A soon-to-be mom has melted hearts on social media after sharing the heartwarming story of how her miniature dachshund informed her that she was pregnant.
In a post shared on TikTok in August, user @Sydneymichellebenson explained that after noticing her dog had started cuddling with her in a strange new position, she began thinking maybe he knew something she didn't. This turned out to be true.
A caption posted alongside the clip explained: "How I realized I was pregnant. One day our mini dachshund just started laying on my lower stomach in a really specific way. He had never done this before and suddenly was doing it all the time. After the 4th or 5th time, I was finally like... maybe I should take a pregnancy test. Sure enough, Freddie knew I was three weeks pregnant. Every day since he has insisted on laying directly on top of the [baby].
"We call him the baby protector, because he's always watching over the baby. Since then, my stomach has grown and it's become more uncomfortable for him to lay on me, so now he's learning how to be ok cuddling next to the [baby]. But that's how my dog told me I was preggo."
As explained by the American Kennel Club, dogs can tell that you're pregnant. When a person is pregnant, the hormones in their body are likely to alter their scent in some way. As dogs have 60 times as many smell receptors as humans, and 40 times as much brainpower dedicated to smell, they can tell pregnancy before their owner even knows.
"Because a huge part of a dog's brain is devoted to analyzing odors, dogs are able to pick up on different scents resulting from chemical changes, cancer, insulin levels, bombs, drugs, a person's menstrual cycle, and even pregnancy," the AKC website read.
Sydneymichellebenson's video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 584,000 views and 70,000 likes on the platform.
One user, Autumn Nicole Treanor, commented: "I realized I was pregnant when I couldn't stop gagging uncontrollably taking out the trash. This is much cuter." And Jade Robertson said: "If it wasn't for my dachshund my son wouldn't be here, listen to your dogs ladies."
Chloe Louise added: "My cats started doing this!!!! A couple days later I got my positive test. I'm due in April and the cats are still doing it now."
Newsweek reached out to Sydneymichellebenson for comment via email. We could not verify the details of the case.
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