hi can anybody please help we have a newfoundland girl who is just under 14months old, she had her first season which ended the day before her 1st birthday which is now 55 days ago. Since then there has been a change in her behavior she has become possessive over her ball when around other dogs, also if treats are involved from me or the other dogs owners she will lunge for the other dogs, she has gone off food. She will not eat her meals no mater what you give her, she spits out her biscuits and eats a minimal amount of what is mixed in or not eat anything at all. She was at the vets 2 weeks ago as she had a bad stomach, she had medication for a touch of colitis. Also she is just walking around randomly whimpering for no reason at all, we are certain she is in no pain. She is also nesting with her bedding, and licking her toys tenderly. This is so out of character.
Any ideas anybody???? Please help. Thanks

Typical phantom pregnancy.  She will probably go on to make milk too, bless her.

The jolly hocky sticks approach is recommended.  It's so easy to feel sorry for them, and make things worse.  So, remove all toys, reduce her food and up the exercise.  Sounds hard I know, but she will come out of it much more quickly.  And it is wisest to try this approach before considering Galastop.

hi jean thanks for the reply will try this from tommorow,what is galastop??

>what is galastop??

It's an expensive drug used to dry up a bitches milk.  My own vet tonight told me that it would cost around £30.  I don't begrudge spending money on my dogs, but he said that if I could get her milk to dry up naturally, he would prefer it.

Sods law really!   I only took her in to be checked over, as I was booking her in for a spay!  He won't operate because she is full of milk.  I felt a bit sheepish that I hadn't checked before I took her.  :-o
Durrrrr!

Are you 100% sure she couldn't have been bred? If so then I totally agree that it sounds like a phantom, if there was any possibility she could have been with a male dog then I think you would be at her due date by now?

it has been exactly 9 weeks since my bitches last season and she became down in the dumps, would not eat,lay about all day as though she was depressed , so we did plenty of walks , still went to training and at times i thought about just giving up on her and let her have her way but i perserveared with her and in the last 3 days she has started to become herself again she is playing with the other dogs her training for agility has come on in leaps and bounds she is enjoying life again being naughty she did not produce any milk but when i spoke to my vet about it as i was worried in the beginning he told me not to let her nest, not to let her take her toys and mother them and to get her out and about and doing things to take her mind off the phantom and this is what exactly what we did, we upped the exercise, we did more things with her than normal, and she does agility training three times a week and flyball and ringcraft but it has taken 9 weeks nearly 55 days for her to come back to herself.

Agree with Jean, a total "jolly hockey sticks approach" , no fussing over her.Remove toys, up her exercise, try to take her mind off her " babies" My first girl went into the wardrobe and we had to forceably pull her out as she had given birth to a doggy discus and a yellow rubber bone......

Her behaviour will be odd as she thinks she has had a happy event! I think that once they have a phantom then they appear to be more prone in the future. I would contact Dorwest and ask if there is a natural approach to this (I think it's respberry leaf but don't quote me!)

Good Luck, she will return to normal ( whatever that is :)  ) soon.  

Do you have any other dogs?

I ask because one of my dog training clients has this problem and was perplexed...until I asked if she had another dog..."only her brother" :-)

No!!! You're kidding?!

Sadly No :-(