How soon after mating can you tell whether a dog is having puppies? Are there any obvious early signs?

Why are you breeding your dog when you obviously don't know what you are doing?

If you need to ask this question here it is a sign that you don't know anywhere near enough to be breeding.

Please go do some serious research on responsible breeding.

Start here:

http://learntobreed.com/

http://woodhavenlabs.com/breeding.html

http://dogplay.com/breeding/index.html

http://www.gomestic.com/Pets/So-You-Want-to-be-a-D...

http://www.21stcenturycares.org/qualbreed.htm

BYBer.

You should have done some research long before you bred. Then you would know the answer to your question. You need to get on the net & start your research so you won't be so ignorant about other issues. The more you know, the better. Go by Murphy's Law & expect every thing to go wrong. Know what can go wrong & what you can do about it.

Look up 'dog breeding' to start with & that will lead you to more research on specific issues. Learn all you can. Breeding dogs the right way is very expensive. I bet you didn't get either dog tested with all the tests necessary prior to breeding.

You are breeding a pet quality dog to another pet quality dog & both have messed up genetics & if you breed two dogs with the same defect (what ever) it will be compounded in the pups. Meaning the pups will be of lesser quality than either or both parents.

The majority of dogs in the pounds & shelters are pits & yes staffies. Dying by the thousands because people breed these dogs paying no heed to the genetics of the dogs. The dog turns out to be unhandle able & they are turned into the shelters & pounds. Thousands of bullies dying because they are unwanted. Now you are bringing more to be unwanted.

If you were experienced enough to be breeding any dog, you would know that the only person who can tell you whether your b**** is pregnant is your vet.

They would know by -

a) palpating

b) blood test

c) ultrasound

or d) spaying her and telling you afterwards whether there were any pups.

Even to an experienced breeder, the signs of psuedo(false)pregnancy can look very much like the real thing. This means that even if your b****'s nipples are larger, her abdomen larger and firmer, even if she produces milk, this doesn't automatically mean that she is pregnant.

Since your JRT had pups 6 months ago, you should be a knowledgeable breeder and know that you need to have health and genetic testing done, as well as an ultrasound done. Why not just ask your breed mentor?

There are NO reliable early signs of pregnancy, a fact which should have been second nature to you long before you ever decided to breed your pet

No. You are reading too much into her behavior. Take her in for an ultrasound at 30 days post mating.

when the nipple s of the dog gets bigger