My year and a half golden Nala has started to den in the last couple of days. This is a behavior that I had encountered before but not with one of my dogs so it has been interesting to see it progress.

5 days ago - She has a blue dog squeaky toy from petsmart that she has torn the ears of and I have had to stitch up the body a few times as well but about 5 days ago I noticed that she wasnt playing with him and he always had to be with her. She cries when she gets locked up until I let her out to get him or put him in with her and she carries him upstairs when she goes outside (he's not allowed so he stays sitting at the back door). I also noticed that if I take him away she first gets really upset and then she just watches you and everything you do to him. Then when you finally give him back she grabs him, around the neck, and curls up and grooms him. When she goes to bed he is tucked in close to her....no other options available.

3 days ago - At this point I wake up to find her curled up in the smallest mostly enclosed space in my room, a space at the foot of my bed between my bed and some boxes. She never goes in that spot not even when she loses a toy there she just stairs into the space and waits for me to get the toy.

2 days ago - I noticed her pulling up grass and brush from our yard, which is harder then it sounds since our yard at the moment is mostly dirt, and collecting it under our porch.

Yesterday - I have old torn up blankets laid on the floor for her to curl up on because its a cement floor and she started digging them up and dragging them over to the small space at the end of my bed. once she got them where she felt comfortable she put "Blue" her blue dog toy into it groomed him and then jumped back up on the bed but where she can see him.

She has only had two heats so far her first around 9 months and her second in September/October both times I kept her as far away from other dogs as possible. I haven't seen any sings of false pregnancy and there are no other pregnant dogs around to trigger it either. I cant figure out why only this one toy either? I mean I have two stuffed animals that look like dogs in my room and she ignores them for the most part, she sniffed at one the other day but that was it.

Any ideas what might be causing it?

There might not be any physical signs of a false pregnancy, but it sure sounds like one. A dog does not have to have the symptoms for her to believe that she is pregnant. It is a mental thing. At a year and a half, she is at the prime age for a first pregnancy.

I would not worry about it, as long as she does not have any physical problems. Time is the best cure for a false pregnancy.

You are seeing signs of a false pregnancy now
Her "babies" would be a few weeks old.
It will go away.

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anney@k9-design.com

The oestrus cycle in the female means that the progesterone levels are similar in the pregnant and non pregnant bitch so there may be few physical signs but a change in behaviour is fairly common. If she were mine, unless you intend to breed from her or show her, I would be thinking about having her spayed Annef

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Regarding spaying, make sure it is when she is at a mature age. She sounds like she is still too young to be spayed.

Check out this article by a well-known vet:
http://www.alabamacaninecoalition.or...iderations.pdf

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Caryn
Proud owner of: Miss Maddie Magoo CD NAP NJP RE CGC

It sounds like she's about 18 months old based on the info provided....not too young IMO.

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Nala is just over a year and a half, so yes about 18 months. We are not looking to get her fixed just yet. My husband (who gave her to me as an 'engagement' present) would like to get a puppy out of here because she has champion bird dog blood lines and he didnt get to train her to be a bird dog because he got shipped off to basic. Trust me the bird dog shows...the employees at Cabelas remember her because they laugh at her trying to catch the ducks on the decoy display.
Here is a link to her watching the decoy display. Got to love watching a happy dog!!!
VIDEO0031_zps7c51c257.mp4 video by Nuala_MT | Photobucket

This is Nala at about 11 months