Can dogs get postnatal depression?

My mum has just adopted a little three year old border terrier called Milly, she’s a very cute thing but very very timid. She had been rescued by a family after they found her abandoned, the vets said she had given birth to puppies and then dumped. Milly was with this family for 2 years and then re-homed as they felt she wasn’t happy there. My mum is very calm and patient and she is getting better, but I think she has postnatal depression. Is that ridiculous? If Milly had another litter and kept one, would that make her feel better? Any advise is really welcome, thanks. Samx

Hi Smithy_0007
No i dont think it is ridiculous at all. I feel like dogs can get depression aspeshly in this case. not shur if it would help if she had another litter. But i have a feeling it prob would help but like i say im not a 100% shur tho. i feel like it mite help but i have a feeling that she mite not want any thing to do with pups i meen im prob rong and shell prob be fine with the pup its just a gut feeling iv got. sounds like shes had a ruf time poor littel thing. i no my thought prob not helped sorry.

Hi its me again i just hade time to think about it and i feel like it prob would do her the world of good to have a littel of pups. but i still have the nigel in my mind weather shed not bother with the pups. have you tryed talking to the vets about it. iv never had this problem as iv never had pups so ur probs best seeing the vet or a breeder.

In my opinion having another litter would not help. in the least.

Patience and kindness on the part of your Mum will I am sure get her through this. You really don't know what traumas she has come up against in her past and in my opinion she just needs time to learn to trust again.

ETA Welcome to the forum btw

I really don't see it would help to be honest. When my Bambi lost her litter (boy and girl pup - due to infection) last September, she was sooooooo very depressed (understandable as the infection had come from her so she was ill and grieving for her pups). I had all sorts of ideas, as I just wanted her to be happy. I did consider whether to buy a young pup, so that she could 'adopt' it. I was that desperate to help her be happy again. Anyways, got advice from my breeding Mentor. She said that another pup would not help her and that the best thing I could do for her is not treat her as "injured" and just get her back to normal life, making sure she got lots of walks, going out meeting people/other dogs, all the stuff she enjoyed before she lost the pups. Guess what, hard as it sounded at the time, she was totally right! Within days, she'd stopped searching for her pups and was back to being Bambi! I think I was holding her back because I was letting her sleep with me (this is not usual) having her sit on me all the time, carrying her round. I was treating her like she was ill and I think it was affecting her, actually making her feel like something was wrong. Of course, I was desperate to help her but it was misplaced love, if you like.

So perhaps you just need to give her lots to do and not think of ways to get her better, so to speak. Just kind of get on with life, if that makes any sense.

Welcome to the Forum

Even if the dog's problems are from having a litter taken away from her (which personally I doubt) I think Cheeky explains the situation really well.

If it was me, I'd get her checked over by the vet to make sure that there was no medical reason for her being 'unhappy' and assuming all is well healthwise, would just treat her like a normal dog. Perhaps start training classes or look for some other dog activity/sport that they could enjoy together.

It may be that if she gets on well with other dogs, that a companion may make her life more enjoyable, but this companion should be a rescue dog or a pup from a reputable breeder - NOT from a litter of her own.

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of breeding pet-only dogs, I would never recommend breeding from a bitch that wasn't 100% happy, healthy and mentally well balanced.

Good luck to your Mum though in looking after this wee girl, I wish them both the best.

Thank you everyone, thanks for all your advice

Sam x