Dog Pregnancy Stages

Most inexperienced dog owners or most people are actually unaware of how long a dog is pregnant or how long is the dog gestation period.



The gestation time in the female dog or the bitch is normally the time frame from when the first breeding occurs until the final birth of all the puppies. The dog pregnancy period for all of the dogs regardless of their size or even their breed, is usually 58 - 65 days.

Female Dog Heat Cycle

A female dog normally will mate from when she is said to be in estrus also known as being in heat. The complete cycle can be divided into largely four cycles which occurs about every six months. Although some of the breeds can have one to maybe three cycles in a year.



Normally, the female dog is said to reach puberty around the age that ranges from six up to twenty-four odd months. The bigger the breed of the dog, the older the dog will be prior to it reaching puberty. This can also hold true for a male dog. It is said that one should consider a female dog to be in estrus for about twenty-one days.



The four cycles of estrous are defined as the Proestrus, the Estrus, the Diestrus or the Anestrus. The first stage is from 4 to 9 days. This is when the male dog will evince interest but the female dog will not show any signs of being interested in mating. The female dog will have a kind of bloody discharge and will also show a few signs of swelling up. In the second phase which is for 4 to about 13 days, the female will now be interested and thus mating may occur. Conception is most likely to occur in the stage. Since this cycle is said to last for quite a few days it may be possible for the dog to breed multiple times. In the Diestrus stage the female dog will again not interested in the male dog. At this point the female may show signs of a false pregnancy. The dog may produce some milk; she may also swell up and may also show some signs of nesting behavior. In the final stage the stage is normally one of rest. Dog pregnancy stages are also similar. If the female has conceived then the dog pregnancy cycle is about 9 weeks time. Adequate pregnant dog care needs to be taken by the owners.