Walking a bitch in season?

[firstpost]

Hello,

Had lots of conflicting advice about this. My 17 month old lab is in her second season. My family say she should be kept indoors for a fortnight, but my vet says it's fine and actually necessary to walk her but be careful to avoid unknown dogs and keep her on the lead.

The idea of being cooped up with her for a fortnight not walked is frightening :) She starts cat chasing and chewing the furniture if she has an afternoon walk instead of a morning one!

Equally I am pregnant, have a toddler, there is still snow on the ground and all that makes me worry I couldnt fend off any unwanted advances.

So, what is the best thing to do? TIA

I usually walk mine at unsocial hours in unsocial places when she's in season. Could you find anyone you'd trust to walk her for you?

You can get doggy pants but mine pulled hers off and you have to be very quick to get the off before they do their business

Definitely keep her on the lead.

Could you play fetch in the garden a lot to keep her from becoming hyper? Or do some other high energy thing?

We don't not walk our when she is in season, but we do keep her on a lead.

She is 6 now and I don't think we've ever had a problem with a nother dog we've encountered when out and about (probably as they've all also been on a lead).

Playing fetch in the garden is a good idea to burn a bit of excess energy off.

We have a nearly 4 year old very hyper girl, we walk her when she's in season, off the lead. But our local park isn't very busy with other dog owners, in all the time we've had her we've only had one other dog interested in her and we made her sit until we got to her, worked a treat!

Thanks everyone, really good to get a picture of what others do..,.

I am an army wife so unfortunately what that means at the moment is absent husband, no local friends and a garden the size of a postage stamp :)

Still, I have a dog walker that I have used for when I cannot get out, he is a big burly guy so I will use him when he is available (wasnt sure if I was being irresponsible even thinking of asking him to walk her during this time)

Like the idea of pants! One of the websites I looked at suggested cupping her genitals if another dog approached and I really didnt fancy doing that

My FIL was disgusted that we walked her during her first season and planted the idea that absolutely noone does, so good to hear he is wrong.