When my female was bred (her first; my first & only so far), I highly suspected on my own that she was indeed pregnant by the 3rd or 4th week. She had some morning sickness, loss of appetite during that time, and even with that, I still saw changes in the look and firmness of her belly. Still, wanting to be sure that my eyes were not deceiving me, and with it being my first time breeding, I took her to the vet for palpatation around the 28 day mark to confirm. That's all they did was the palpatation and a general once over for health, then also gave me reading material about pregnancy in dogs, etc., and answered any questions I had. All worth the trip in my eyes and didn't notice any stress on my female; though could be more stressful for some then others I'm sure. What was thought to be a week before her due date we took her in for xrays (4 puppies), but she surprised us and had the puppies just 2 days later. Four of them all healthy & strong.
I hope to do it all again this spring with a different female (Halle). I will probably go the same route & do the palpatation visit, skipping it MAYBE only if she is very obviously pregnant to me. Though it will be my second time breeding, Halle is much smaller than the female I bred the first time, so I'm guessing it could be a whole new experiance all over again.
Good luck to you................and keep us posted! |