There are many interesting facts in the canine world that many dog owners want and should know about. A male dog behavior when female is pregnant is an example.
With gifted sharp senses, dogs are talented at reading others’ body language and emotions. They can detect something abnormal even before we acknowledge it.
That’s why you can notice their strange behavior in some cases.
This article will explain how and why dogs react around pregnant females and discuss what to do. Let’s find out!
Do Male Dogs Know When A Female Dog Is Pregnant And Why?
Yes.
Male dogs can detect a pregnant female dog due to their ability to feel the changes in her, such as hormone levels, disposition, and mannerisms.
Though they may not understand what pregnancy is, their instincts tell them that they can’t mate with her. That’s why they get frustrated and act differently around the pregnant one.
Dogs Have A Gifted Sense Of Smell
Dogs have powerful noses and the sharpest sense of smell among domestic animal species. They’re blessed with more olfactory cells, allowing them to perform better than humans in detecting scents.
Specifically, we have five million smell receptors, while this mammal animal possesses 220 million. Furthermore, their brain power dedicated to smell is 40 times more than ours.
The scent receptors in a typical dog’s nose even can be enough to cover its body 1,5 times.
As susceptible animals, dogs are sensitive to their owners’ physical states and moods. That’s why they’re perfect supporting animals for disabled people.
Since the species obtains a good nose, the military and police train them to detect drugs, search for disasters, and rescue people.
Except for some toy breeds, others such as German shepherds, retrievers, Australian shepherds, Brittanies, Jack Russell terriers, beagles, border collies, pointers, etc., can perform great scent work if trained.
Dogs are also useful in terms of health problem detection. They can sense cancer and infectious diseases by sniffing a patient’s breath.
Staying next to people with diabetes, the animal can know if their blood sugar levels are low or high. They also can feel the certain body odors of people who are going to have a seizure.
If dogs are trained, they know to alert their owners by making whining sounds or licking the owners’ hands.
Dogs And Pregnancy
Interestingly, a dog can detect the female owner’s pregnancy even before she knows it. They can notice the changes in the owners’ mood and routine.
When a pregnant woman is more tired or has extensive nausea, her dog knows it. And when the baby bump shows up, the dog can tell for sure a human being is growing inside its owner.
If you’re pregnant and have a dog, you’ll notice changes in their attitude, such as being over-protective.
What Is A Male Dog Behavior When Female Is Pregnant?
Dogs are sensitive and can detect changes in a pregnant female. They may get frustrated and behave anxiously; whining or roaming is how male dogs act when a female is pregnant.
It shows they are stressed when they can’t mate with the female in gestation.
Let’s see the drive behind these aggressive behaviors.
Whining
Whining, humping, or mounting sound from the pet can be embarrassing for most owners.
Yet, it’s a natural and common reaction indicating the feeling of overexcitement, superiority, or even a symptom of sickness.
When an intact male dog is aroused, he’ll show his sexual frustration to others, especially the opposite sex.
Since dogs are blessed with acute senses, they can detect an in-heat female from a far distance of 3 to 5 miles.
Similarly, they can pick up when pregnant females are nearby. In this case, male dogs tend to whine, alleviating the local discomfort of the inability to mate.
Aggressive Behavior
Aggressiveness usually happens when your dog is fearful of something, and exhibiting aggressive behavior is how they defend themselves.
Though male dogs can get along, it’s also a common action of some intact male dogs toward other males when a female is in heat.
In the case of a pregnant female, males usually don’t have this combination of nervous and violent postures. Instead of that, they just whine to show their incapability.
Still, when you let them play together, the pregnant dog may turn on her aggressive mode toward the males, causing dangerous situations.
Therefore, if you see how male dogs act when a female dog is pregnant becomes negative, you should separate them, especially during the last weeks of the period.
Roaming
A healthy male dog naturally likes to roam and leave their marks in the neighborhood.
This activity even becomes more when they know there’s a female in heat nearby, and they can stay outside for at least some hours or even some days.
Obviously, your female is pregnant, limiting the mate advances, and your male dog will need to go outside for breeding.
However, remember that those who regularly roam are subjected to more sickness than the fixed ones.
It’s very important as you may want to prevent your sick male from spreading the disease to your female and its offspring.
Making them stay away from each other for some last weeks of periods until the puppies are weaned is highly-recommended advice.
Are Male Dogs Attracted to Females About to Give Birth?
The answer is: yes, they are attracted. Male dogs know when a female dog is pregnant, and since they can’t mate with the female one at the moment, they will show some signs of anxiety and distress.
You might hear them produce clear and loud whining noise, indicating they are unhappy when staying close to the female dogs during parturition.
Besides, male dogs whine when they see other canine couples mate or females in heat refuse them.
The reason for the stressful reaction is males can readily mate all the time. Meanwhile, the estrous cycles in female dogs only happen about 2 times each year, and the pregnant ones don’t.
So any time males meet females who can’t mate with them, they will react that their interest is rejected.
You may be surprised, but even sterilized male dogs are still attracted to females when in heat or whelping. However, their interest is not as intense as others and can’t lead to any result.
Neutered males can’t make the females pregnant. But if you see they react to the pregnant one, it’s 100% normal.
Should I Keep Male Dogs Away From Pregnant Dogs?
Dogs are pack animals, and their pack mentality is not weaker when a female among them is pregnant. Many owners think that they should separate the males from the pregnant females.
However, it’s only true in the last few weeks until the weaning period. Keeping them together for the rest of the duration is possible if they create no harm to each other.
Below is the guide on each stage of the pregnancy period.
First Weeks
The dog’s gestation is about nine weeks.
You will see visible changes during the first three weeks, such as vaginal discharge, swollen nipples, better appetite, increased love and affection, and decreased physical activity.
Due to the changes in hormone levels, female dogs can feel irritable and growl or snap at the male ones.
You don’t need to worry about it, as it’s normal, and separation is unnecessary unless you see aggression.
Second Weeks
Hunger happens more frequently during the next three weeks as the puppies grow inside the mommy dog. You should feed them alone to avoid fighting between them due to food guarding.
Your female dog may experience some changes, such as 20-50% of body weight gain, clear and odorless vaginal discharge, abdomen expansion, puppy movements, etc.
Male dogs are protective of the pregnant female dog. So you still can let your pregnant dog play with its male counterpart, but ensure the female will not be exhausted.
Final Weeks
What to do with a male dog when a female is giving birth is to keep them isolated. You need to keep them separate from each other as dangerous situations may happen in the final weeks.
Separating allows females to get used to and have a comfortable place prepared for delivery.
Watching her during the parturition just makes your male more nervous and stressed out, leading to the whining noise that breaks the silence and peace needed for the process.
Secondly, the male counterpart has no reason to stay during the whelping as the female dogs usually don’t need help.
After delivery, females can also take care of everything for the puppies, such as how to carry their pups, how to nurse, clean, and help them learn some skills.
Thirdly, male dogs can’t even understand their relationships with youngsters. They just simply don’t have fatherly feelings and urges.
Lastly, keeping the males away also reduces the risk of spreading infectious diseases. As mentioned above, roaming is part of their instinct, and they can get sick because of going outside for some time.
If you don’t know your male dog is sick, it can affect the health of the mommy and puppies.
You’d better keep the mom and her newborn puppies far from the males until they are three weeks old. If your male dog is healthy and vaccinated, you can introduce him to his litter.
You can also let the male meet his female, but only if he’s neutered. It’s because females can be pregnant during nursing too.
So, if he’s not fixed, you need to keep him away until the puppies are weaned.
Later on, you can gradually introduce the puppies to their father. He will likely be curious, sniff, and even play with them.
Though he will not be so aggressive with the little one, you still need to watch out for the meetings.
It’s possible that the male is confused and jealous when he sees puppies around their mother, leading to some harmful actions. However, most chances are they can have a good relationship together.
Meanwhile, according to some studies, puppies are able to recognize their parents later if they are around during their early period.
Puppyhood is when they learn and develop, and with their memory, they can realize their owners, mothers, and siblings after a long separation.
Conclusion
A male dog behavior when female is pregnant is part of their instinct. The most common reaction is whining, showing they want to mate but can not.
The sound indicates they feel unpleasant and distressed.
In general, you can let the males play with the pregnant females for the first and second weeks of pregnancy and separate them in the final weeks.
However, make sure you keep an eye on how they interact with each other. If you see any signs of anxiety or discomfort from the female, isolate them to avoid further issues.
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next posts!
