Is my cocker spaniel pregnant?

Question
QUESTION: I am so confused, I've went to thousands of sites, and of course have gotten thousands of answers.  My 2 1/2 yr old cocker 'Ebony' is nesting, has breast milk, and either wants to be right under me, or completely by herself.  Plus she is extremely lazy (we all know cockers are rather active)  She also has no appetite (I even made her hamburger, to see if something with a richer smell would entice her, to no avail)  She doesn't look any bigger, to where I should notice it (but I see her everyday, would I even notice a small weight change) ....My confusion is, some sites have stated these actions are early signs of pregnancy, and some have stated these signs will start right before delivery.  I honestly have never seen her go in heat, and she's an inside dog.  (I had a cocker growing up, and she left the evidence around the house, when she was in heat)  We also have a male cocker 'Perfect' who is 4 years old, and to my knowledge he was still wet behind the ears (virgin).  We have 3 dogs in total, also an elder lab/jack russel mix 'Lady' we adopted 5 years ago (but she was spayed) so long story short it's been awhile since I've seen a dog in heat.  Our dogs spend a lot of time together, supervised as well as not.  So it's a possibility that Perfect may have made Ebony his wife.  We had planned to breed Ebony, but once two years had passed by with no visible heat cycle, we just thought it wouldn't happen for whatever reason, and were happy with just having our 3 babies.  Yes they all go to the vet regularly, and they are all perfectly healthy, so I was never told she couldn't give birth, or that Perfect could be sterile.  But with having 3 dogs, you could imagine how expensive vet bills are, and can get.  I would rather know for sure before we go, to save any unnecessary fees.  With everything I've read about being pregnant ,and false pregnancies....the milk coming from her breast, is not explained.  Could the laziness, lethargy, increased need for more affection, increased want to be left alone, nesting, and leaky tits all be signs of a false pregnancy?  Could she even experience a false pregnancy with out going in heat? Would I definitely know when she goes in heat?  Do some dogs not visible bleed a lot when they go in heat?  Could she have been in heat, and cleaned herself so much, and so often that I didn't notice it? And if she is in fact pregnant are these early or late symptoms?  I know it's a lot of questions, but obviously from my story you see i need just a little bit of help here....

ANSWER: Hi Stephanie, firstly you have a problem whatever the outcome is, please dont ever presume just because you havent seen a sign of heat in your female that it hasent happened, some dogs leave no trace although its rare, you maybe should of noticed an enlarged vulva and maybe loss of appetite, but not always some females sail through it.
So you have two possibilities, she is either pregnant or she is having a phantom pregnancy.

If she is pregnant, her teats will become very pink large and leak milk, she maybe wont show any other symptons apart from wight gain this is usually in the last three weeks their sides seem to barrell out, and yes she will become lethargic, maybe vomit more, and will act slightly differently i.e more loving than she was before, more sloppy than usual, she could loose interest in food but only in the first couple of weeks after that she will eat more and will neem more.

However ALL these symptons can appear in a phantom pregnancy so without seeing her its very hard to diagnose.
My only advice is to take her to the vets as if you have your dogs interest at heart she will need a lot more care if she is pregnant, she will need a whelping box and as you dont know when she would be due you will need to get things prepared a lot quicker, she will need puupy food towards the end of her pregnancy as it contains higher nutrients and she will need more water to drink. I urge you to take her to the vets thats the only way of being sure, Also for future problems it may be advisable to have your male dog nutured that way you will never have this problem happen again and your dogs can play happily together without the risk of pregnancy.
Good Luck
Kathy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Would a dog who was actually pregnant mother inanimate objects?  If not, Eboni is in fact experiencing a false pregnancy (the new sympthoms started this morning).  And with all the new information I've learned through this process, how can I use this particular incident to detect her next heat cycle.  How long should I let her attachment to stuff toys go on, before it becomes to much of an emotional capsule around my Eboni?  Right now, I feel like it okay, and it might be soothing her emotionally.  How long could it go on, before it hurts her?

Answer
Stephanie Hi, sorry im a little confused as I answered you a question yesterday, what I need to know is are you now sure she is not pregnant, have you had this checked out if the answer is yes and she is definately NOT pregnant and experiencing a phantom pregnancy then this is what you should do, My Cocker Spaniel is three years old and has experienced 3 phantom pregnancies, this usually happens half way between seasons so this means her next season should be in three months time. It is very distressing for owner and dog and should be handled like this, firstly remove all toys or objects she is trying to mother, its all a game of constant distraction, the quicker you can snap her out of the phantom the better for her, some females can be really quite poorly, if you see her making a nest call her to you play with her give her a treat anything to distract her from doing this, obviously at night when she is alone you cannot do that but the best way is whenever you can take her mind off it, it seems cruel but its the best way its far kinder in the long run, we have to help get their hormones back to normal and treat her as you would any normal day, take her out keep her busy dont let her pine or clean a toy to death, this all just encourages the pregnancy hormone to kick in, it usually lasts about three weeks but you can reduce this by distraction, you may think that by letting her have a particular toy it is soothing her ITS NOT its just convincing her more and more that she actually is pregnant.
The phantom pregnancy will not hurt Ebony in any way, but she could become very distressed, and its also quite upsetting for the owner to see their little girl acting in this way when there is never going to be anything at the end of it, it may well be advisable to have her spayed after this which is what I have just done with my female as it can happen time and time again and once they are spayed that will stop it happening again.
I hope this helps your situation and hope Ebony is soon back to her normal happy self, any more questions please dont hesitate to ask.
Best Wishes
Kathy