Maternal Instinct in Dogs??

My dog was spayed early at 4 months so has never had a litter or grown up around puppies.

When my new puppy arrives will her maternal instinct still kick in naturally?...like if he was crying in middle of night cos missing his mum and litter mates first night..will she naturally know what to do?

I'm just hoping she'll at least wake me up as she would for any other sound, (in case it was bathroom he was needing) but it be nice to wake up to find she had gone to lie next to him to comfort him.

 

I imagine it varies. We have a foster dog that came to us at 6 moths and he really loves the comfort of being snuggled up next to other dogs - he makes a bee line for Rosie, the only girl, the biggest and the fluffiest but she just finds the attention annoying. Ringo, my little male terrier, who doesn't tolerate fools under normal circumstances is the one who is happy to snuggle up to the newbie and put up with his clumsy, tactile behaviour.

I might be wrong, but if a neutered dog is technically "sexless" I doubt they have the hormones required to be specifically maternal, so I guess it would depend totally on personality?

 

ok Thanks. She can definitely tell the difference between a young puppy and a small breed adult or even when we been in park and the puppy is larger than the small breed dog with it (but much younger)

She doesn't like it when dogs are too much in her face, but she doesn't growl at puppies. We saw a friend today whose collie is now 1yrs old and was trying to kiss Inca's face, she backed away but didn't growl at her.

Inca's usually more interested in getting a fuss off the owners, she's definitely more of a people person than dog person! ... but she doesn't live with any of those full time so has never had opportunity to bond with another dog so closely before.