Lost dog

Question
Hello! I live in the middle of the woods and last night we came home to about 4 hunting dogs on our land. Although we do not allow people to hunt on our land I do know the people around us do allow it on their land. These dogs had no tags or anything. The mom of them all (i'm guessing) came right up to me. She looks mostly like a bassit/beagle mix. BEAUTIFUL girl, and sweet as can be. She just took up to my front poarch and stayed there. I figured someone would be showing up last night or today looking for there dog...no show. So no colar, no owner, and she acts like she's already home...I'm going to let her stay. The question I have for you is how to tell if she's pregnate? I keep telling my boyfriend that she is either old with authritis or she's pregnate. The only reason I say that is because she waddles. She has a swelled abdomen and her tits are saggy (that may be because of her breeding before or something too i never know.) Do you think people would use a pregnate girl to hunt? I can tell she's been used alot as for hunting and her belly is rubbed raw..I deffantly think she'll live a better life here anyways. I'm just scared that she's pregnate. Thanks so much for your help!

Answer
The methods of pregnancy confirmation involve a trip to your veterinarian.  The first is palpation, actually feeling for the fetuses which can be done as early as 3 weeks into the pregnancy.  The most reliable method is echogram, whereby the detection of fetal heartbeats can be used to determine the number of puppies.  X-ray can also be used but is not considered safe until 7 weeks into the pregnancy so I would be hesitant to suggest this method as there would be no way to tell of a breeding date.

I hope this helps.  Best of luck with her.