I knwo this sounds odd but before we got our German Shepherd spayed, I worried she would lose her mothering instincts with her 3 month old pup. My dh told me it wouldn't happen that she would only lose the ability to nurse her pup but she would always be a mother to her pup.
Before spaying her, she was very playful and caring with her pup. When we fed them she would let her pup eat from her bowl because it was her child. She would calmly walk to the other bowl to eat instead. When we had another dog, she would growl at him and run him off. We no longer have that dog now...only mom and her pup. She just seemed very caring.
Since her spay procedure on Friday, she seems distant toward her pup. When the pup comes to play with her she ignores her or after the pup's gone too far she'll growl and/or snap at her pup. I find the pup playing by herself most of the time and she's starting to make holes and chew stuff. When we feed them and the pup starts eating from mom's bowl instead of her own, mom will growl and slap at the pup.
Its almost as if we went from having a mom and her pup to two dogs. Now dh is mad that he wishes someone would've told us about this, we would've waited a few more months before doing it. These are the only dogs we have so its not like we had to worry about other dogs.
I don't know, I feel bad for the pup.