Dog pregnancy questions

[AWQH]

Good morning. We are trying to determine if Tango concieved when an exdog of ours locked on twice during her heat cycle. Tango is overweight, so we don't expect her to show until she is close.

 

Are there any other signs that a dog is pregnant?

 

 

Dianne

[AK dog doc]

You could try getting her palpated (depending on how far along she is and how overweight she is, this may be more or less effective), you can have an ultrasound to look for puppies and tell if hearts are beating, and you can have an Xray (after 7 weeks of pregnancy - count from the last breeding date) to look for skeletons and count puppies.

 

All dogs do a false pregnancy, so they may show symptoms of a pregnancy even in the absence of one.

[bc friend]

A lot of bitches start showing changes in their nipples about 2/3 of the way thru pregnancy but not all of them but I think AK Dog Doc's suggestion for an ultrasound is your best suggestion. Depending on whether you want to breed her in the future, how far along she might be in a pregnancy, etc., you might want to simply spay her and any pregnancy would be aborted - obviously this is a personal decision and I am not advocating it, just mentioning it as a possibility.

[Jordi44]

Sounds like your timing is about as good as mine. Just when you think everything is safe, you look out the window just in time to see them go butt to butt. If they actually tied - and twice at that - I would assume that she is bred - but we all know what assuming can do. Count 63 days from time she tied, and watch for mammary development and/or nesting behavior. My daughter's spitz mix was jumping like a little Mexican jumping bean just hours before having 5 pups - our only warning that she was bred was mammary development (daughter and/or hubby failed to mention they had let her and my male BC out together). She may not show anything at all, and as said, she may not be bred at all, but still have a "false" pregnancy and show all they symptoms of being near whelping. But, if your luck is like mine, seeing that it wasn't planned, she'll be "very" pregnant with a large litter. Good luck

[AK dog doc]

Again: ALL normal dogs (that's 100%) do a false pregnancy, whether they were bred or not, and if bred, whether they conceive or not. Hence any mammary development, nipple changes, milk production, nesting, mothering toys, etc can be as a result of a false pregnancy, not a real one - including weight gain and tummy bulge. Generally speaking the weight gain from a false pregnancy is less pronounced than that of a real pregnancy, though it does somewhat depend on the size of the litter in the case of a real pregnancy (a small litter may not produce much increase in size whereas a large one typically does). That means that just observing these signs is not proof one way or the other - they are unreliable. Hence, observing that the dog is nesting, has mammary development, is producing milk, etc, tells you nothing about whether or not she is pregnant. If you want to know (and I would, so that I could make appropriate medical choices about management, either pre-natal or OHE, and set aside money for emergency C-section etc if necessary), you'd be best off doing some sort of test.

 

To understand this better, a brief explanation: When an animal ovulates, the egg is released from a follicle in the ovary. The follicle then forms a corpus luteum ("yellow body"), which will produce the hormones that support a pregnancy. In humans and many other species, the CL will degenerate unless a pregnancy is achieved. In dogs, it persists for approximately 63 days REGARDLESS of whether or not a pregnancy occurs, or if one occurs but fails. The dog's body is therefore subject to the hormones of pregnancy even if she is not pregnant. Thus she may exhibit all the symptoms of pregnancy even if not pregnant (the degree to which these symptoms will be apparant varies from dog to dog and can vary from heat to heat within a given dog as well, so it is not always consitent.) Moreover, this is why blood tests for pregnancy are challenging in the dog - the hormones of pregnancy are there no matter what, so just testing for their presence is useless. You already KNOW they're going to be there. This is why I'm suggesting that if you need to know, you have some other form of diagnostics done that are not so equivocal.

 

Just FYI, and I hope that makes sense.

[AWQH]

Thank you for the information. I could not believe it when the lab cross was inside Tango's pen. He had been chained up because she was in heat a ways away from Tango. He somehow managed to slip his collar ( we still can't figure out how) and before we got to them he had locked on. So we got them apart, put Chopper even farther away, and the next day...same thing. We could not tighten Choppers collar because his neck was bigger than his head and it would have caused him to get into trouble. Sure enough second day came around, and the bugger had done it again. Again he locked on GRRRR.

 

Chopper has since been rehomed. Thank God. You reeeally don't want to know what my MIL said to do, if and when the pups are born. I am still angry with her.

 

We don't really want to spay Tango, as she is over half way to being rehabbed!!! Our male BC is an exceptional cattle dog, and we have been offered a lot of money for him, which we won't accept. So my husband said if we can rehab Tango he would like to breed the 2. He owned Tango when she was young, and said she was beginning to work unbeliably well. Then he allowed friends to have her, as he had her parents and grandparents. She then was given to someone else and the abuse started. He knows that her bloodline is full of exceptional cattle dogs, as he used to work them.

So he's hoping the line will carry down from her and our male BC. It's his choice as she is his. We own 3 dogs, and all 3 are his lol. I don't believe in breeding unless both dogs are exceptional and worth the breeding. He said if given a chance she could have been as good or better then Hondo ( male BC)He's also been told that if we ever do breed Hondo, some local ranchers would love one of his pups. Soooooo.

 

We won't abort the pups, if indeed she did catch, which is pretty likely. I'll find them homes with someone who wants a loving pet. Chopper was one of the best family dogs we have owned. Perfectly behaved at all times with the exception of fighting with other males. We think it was the chow in him. He even helped raise a litter of kittens! Tango also is a lover. Still somewhat frightened, but compared to what she was when we got her, she's a whole lot better.

 

Sorry for the long post. I thought I should go into further detail. We know the exact breeding dates, so I guess we'll see in late July/early august.

 

 

Dianne

[juliepoudrier]

Dianne,

Why not get an ultrasound done? It's not that expensive and then you would KNOW. Or if you act quickly, she may still be in the window for palpation, which would be even less costly. I would think that you would want to know for sure because, as AK Dog Doc said, appropriate medical management of your bitch would ride on the result. And if this is a dog that your husband thinks has a great working future, then ISTM you would want to do everything possible to make her possible pregnancy and whelping as safe as possible for her, and that means knowing if the answer to the pregnancy question is a yes or no.

 

J.

[AWQH]

Hi Julie. We are already prepared. We have the money for a c-section at the end of this month. She's only about 2.5 weeks along though. We knew we wouldn't see any signs yet, but wanted to know what to look for. We are treating her as though she is pregnant just in case. Including vitamins etc.

 

We always do this with our mares as well. We pasture breed and assume a pregnancy, until such time as it becomes evident that the mare is not.

 

It's always best to take precautions..in case

 

 

Dianne

[bc friend]

You have a plan in place and that is the important thing - whether a planned litter or not, it sounds like these pups will be taken care of. Hopefully (for your sake and expenses), the matings didn't take and you can relax.

[AWQH]

Thanks bcfriend. We are hoping the same thing.

 

 

Dianne