Dogs becomes sexual mature usually around 6 months of age. You should first understand how her body works before understanding pregnancy. Your dogs will experience heat cycle after getting sexually mature. Dogs go into heat cycle twice a year for 2-3 weeks, in that period you can breed her. Veterinarians suggests that you should breed her after 1 or 2 heats as at that time they are too young to reproduce. When they goes into heat, you won’t even realise it as the humans’ menstrual cycle is quite different from dogs. So here I am telling you the signs from which you can recognize if your dog is experiencing heat cycle before desexed :-
1. Vaginal bleeding
2. Vulva enlargement
3. Increasing apetite
4. Licking area of her lower abdomen area
If you want your dog to stay away from unwanted pregnancies, then you can keep her away from the male dogs outside, the best way is to keep her inside, otherwise you can take her to veterinarian for desexed.
SIGNS FOR DOG PREGNANCY :- It can be quite difficult to monitor if your dog is actually pregnant until the last few days of her pregnancy when her abdomen gets really enlarged.
1. INCREASED OR DECREASED APETITE – Either your dog will eat too much or eat less, its all depends on the breeds of dogs. Some dogs will have increased apetite and when you feed them, they’ll ask more. At this time, you can feed her 2-3 times a day in a minimum amount of food. Try not to feed her too much as it will overload her tummy. Some dogs can have decreased apetite which can be similar to humans’ morning sickness when they get pregnant. If your dog is eating less of food, then try to calm her with your hands on body and don’t force her to eat. You can give her boiled food.
2. ENLARGED NIPPLE – Once your dog is pregnant, the nipple and its area will grow more, generally unbred dogs’ nipples are quite small so it can be a good indicator if your dog is pregnant. She will also start to produce milk in the last month of pregnancy.
3. SUDDEN DECREASE IN ACTIVITY – If your dog is generally very active but there seems to have sudden decrease in activity then she might be pregnant although she can be ill so its best if you take her to the vet.
4. BEHAVIORAL CHANGES – In the earlier stage of pregnancy, dogs are unaware of their feelings, they can be too affectionate to their owners or can be angry without any reason. Some dogs will want you to lefy her alone.This behavioral changes can be indicator if she is pregnant.
NUTITION DURING PREGNANCY :-
Good nutrition is the most important during the pregnancy of dog. They need extra boost of protein during this time. You can ask from the vet as they will suggest the best balanced diet for your dog. You can buy special diet foods that are specially designed for pregnant dog. If your dog don’t want to eat anything, don’t force her and try to give only nutritional food that contains proteins.
EXERCISE :-
It plays one of the important role in the pregnancy of dog as it will help in the labor and ensures good physical condition. You can take her for a walk as its the best exercise that a pregnant dog can do. If she will be healthier, it will make the delievery of puppies easier.
LABOR :-
There are three stages that are given below :-
1. STAGE ONE – This is the longest labor’s stage as it lasts 6-8 hours which is very painful. She can be uncomfortable, sweating, restless and pacing, she may refused to eat or vomit after eating as at this stage cervix and uterus are preparing for the delivery.
2. SECOND STAGE – This is stage of pushing, this stages requires variable times but generally it is 3-12 hours. When the puppies deliever successfully, dogs will lick them for cleaning, otherwise you can clean them with a soft towel. She can rest for 10 minutes after delivering e previous puppy.
3. THIRD STAGE – After delievering puppies, the dog will need rest or she will take time with her puppies so you can leave them alone, but feed them something so that she can produce milk and be healthy. The blood will continue to discharge from her vulva but it will last only few days after the birth.
AFTER BIRTH :-
After delievering the puppies, your only duty is to monitor her health as she will take care of puppies so you need not to worry about them but if she seems to be disinterested in taking care of babies then you can consult vet if everything is normal, this might be the weakness after delievering or other problems so its better to consult vet and know the actual problem.
All of this are quite complex but for puppies, they are worth it.