Is it normal for a dog to become aggressive after birth?

I know I am a bit late with this one but yes it is normal as she is already protecting her Puppies and she does get worse after the Birth as Dogs are very protective over their Puppies. But no doubt you will have found this out by now lol.

Shes doing what every MOTHER does.. being protective. Its normal and she needs her space.. giver her time shes only JUST given birth and she has people pryin over her Babies.. Id be snappy too if it were me.

I always heard that female dogs become aggressive after having puppies. That's why alot of people choose to spay their dog if they are not going to breed them.

well, yes, i think so. its a natural thing for dogs to be agressive to protect their little ones. its kinda survival thing, the need to protect their youngs.

Sounds like she's acting like a typical doggy mom. She doesn't want anyone going near her babies. Give her time and she will slowly calm down and won't care if anyone picks them up. My beagle was the same way with her pups, but once they got around 6 wks, she could have cared less. I bet they are so cute.

Since you just adopted her, do you know if she had puppies before? It may be that if she did, she or they were mistreated. Not all animal mothers are aggressive after giving birth. I do not think it is just a Border collie thing either. But Border collies are highly intelligent and very sensitive. Just be slow, careful, and talk to the dogs about what you are doing. You will be suprised at what they understand.

Probably the reason your dog snapped the day before she gave birth was the mothering instinct coming out in her ... now that she has had the puppies she will still be the same ... but once she realises that nobody will harm her she will settle down to being a nice pet ..... as long as she doesn't think anyone is threatening her babies that is. Pretty normal .... some humans are just the same when it comes to protecting their babies. If you got her from the pound you do not know how she was treated in the past .... that might be why she is so protective now.

Border collies are herding dogs and will snap or nip at people to try to herd them .Mother dogs well be very protective you should not allow more then at most two people around her at a time other wise she well feel she cann't watch every one and protect her pups .She has only known you two weeks she is not going to trust you completely yet so taking your time is a most remember dogs have feelings too . You need to go in there just one person maybe your son with out the gf and take time to talk to her maybe feed her some special treats like a bit of string cheese but not try to get the pups at firs then after a few times then slowly try to pet them not try grab one yet after a few days then try to slowly left one up while in baby talk talking to the mother and giving her treats . Try to move slow forcing her well make things worce her trust in you well drop .

Ohhh Yes!!! She is just trying to protect her babies. Most new mothers (even humans) snap at people when you try to take their babies, lol. However, you have only had the dog 2 weeks??? I would be very very careful then, and maybe even seperate her from the family until she realizes that you aren't trying to hurt her or the pups....until you know her better. You don't know what's happened to her in the past... Good Luck!

Yes - While not all new mothers will react that way - some do. They'll want to make sure they don't overwhelm her, perhaps only one of them in with the mum and pups at a time for a few days. Until she gets used to the idea that no one is going to harm them. It may last a couple of weeks but they will want to get her used to others being around, 'specially if they plan on selling the pups as they may have lots of different people coming and going.

Yes, dogs are also protective to their young thats why. they thought you would harm their young. It will normalise in time.

OMG, they have just given birht and are under stress, keep the kid away from the mom/pups. How much did you want to be missed with after giving birth, did you want kids all over your baby, she doesn't either, very normal give her some peace and quiet

yes it is she is just protecting her pups my mates dog was very bad for the first month or so then it got alot better and more relaxed hope it dosnt last to long

Female dogs with puppies are very protective and will bite if they feel the puppy is in danger. Sometimes they will just bite because they feel like it when the puppies are around. The best thing to do is when she goes out to the bathroom pick them up before you let her back in and then let her see that you are not hurting them and give them back to her right away. Usually they won't bite when you are just returning the puppies to her.

My parents boxer just had puppies last night and she is a little snippy today but that I understand she is protecting her babies. However she let my 4 year old sit right beside her and the puppies but when I walked in she growled at me. I had a boxer that had puppies and she was the same way but after the puppies were walking around she was back to her friendly self and still is.

Well I guess its normal for a puppy to be aggressive. It's there nature to be wild if they are not yet tamed by their owners.

I understand about your son's dog moreso than what happened with yours. Any mother dog would feel protective of her puppies. But it's strange that your dog continued to be aggressive even long after the pups were grown. I guess that she just got that instinct to be wary of people for her pup's safety, and it never went away. I hope that your son's dog will seem more her normal self after her pups grow a bit older! ^_^

It might also be part of the fact that she's only gotten to know everyone for a few weeks, especially while nursing, so that trust levels not up there when concerning her pups. It's also hormones lol. I would also make sure that only the person the dog does best with is around for the time being to keep calm and in check, if she seems overly aggressive.

i think the mother is trying to protect her pups. her agressive nature is showing because she now has her pups and it is only nature doing this. the dog that snapped at a child the day before birth probably was not feeling well at the time. after all, if you had a newborn baby, would you let just anyone near it, or people hand it. new pups are as fragile as human babies...probably more so. i am an animal lover, and i will always try to understand them. i feel that animals are very expressive and very emmotional and we owe it to them to treat them well and try to understand them.