[stimpack]

Hi guys. So my dog is (from best ive read) going through a false pregnancy. I just want to follow up with other doberman owners to make sure this is indeed whats going on.

So she had a heat cycle a few months ago.

In the past few weeks I noticed, what seemed to be over night, her mammary glands became swollen and her nipples got much larger. Lactation shortly followed. Now shes started hording her toys and wont leave from the couch with them. She use to almost pee herself when i would come in from work with excitement. Now she just lays there looking at me. Also i thought i was catching her licking her privates during the night, but it turns out shes nursing herself.

I dont mind her acting a little funny, and honestly its kinda nice that she sleeps on the couch the whole night instead of raiding my bed in the middle of the night =P But she is starting to show a bit of territorial when strangers come to the house. Its a trait shes never displayed before. Its nothing major so far, just low growls and very alert when new people enter. I just want to make sure these behaviors are pretty common and will subside soon-ish.

Can anyone chim in and let me know if this is average?

i attached 2 pics. one of her with her toy, and one of her nips. Hope that doesnt qualify as dobi porn =P

 

[Murreydobe]

Sounds pretty common. Take the "babies" away from her, she'll just worry herself to death about them.

 

[Beaumont67]

Our Amy went into her 1st heat, at 7 months old.
- she never produced milk, but her nipples got big and they never really shrunk much

Over the years, many people asked me if she was having puppies.
I would say, no...she is just a Dolly Parton dog...lol

 

[HarvestMoon]

My girl has gone through some pretty major false pregnancies the last few cycles. Very similar characteristics to what you are describing other than the growling which she has not displayed, nor has she really lactated other than maybe a tiny bit of moisture.

I agree with Murreydobe about taking her toys away. I actually try to remember to put Lucy's toys away as we approach about 60 days after her cycle, in the hopes that we can avoid her obsessing about them. Otherwise, if I am too late, I have been taking them away as soon as I see signs of her obsessing.

 

[mmctaq]

If your girl is being reactive to strangers in her fantasy whelping area, I would NOT allow her to practice this (anything practiced may become habitual)... if you are going to be having people in, I would confine her to a bedroom or somewhere she is comfortable and not needing to interact with people until she is back to normal.

 

[Maschka1]

My dane had 3 false pregnancies. Each time she lactated and "nested". The first time I thought it was sweet that she was hoarding her toys and bought her a couple "puppies". Unfortunately my male shredded them and it broke her heart. The second time she actually took care of 3 puppies that I brought home from a beagle that had 17 puppies. she also dug a great dane sized den in our back yard. She could crawl down in it, stand up and turn around. it was a massive hole!:roflmao:

She never growled at me or acted protective on her "nests" unless my male was trying to chew up her "babies" (which by the way could be anything. Even blankets). She did act more worried and sort of depressed. She also got a really bad case of vaginitis after the 2nd time it happened.

 

[Murreydobe]

she also dug a great dane sized den in our back yard. She could crawl down in it, stand up and turn around. it was a massive hole!:roflmao:
.

A good friend of mine had a dobe bitch who did the same thing. There was a tunnel large enough for a human to fit through, leading down to the den itself. AMAZING!!!

One of my bitch's decided to nest on the back of a couch with her "babies" when she was having a false preggo once. It was hilarious-she kept trying to balance herself and those toys up there, and of course those toys kept falling off.

She also was a very fickle Mom to her latex toy "babies". They only were her babies as long as the squeaker worked. If one got broken and didn't squeak anymore, then she'd toss it out of her nest.