Any advice or experience with a dog 'in heat'

[3luckystars]

I would be really grateful for any advice.

(Lets pretend I am a complete idiot)
(Because I am)
Our dog is 8 months old and is a havanese. (A bichon sized silky, poofy type dog)

She has been vomitting a bit over the last few weeks, first time i brought her to the vet and he gave her an injection and medicine, he said to leave it until her adult teeth came in to get her neutered.

So this helped and she was fine for a few weeks but last week she started vomiting again, i brought her straight back to the vet and she got 2 injections but he said that if it happens again that she will definitely need further tests on her stomach.

Anyway the next day she started dripping drops of blood. So she is now in heat then or due to be in the next few days. I am very inexperienced with this so would appreciate any advice.

Can i take her for a walk at all during this time?
How will I know when it is over and she is safe again to go out as normal?

Am i being very silly thinking that this bleeding could have made her stomach sick too or do all puppies get sick sometimes?
I have another question too about the length of walks she should be getting but was a bit afraid to ask here.

Thanks for reading all this and if you have any experience with this or advice, i would be really grateful. Thanks a million.

[3luckystars]

(I have been bringing her on just 20 to 30 minute walks because i had several warnings by other dog owners not to overdo it while she is young.)

(And here is a few more brackets) (sorry i used so many in my first post) (haha)

[User12879923378]

I don't know about length of walk for her, but with any dog on heat you should walk her only on the lead, only at times when other dogs are unlikely to be around, and only in areas where she is very unlikely to encounter dogs off the lead if there are dogs.

[User12879923378]

Sorry - I would also ring the vet and tell him she's in season if you haven't already in case it makes a difference to his diagnosis.

[3luckystars]

Ok thank you. I always have her on the lead but was thinking how lousy it would be without a walk for 3 weeks.

Also I have discovered that it is 'on heat'.
Sorry about that.

[Whisky2014]

Lead only walking. Nice cuddles. And i take a pair of old big pants cut a hole in the bum bit and thread tail through so the pants catch the blood rather than carpet.

[WeeMadArthur]

I think you need to be careful about walking her for a couple of weeks after the bleeding stops as well. The vets will need to know the exact dates she went into heat and stopped bleeding so that they can work out the best time to perform the neutering, I think it needs to be halfway between this and the next heat.

[Ethel80]

We didn't take ours out at all when she was on heat, even for lead walks. You really don't want a situation where you're trying to get horny dogs off yours!

We had a woman who used to walk hers when she was on heat and she'd get really shitty with us if our (neutered) dogs went any where near hers. Don't take her out then!

[pennysays]

We take ours out but keep a close eye on them and try to do it at quiet times. IME there are a few days in the two weeks that they're REALLY unmanageable and I find random dogs putting their nose through the letter box!

[Ylvamoon]

You can take her out for lead walking. The sensible thing is to avoid any areas where dogs are off lead. So it's probably time to explore the neighbourhood a bit more.
Also, while she is having (dark) red discharge, she can't get pregnant it's more a way of advertising.. it's when it turns a light pink that she is most fertile... and this stage can last up to 15 days ....

[mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork]

My dog always wanted to walk MORE when on heat (searching for young lovers). She was also completely nuts for the entire time (went on about 2 weeks). When I was a child, it was usual for people with bitches on heat to carry a stick to fend off amorous male dogs if they should come too close. I still think that's a good idea (you don't actually have to hit them). You can buy a "bitch spray" online that is supposed to mask her odour a bit that helps. Also, since I brought my Greek dog back here years ago, we both discovered that most UK dogs have been neutered and were totally uninterested in her (she was quite miffed as we were used to having 7 or so dogs camped out on our doorstep for 2 weeks at a time, even in snowstorms, back in Greece, howling their love).

[Wolfiefan]

On lead and away from other dogs is fine. You can also hire safe and secure fields to let your dog off lead for a play. Check they allow bitches in season.
Season is likely to last about three weeks.
Watch for phantom pregnancy after season.
And for pyrometra until spayed.
Tell vets she’s in season. They will want to time her spaying carefully in between seasons.
Best not to put pants on. The bitch will want to clean herself and should be able to.

[Lucisky]

I walk mine on the lead when on heat, but I rarely meet other dogs, so not a problem. They are usually on for about 3 weeks. Mine becomes very moody - doesn't really want to play etc. Re the dripping; I just cover a lot of stuff up with cheap fleece throws, which are easy to wash, and keep the mop handy. Beware of getting blobbed on if she sits on your knee. Mine is being spayed in January. She's just turned 2.

[KOKOagainandagain]

I never walked my bitches whilst on heat having seen the effect on my neutered male dogs when they encountered urine from absent bitches on heat.

Off lead they are selectively deaf 'man on a mission' over the hill and far away.

On lead they are equally selectively deaf 'man on a mission' pulling me through bushes and mud - powerful equal weight (I am skinny) Doberman that has been trained to normally walk on a loose lead with distraction.

[spot102]

My dog would have gone loopy with no walk for 3 weeks - as I suspect would most. But do be careful - as pp said, on lead and away from other dogs. Wouldn't go to the local dog park for instance. Be aware of effect on other (male) dogs, we collected a stray once due to him following our just-off season bitch home!

Also ours used to get terrific phantom pregnancies afterwards - lots of nesting in dark corners and grumpiness. She lactated for ages as well, not sure how normal that is, but obviously can and does happen, may not happen to yours! However she was very clean, we never got more than a couple of blood spots. But they're all different. . . .

[CollyWombles]

My girl has just finished her first heat. If you do walk her, drive her if possible to where you are going to walk her and drive home again. This is because male dogs will follow her scent right to your front door! I didn't walk my girl, I have a huge garden so did a lot of fetch etc instead.

The first week is usually bleeding, second week she will be most fertile, third week she will slowly come out of heat. The average heat is 21 days.

She may be clingy, whine a lot, want lots of attention or even be a little aggressive during her heat. Lots of patience and maybe enclose her in a room she is comfortable in with hard flooring for the blood.