teddywaddy Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Help!!! our puppy lab 12 months of age has just finished her first season, and now looks like she is having phantom pregnancy, no male dogs are here and she was locked up. what can we do, this is my daughters show dog and we have entered 14 shows in the next two months, she will be heartbroken is she cant show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workers Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Help!!! our puppy lab 12 months of age has just finished her first season, and now looks like she is having phantom pregnancy, no male dogs are here and she was locked up. what can we do, this is my daughters show dog and we have entered 14 shows in the next two months, she will be heartbroken is she cant show My girl does it every time. Frustrating I know but you can still show her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TessnSean Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Help!!! our puppy lab 12 months of age has just finished her first season, and now looks like she is having phantom pregnancy, no male dogs are here and she was locked up. what can we do, this is my daughters show dog and we have entered 14 shows in the next two months, she will be heartbroken is she cant show My girl does it every time. Frustrating I know but you can still show her. You can still show her. She will get puffy around her teats towards when she would be due to have puppies but that is no reason not to show. Mine even got milk in the last couple of days and then overnight, it was finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCheekyMonster Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have never owned an entire bitch and I find this concept so interesting... how long do they last for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra777 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) I have never owned an entire bitch and I find this concept so interesting... how long do they last for? How long do entire bitches last for? :laugh: IME false pregnancy generally goes for about the same length of time as a real one but the amount the bitch 'shows' depends a lot on the bitch, some just retain a bit of fluid, some produce milk and appear to go in to labour. When they have been on heat bitches go through virtually all the same hormonal stages whether they have been mated or not (and whether they are pregnant of not) so it's hardly surprising they have false pregnancies really. I understand this is a survival mechanism common to canines (wolves, feral/wild dogs) as all the bitches in a pack tend to cycle together but only one or two are usually permitted to breed, so if they all have the same hormonal changes and the real mum dies then one of the others can step up to the plate. No idea how well this works in "the wild" but I know a lot of dog breeders report other bitches in the household produce milk and help out the mum if allowed. Edited February 24, 2012 by Sandra777 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCheekyMonster Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have never owned an entire bitch and I find this concept so interesting... how long do they last for? How long do entire bitches last for? :laugh: IME false pregnancy generally goes for about the same length of time as a real one but the amount the bitch 'shows' depends a lot on the bitch, some just retain a bit of fluid, some produce milk and appear to go in to labour. When they have been on heat bitches go through virtually all the same hormonal stages whether they have been mated or not (and whether they are pregnant of not) so it's hardly surprising they have false pregnancies really. I understand this is a survival mechanism common to canines (wolves, feral/wild dogs) as all the bitches in a pack tend to cycle together but only one or two are usually permitted to breed, so if they all have the same hormonal changes and the real mum dies then one of the others can step up to the plate. No idea how well this works in "the wild" but I know a lot of dog breeders report other bitches in the household produce milk and help out the mum if allowed. Lol Smart ass :p That’s crazy!!.... well the same thing happens to females who are together for a prolonged period of time... their menstrual cycle will sync to some degree... pretty cool but props to the people who own entire bitches... i couldnt do it haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Baggins Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Help!!! our puppy lab 12 months of age has just finished her first season, and now looks like she is having phantom pregnancy, no male dogs are here and she was locked up. what can we do, this is my daughters show dog and we have entered 14 shows in the next two months, she will be heartbroken is she cant show I suggest that you chat to a Naturapathic Vet Margaret O'Riodan in Thornbury and see if she can give you some remedies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnesse Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 My bitch has phantoms, we have 3 pups (toys) at the moment. She also stole one of my daughter's special teddies to add to her collection but I took it off her as soon as I realised. Showing her leading up to her due date she wasn't really herself but still fine. I only showed the one weekend with her like that, I was supposed to show this weekend but it was cancelled due to the heat policy. I'm not sure how she would have gone this weekend either, she's happy enough though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebbles Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 One of my girls would have a falsie and make milk nearly every time . I used an old fashioned remedy, swabbed her boobs with vinegar every time she walked past me lol. This did reduce the milk and the swelling. She was a Min Pin, (smooth coat) and I was able to show her. Worth a try as the fuller figure really isn't a good look in the ring lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Cut back her food and go hard on the exercise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashaflynn Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 The old cider treatment has been around for ages and is definitely worth doing - use apple cider vinegar. Also, as mentioned, cutting back on her food and upping the exercise is great. The other thing that helps, especially with very sooky maternal girls, is to not make a fuss about the whole thing. Treat her as per normal and if she starts to try and nest with stuffed toys etc etc - don't let her do it. It will only prolong the phantom and exaccerbate the whole process. Just treat her as normal - no fussing about the phantom, up the exercise, cut back on the food and liberally swab with the vinegar at every opportunity. You can't prevent a phantom but you can at least try and shorten its duration and severity. An absolutely no reason why you can't show her - even with puffy boobs! :laugh: Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamSnag Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Cut back her food and go hard on the exercise. i also did this.. Also i was adding dry parsly flakes to her meals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashaflynn Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Cut back her food and go hard on the exercise. i also did this.. Also i was adding dry parsly flakes to her meals Oh yes Team Snag! I forgot about the parsley flakes ! I had a girl recently that had an especially bad phantom with her first season and she produced a good quantity of milk too! Had never had to worry about phantoms as such before this as they were never all that bad but decided to do "the lot" with this girl as her flabby boobs in the ring was really not an attractive look! Not sure whether the parsley and the vinegar actually did the trick or not but she did go back to normal within a couple of weeks - could have been just the natural process of things or they really did help .... but it doesn't hurt to try it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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