Phantom mothering instinct?

[lmobie]

A curious thing happened with my 20 month old bitch recently. I bought her a small rubber squeaky toy--a dog house with a dog's head peeping out. Instead of trying to chew it to bits at usual, she started treating it like a puppy. She carried it everywhere, hid behind furniture with it, whimpered all the time, and got very anxious if we took it away. I did eventually take it away permanently, as she was getting quite stressed. She's been in heat twice, never had pups, and is not currently in heat. Any thoughts on this odd behaviour? Thanks!

[looking4bones]

Perhaps this behavior has nothing to do with your dog's heat cycle, or the fact that she has not yet had a litter of puppies. Maybe she just really loved that particular toy?! I have seen plenty of dogs pick a favourite toy that they carry with them all of the time. I know of a Bichon that carries different toys depending on her mood e.g. if she is really exicted she favors one particular toy, and if she is feeling down she will carry around another toy. If your dog was starting to stress out when separated from her toy, then it's probably a good thing that you removed it. Maybe she just needs to have lots of toys to choose from, and then she might not be as likely to favor a particular one?

[lmobie]

Possibly, but she definitely treated this toy differently than she's treated any of her other toys. She was stressed even when carrying the toy around. Perhaps if I offer several new toys at once? Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.