Termination of Pregnancy

On 11/30/13, I rescued a 1.5 year old intact German Shepherd that just finished her heat. The rescue group said to wait 18 days before getting her spayed and my vet said to wait 2 months. I called the rescue group to find out if I could wait 2 months, and they said that I should do it ASAP because she may be pregnant... I have an appointment to get her spayed tomorrow, but I am wondering if dogs are aware that their pregnancy has been terminated, and if so, what behavior changes I can expect. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

I really do not know if dogs are aware that they are pregnant - I know mine never seemed to notice until they were actually ready to go into labour, but hopefully someone who knows more about the subject than I do will be along shortly to give you advice.

I hope everything goes well with the spay and that your dog will recover quickly.

In the meantime

I'm sorry I have no knowledge either.
Maybe a phantom like pregnancy after?
Someone will know I'm sure in a while

My only experience is with planned pregnancies and my bitches have known that they were in whelp immediately after mating - in the car on the way home from visiting the stud dog their behaviour changes.

However, I have never had a pregnancy terminated so I dont know how a bitch would react. However, if you think about it, hormonal changes will have already started to take place and these will be brought to a sudden halt. So I would expect some sort of reaction.

As they say, 'dogs live in the moment' and are very accepting of their lot so I am sure your bitch will cope with your support.

Thalice's Mum

Dogs are so intuitive I am sure they are in some way 'aware'. Don't think they sit 'thinking about it'. But as Thalice said - they tend to 'live in the moment' so I doubt it will be a 'difference' they notice.

She may go into a false pregnancy, but don't know for sure. If she is in fact pregnant and she gets spayed, it will take a while for her hormones to go back to a "not pregnant" state. If she does go into a false pregnancy, make sure you keep her from licking her teats because that will just continue to stimulate lactating.

Hi everyone! We took her in today and they decided to do the spay. It turned out that she wasn't pregnant after all! She is back at home now recovering. Thanks again for your help!!

That's good news that she wasn't pregnant and all went well. I hope she now recovers quickly and well done for giving a rescue dog a forever home

Welcome to this site from me too

Good news indeed, so now you will really be able to enjoy her without the worry of any future unplanned pregnancies! She should recover quickly and well and I hope you have a wonderful future together!