Ask anyone who has a passion for dogs, and they will tell you that dogs can do some pretty incredible things. From being able to sniff out illness to be able to know when you are sad, dogs have pretty incredible empathy factors. However, one common claim is that a dog can tell when you are pregnant before you can. Is this true? Do dogs know when you are pregnant?
Dogs have rather incredible noses, and they are able to pick up scents that even the best human noise would never notice. They are also able to remember smells that go back years since they were first introduced; this is why dogs tend to have such a wonderful memory for what they like and dislike to eat.
When a human being falls pregnant, the hormones in their body go into flux. This can lead to various changes, including changes to your smell and scent. For some dogs, it is believed that they can notice the change in your scent long before we even really feel the pregnancy start.
However, it is important to note that this is mostly an anecdotal thing and there is no solid proof that dogs know when you are pregnant.
Do dogs know when you are pregnant?
Some dogs seem to pick up on this pretty quickly, but other dogs do not. It’s something that comes across as fact but would typically be very hard to prove in just about any typical setting or environment. We can’t exactly ask a dog. Given dogs have such powerful smell receptors, though, the idea that they could potentially smell out your pregnancy is not something that is totally fanciful.
However, we have absolutely no idea if this is truly the case. They can pick up changes in our smell and can react to this – that is why dogs are used for everything from bomb searches to drug-sniffing. They can elevate their sense of smell far beyond even the most smart-nosed human.
The thing to note, though, is that while your dog can pick up the scent of your pregnancy, they do not know what the change is. They simply know something has changed. So, your dog can sense something has adjusted – but they do not know that it is an incoming child. While others might disagree, most dog experts believe that the dogs can simply notice a change as opposed to what the change is.
It is, though, noted that dogs can perhaps note when it is something good or something bad. They can become more protective of a pregnant woman, and more defensive of someone who appears to be ill. Dogs tend to be more affectionate and empathetic when a pregnancy is sensed, so perhaps their noses can point out the change in some ways that they understand.
In terms of whether or not dogs know when you are pregnant, though, for most canines they simply know that your smell has changed. This is important to note, as many believe their dogs are child-whisperers. As nice an idea as that may be, it’s not really something that bears out in reality.