Mothers killing puppies

Question
Hello!  I am looking at buying a Chinese Crested puppy.  I contacted one breeder who happened to mention that the mother had killed one of the puppies in the litter by crushing its skull.  The breeder seemed to think this was no big deal and that mother dogs do this with puppies that have something wrong with them.  I had never heard of this before and am concerned the dogs might have a temperament problem.  Is this something I should be concerned about?  The dogs seem to be well-cared for and happy.  Thank you!

Answer
While I myself have never had a mother kill any puppies (and I have had some that were defective over the years), I have heard of bitches who killed their puppies if they got stressed. Consequently, I am very cautious when I have puppies that nothing upsetting happens here when we have a litter (no visitors allowed until puppies are older), even though most of my bitches have been superb mothers.

I would be concerned, too, as that is just NOT normal behavior!

http://accc.chinesecrestedclub.info/pages/breeders.html