Josie had  her puppies on Wednesday, 5 bitches and 4 dogs and are all doing nicely weight wise.  I wouldn't say she's the best Mum in the world, she seems to want to get out of her box every hour or so, but she does eventually go back after a bit of persuading.
My problem is 2 of the pups aren't perfect.  One of the boys, when he was born had a pink patch of thin skin (puppies are all black so very noticable), with no hair on, which was about the size of my thumb, it is over  his rib cage.  We didn't hold out much hope, but the vet said it was a birth mark and was probably where his skin had somehow attatched to the sac, and just to moisturise it and that it may even turn black in time.  So it's actually got much better, it is much thicker and has shrunk in size and is now about the size of the end of my little finger.
The other one is a little girl.  Quite hard to describe, but on her back legs, instead of on the last joint forming and L shape, they form a C shape and curl in.  Like talipes in babies?  Anyway the vet said the joints aren't fused and are fairly flexable and you can move them back into the correct position.  Again she said this was caused by how she was lying in the womb.  She said to kind of give her physio and keep moving them into position as often as I can.
So the boy I'm not as worried about now, it's just cosmetic and my breed does have longish hair on the rib cage, so as he grows it should get less noticable, but the girl, the vet said to see her in a week and then make a decision of what to do.  Which will be a very hard decision.
If any one has had any experiance with any of the problems or has any advice please help.
Sam

I have no experience of this Sam-Jo, but just wanted to say firstly, the boy as you say is no problem, I expect that the hair will grow there eventually anyway.  As for the little girl, trust in your vet, if he does not feel the legs will set properly take his experience and knowledge into account.

If I were in your position and only speaking for myself, your decision is your own, but if my vet advised me that she would not be in pain and would just be growing up with bandy legs, which may possibly right themselves, then I would keep her myself, or perhaps be lucky enough to find her a wonderful home.

But if my vet advised that she may have pain, or may not be able to walk properly and suffer constantly with bad hips I'm pretty sure I would let the pup drift off to sleep.

When we have dogs with HD or any kind of problematic leg /pelvic problems of course as owners we are at our dogs sides to see them through, but IMO that kind of love and loyalty does not need to extend to a 2-3 week old pup.

It is in the lap of the Gods and I guess it is down to your vets assessment of her, I have my fingers crossed for you that it will not be anything serious, and with physio can be righted, but if it is I send you the strength to make your decision.

Thank you for your kind words, what you've said is kind of what me and OH have decided on, it's just emotional seeing it written down!  We are going to keep a bitch, so if the legs can be sorted, that will be fine. 

I had a similar pup many years ago. Vet said ,as yours did , placement in horn had caused this. He said bones were very soft and would probably  right itself. The leg was badly twisted but did right itself by the time he was  walking. I have heard of other similar cases. Hope yours is OK too.
   

Just an update.  Just came back from the vets, Coral (the girl) is walking wonderfully.  Her legs started to recover after about a week, couldn't believe it.  The vet said she was fine, we've decided to keep her.
Tarn (the boy) has done amazing, he now has a tiny flash of white hair about 2 inches long, where his skin used to be.  It wasn't a birth mark, the vet did explain, but was a bit complicated! it was where a band of something was too tight around his body, which didn't allow the hair to grow.  A scab kept forming and falling off, there's no skin left at all now.  What I thought was wonderful was the lady with first choice of dog, has just been to look at the pups and has chose him.  I didn't want him to be the last one chosen!
All the pups are doing great, Josie never did become the wonderful maternal mother.  After the first few days I had to bribe her into the box to feed, she is still feeding them, with some persuasion, but the pups are being weaned now, although some aren't keen.
And I had my first night in bed last night!