condition which resulted in her coat developing scabs and falling out in  clumps.

A bitch of my breeding had something similar -skin was totally raw, at a similar stage i.e. when pups a few weeks old. All sorts of tests were done and it turned out to be an auto immune problem that had been set off by the pregnancy. She was on steroids for several months, gradually reduced, but eventually made a full recovery.

Reply to Goldmali:

I was of the opinion that my girl's skin condition was linked in some way to the case of Puppy Strangles in the litter.
As it was, my vet didn't prescribe any treatment for Clemmie (mum) and the condition resolved as vet said it would.
Puppy Strangles/Juvenile Pyoderma/Lymphadenitis is generally considered to be an auto immune problem so that would  perhaps  be consistent with the skin problems mum had at the time.

Thank you for all contributions so far.

Have any Forum members had experience of Puppy Strangles ? I know is it extremely rare and most reported cases are within Golden Retriever, Gordon Setter and Dachsund breeds.

Yes I had a Bernese pup with it some years ago. He was treated the same, steroids and ABX. I kept him to 12 weeks and when he went to his new owners he was on a reducing dose of steroids and no ABX. Thier vet continued the treatment till 5 months on a gradually reducing dose and he lived a full and happy life but did carry some quite severe scarring to his nose. He died earlier this year at 8 years old to cancer...the biggest killer of Bernese ! Mind you 8 years is considered average for a Bern.
Aileen

We treated a flatcoated retriever puppy for puppy strangles at work a couple of years or so ago. He first presented at 2 weeks as being very 'flat' but with no obvious symptoms and he was treated with ABs as a precaution. When the swelling started around his eyes a few days later the diagnosis was much easier and the high doses of steroid were started. At about 8 weeks he looked like a scabby hippo, poor little chap, but he made a good recovery. He still lives in the village, and apart from a slightly scarred nose he's perfectly normal.

A friend of mine (she died in 1999) so it must have been about 1997 had a pair of Finnish Spitz puppies with it.

They were an accidental litter from a Father to daughter mating.  My friend always kept two pups from a litter so they would have stayed anyway.

We had it in a Pomeranian puppy about 5 years ago.  I don't even think the vet recognised what it was at first, it was myself who queried whether it was that.  Sadly after a few days he passed away.

Thank you ! And I know how important early diagnosis is . Because it is such an uncommon condition, most vets will not have experience of it. In my case, it was initially thought that puppy just had a minor eye infection but this quickly spread with lesions around the muzzle, in the ears and around the vulva and anus. The poor girl's head swelled massively and there were lesions inside her mouth and throat. Just getting her to take the meds was a nightmare. The poor girl squealed in pain each time I opened her mouth. Strangely, she never seemed systemically unwell and was just as playful as her siblings and managed to eat and drink normally but that may have been due to early intervention. I was so fortunate in having two wonderful mentors with years of experience in the breed who talked me through the condition and gave me every hope of a good out come, which there was. I was told, however, that it would be extremely unwise to breed from the affected puppy, or indeed from mum again.