ever heard of false or hormonal pregnancy in dogs?

[nagantguy]

I have heart of it in humans but didn't really believe it, heard of it in pigs but we just got a gut punch, or dog a great great Dog named Trixi, a treeing curr, should have had her litter a few days ago, the day of max time we took her to the vet cause she looked uncomfortable, nervous and her appite was off.
she had gained about 12 pounds, normal would have been between 14 and 16, her teets grew, swelled changed color and were lactating, she made a nest or burrow after trying several diffrence places settled on my garden shed so I build her a box, put down blankets and cedar shavings and she seemed pleased with it.
anyhow, there are no.puppies inside of her, never were. the vet said it is not that uncommon, as a matter of fact there was another couple.with their dog at the clinic same time as us, they just got the same news. my wife and daughter were upset, I felt likeep an idiot, this ever happen to anyone else? by the way she was indeed bred, twice at her peak time and everything a dog should do leading up to puppies she did,.

[Harter66]

I have a mut . We got her fixed and right on cycle she licked her belly bare .
I've never seen 1 do that either .
For reasons that are way above my pay grade in science, philosophy and biology to be able to explain i will say simply we should expect a lot more of this . I suspect it is induced cycling .

[dave524]

We had a Basset Hound as a kid 50 years ago that had a false pregnancy said the vet. Don't remember how much weight she gained but her teats were swollen and lactating, always looked like she had had a litter after that.

[montana_charlie]

by the way she was indeed bred, twice at her peak time and everything a dog should do leading up to puppies she did,.
She was just trying to do what you wanted her to do ...

[William Yanda]

50 years ago I heard of a similar situation with a Rhodesian Ridgeback. You are not the first.

[jsizemore]

I used to show Bouvier's. The U of F Vet school wanted to use my stud for a study on a procedure they were trying to develop.

A local breeder had a female dog that had been bred a couple times but hadn't produced a litter either time even though she went through the whole scenario you describe. She was examined at the school and found to have excessive tissue in her female parts that prevented sperm from making it to her eggs. After the procedure she was AI'd once and naturally bred the 2nd time and produced 6 pups the 1st time and 8 the 2nd.

I can't say if your girl has the same issue or is just young. The breeder that used my dog got $1000/pup back in the 80's and could afford the vet school fees to continue her breeding line.