Hi, My name is Bethany and I have the most beautiful puppy, her name is Samantha and she is 1 year and half. She is the baby of the house, but it seems my baby is all grown up and has decided to adopted a baby of her own earlier this week.

When I opened my door Tuesday after a quick vist to my mother's house my puupy like usual was standing there to greet me with kisses and all, but after she welcomed me in she quickly ran to my room where her bed is. I was a little supprised, because she would usually stay around and follow me for a little will when I come from outside. I decided to follow her into the room to see what was going on..... she was laying in her little bed with her yellow duckie that I had once gotten for her.
She was laying there as if she was protecting it or maybe keeping it warm or somthing. I really didn't give it to much thought at the moment three hours later and no sign of Sammy, then I got a little worried. I went to my room and there she was still laying in her bed with her yellow duckie.

I tried at that point to get Sammy to play with me a little, but it seemed she was way to interested in her yellow duckie to play with me. She has been this way ever since, She gets out of her bed with her duckie to find what she think is a better place to put the duckie in. She doesn't leave it alone for to long. She is very cautious in how she picks up the duckie and were she places it.

She is taking care of this toy duckie as if it she was it's mother and it is sweet to see how great of a mother she would be, but it wasn't till last night that I really got worried. She got into my bed last night of course with her duckie , she was trying to find a comfortable spot for it I guess and she began to get anxious,frustrated and even cried because, I think, she felt she couldn't find the perfect spot for her duckie.

I took the duckie away from her when she was resting and hide it, because at the moment I felt that she was sacraficing her own comfort and happiness to please and protect the duckie. This morning I gave it back to her and she has been the same way. Right now as I am typing she is lay on top of her blanket on my couch with her duckie taking a nap.

Sammy is my first dog and I really don't know why she is behaving this way.... Is it healthy or not?... Should I take the duckie away for good?

I hope that I could get some help form you all!!!
Thank You,
Bethany

Aw! I bet that's a cute picture :) I sound like a broken record (I tell a lot of new members this, lol) but if you have a digital camera, you can take pics of your pup and put them on www.dogster.com to share :) It sounds pretty normal to me. I would just watch for signs of object aggressiveness, where she will actually get angry if you take her toy. But as long as she is happy-go-lucky about it, I wouldn't worry too much. She probably just found her favorite toy. A lot of dogs will do this as it makes them feel more secure. She sounds like a cutie :)

Huntersmom~i totally agree it sounds really cute and take some pics but just make sure that our dog dont get too attached and get aggresive when you touch the ducky. My harvey is boy but he has his favourite toy (but sadly its no longer with us)
He was playing with it and it rolled into the fire and i wasn't quick enough to get it out..it was so funny but so sad whilst he lay there and watched it burn..he lay down put his head on his paws and sighed!..bless him he really loved that ball!!
But my mum found him another and hes happy again but to stop him getting too attached i have 2 sets of toys and rotate them every week and hes just as happy..but just to make him feel cosy he has one old his dads old work shirts to snuggle up to.
Twinkletoes U.K

You can call your vet to see if he thinks it is a hormonal imbalance. He may want to give her a shot.

If she is not altered she is having a false pregnancy. Happens in some bitches, and they don't always have to have phsyical signs to have a false pregnancy.

Take the duck away anyway and she will calm down in a few hours to a day.

IcyHound, That's what I did, because I was really getting worried. She really didn't want to do anything just to be around the duck, she would hold back from eating and didn't even seem to interested in taking a walk..... I'm going to call the vet and talk about this with a little more. I'm also think of spaying her sometime this month.

Thanks everyone!!

A friend of mine had a Dachshund that had several false pregnancies and he had to have her spayed. I would go ahead and call the vet like you are planning.

My dog whines when she is trying to find a place to hide a treat or part of a dental bone she did not finish. It is really cute.

Icyhound is very knowledgeable so you are right to check it out.

Let us know what you find out.

Usually when a dog does that, it means they want to have puppies.
I think that if you take away from her, she'll be really sad. She acts like that ducky is her son or daughter, so it would be like someone losing a child. But you may have to if this keeps up for another few weeks or so.

my aussie did this when she was about 9 months old but hers was a soft rubber squeaky dino. she would take it to bed and make sure it was close to her and in the morning it was the first thing she looked for. she would pick it up like she was affraid of hurting it. after about a week or two she just stopped like it never happened. good luck to you and your sweet little puppy.

No, don't take her baby away. One of my female schnayzers goes and gets one of her babies out of their toy box after she eats and carries it through the house whinning. She does this every nite and has for as long as I can remember. I just tell her "I see your baby" and she finally will lay it down after awhile. Talk about weird, now thats weird. We have never been able to figure that one out, unless she maybe wanted to have puppies.

Well I got rid of the duckie and she seems to be doing fine. We went for a nice walk today and we played a bit at home. I notice that she is less stressed and back to being herself again although at times I see her going back to the places were she use to put the duckie with hopes of finding it. Like I mentioned before my boyfriend and I are making plans of spaying her! I guess if she adopts another baby after being spayed I should allow her to keep it.

I feel relifeved to know that other puppies do this at time and that is some what normal.... because I was feeling a bit guilty .. I thought that maybe I wasn't giving her enough attention

Mandy has been spayed. I don't know if that would help or not even though she should be. But spaying has'nt helped mine. We go through the samething every nite. I just let her carry her baby and whine. She finally will put it down. I can pick it up ( her favorite is lamb chop) and say "are you going to let your baby eat" and put it down like it would be nursing her and she will get so mad. She will pick it up and just growl. I think I need to get her therapy!!!!!!HA