Dogs are sensitive animals. They are affected by changes in the home, there are many cases where dogs mourn the dead owners for a long time. Many people who raise dogs say that when the woman pregnancy symptoms starts, the dog‘s behavior changes or the dog feels pregnancy when the woman herself doesn‘t know it yet.
Can your Australian Shepherd really feel pregnancy? Can they feel it when you don‘t see anything yet? This is a common question that many dog owners have, so in this article we will find out if it is possible.
The Whole Truth About The Senses Of Dogs
Our dogs are enthusiastic observers, with a very sensitive sense of smell and vision, so it‘s no surprise that they feel the change as the woman begins to wait. Scientists guess that the dog‘s smell receptors are more than 10,000 times accurate than humans. So it is likely that the dog will smell the changes in the environment much earlier and quicker than any human.
Dogs are thought to capture the physical changes of a pregnant woman – changes in appearance, new smells, they also notice changes in behavior and emotions.
There are chemical changes in the body of pregnant women, changes in the pH balance, hormones and changes in diet changes the smell of the body. As well as, due to morning sickness women often do not want to eat, the body takes energy from fat and as a result an unpleasant odor from the mouth appears.
Dogs are famous for their exceptionally sensitive sense of smell. They learned to look for drugs, explosives or even humans. According to research, dogs can experience cancer, migraines, seizures. It is likely that a dog‘s ability to capture changes related to pregnancy depends on whether he knows the pregnant woman well. Changes in hormones and chemicals in a familiar woman‘s body may be more noticeable than in a woman who is first seen.
Changes in the owner‘s body will be most evident, but dogs will also capture other women‘s body chemical changes. Either way, it is not entirely clear whether the dogs are aware of the reasons for the changes or whether they will associate them with the baby that will eventually appear at home.
How a Woman‘s Pregnancy Affects a Dog‘s Behavior
Sometimes pregnancy can affect a dog‘s mood, behavior and they start to become anxious or needy and starts to cuddle more. Supposedly, the behavior of dogs changes due to the changed behavior of pregnant women, as usually they start to protect the unborn baby, often put their hands on their bellies or prevent the dog from jumping on themselves.
As a result, the dog may become more sensitive or require more attention. And here are some examples how dog‘s behavior can change:
- Some Aussies begins to take more care of the pregnant woman, always lie down so that they can see her.
- Some Australian Shepherds starts to closely watch you wherever you talk to other people.
- Dog wait for you outside the door of bathroom or shower, sleep next to you instead of their bed or room;
How To Prepare Your Dog For The Baby To Appear at Home
In movies and social media, we are often used to seeing how incredibly beautiful a dog interacts with the new family member – the baby. In various stories dogs are shown as a guardian, who wants to protect the little human from everything.
However, the reality is that often dogs, until they have a newborn at home, take on the role of the smallest member at home, enjoy it and are probably unwilling to change it voluntarily.
This is a fairly common situation, when the new parents are worried that their dog eats less after the birth of the baby, is sluggish, suffers from depression. According to specialists, there are several reasons for this, but the most important is proper preparation before the baby is born.
It is very important for you to prepare the dog for the birth of baby, because it will mean change for all the residents of the house. Properly prepared in advance, you will avoid fear and anxiety, when the baby is born. One way to prepare a dog for the baby‘s appearance – a few months or weeks before birth, gradually show him the baby‘s things, create a positive association with them – give the dog treats, praise him. experts also advise to gently accustom the dog to the changes – to turn on the sound recordings of the baby, to give a sniff of the baby care products.
Some Tips For Preparation:
- Set certain limits, so your dog knows what he can do and what not. It is always better to start training from an early age, however if your dog is an adult already, start trainings as soon as you find out you are pregnant.
It is better when dog has his place to sleep and don‘t jump on the bed whenever he wants. For sure, you don‘t want that your Australian Shepherd weighing 60 pounds to suddenly jump up when the baby is lying on the bed.
- It is not good to start changing the rules only when a child is already in the family: imagine a dog lying on a couch or bed all the time and naturally, the rules will change when a child is born. Therefore, it is necessary to change the established rules slowly and safely before planning a child or during pregnancy.
However, you should keep in mind that this will take time and the dog will not understand everything at once. It may take a month, two or even half a year of hard work until your dog accepts changes.
Final Thoughts
As science still has not proven that Australian Shepherds or any other breed dogs actually know when their owner is pregnant, but they really sense a change. And it could be owner‘s behavior, mood, smell or even body change. But your job is to make sure that it will associate only with good emotions, so start preparing for birth as soon as possible!