Pup's first season- not sure what to expect?

[SirVixofVixHall]

Not dealt with this before, as I've only had dogs not bitches. She is 13 months old, has been bleeding for a couple of weeks-ish maybe a bit longer. That is subsiding now, she still has a discharge but it is less strongly red. she possibly looks less swollen up than she did. She is also trying to mount me! How long does it all last? We are being careful on walks and it will be nice to let her run free again without having to wait to check what the status is of any dog that may be nearby. Usually walk her on the beach so it is easy to spot dogs in the distance. We are going to have her spayed (am dreading it though) but our vet wants to wait until after this season, and when she is fully grown, so a few months time. How traumatic is spaying?

bumping..

Watching with interest.
I asked the vet a few weeks back about my 15 week old and they've recommended we let her go through one season as well.
The only thing is we don't know her breed as she was abandoned with her litter so don't know if she'll be early in season or later like large dogs.
Vet reckons as an adult she'll be 25-30 kilos so some kind of medium sized gal :)

Watching too... Pup is 5 months and we've been told to wait til after her first season to spay her. I'm in a similar postion to Carbe, we don't know for sure what her breeding is but we think Ridgeback mix, so she'll probably getting on for 30 kilos.

She has pretty much stopped bleeding but I think she is probably at her most fertile now. eeek! We are being really careful. It is surprisingly stressful as it goes on for so long. For some reason I thought it lasted a week or so but someone told me a month (?) She has a heart condition and must not have pups even if we wanted them, it would be bad for her and bad for the puppies as the vet said she could pass it on. I thought we might leave her intact because of the heart problem, I don't want to put her through non-esssential surgery. But having asked about the risks of leaving her unspayed I think we will have her done, friends bitch has just died from a mammary tumour, and another's from pyometra. Seems as though spaying is sensible, but I am worrying about the surgery as well as getting her through this season. She plays with wolves, first gen wolf crosses, and the male was a concern but he has had a vasectomy, so although he is intact he can't breed. phew.
How do you know when it is all over and she is safe to mix freely with dogs?

Thehoho- I like ridgeback bitches, they are real characters.

I think it is roughly 3-4 weeks but as far as I'm aware - day 12 to 18 after bleeding starts is the most fertile time, especially when the bleeding stops as it means ovulation has occurred. Their eggs can survive for something like 5 days and the rest of the time is just the cycle coming to an end.

Fwiw - in your shoes I'd do the same if the vet can reassure you about the surgery.
My ddog from childhood wasn't spayed and it was fine when she was a pup as she didn't understand and wasn't really interested but once she became an adult it was as if she knew she should be out there. She's take any opportunity to sneak out and run, even when you thought it impossible. She couldn't go for walks because she'd be rubbing her bum in other dogs faces :) We had to stand guard when she went to the loo in the garden and shoo away the males trying to get to her = NIGHTMARE. We had 2 sets of puppies which resulted from her escapes and although lovely were hard work and it was sad for us kids when they went to new homes.

Thanks for the advice. It does sound hellish! I want to have her spayed, we wouldn't want pups even if she had no heart issues, and the health risks of not spaying are pretty bad. I am worried about the surgery, she may need to go to a specialist practice to have it done. I think she must be at peak point now then going by that timescale. She hasn't been running off, she has been rather more obedient and clingy than normal, but as you say Carbe, she might do that next time, other people have mentioned that as a problem. We are going to chat again with the vet when her season is over, and make a plan. I would think she will need doing in four or five months. (13m now). How often do they have seasons? I am so clueless, as although I have had several dogs this is the first time I have dealt with seasons. How will we know when it is over? Just allow another week?

They go in heat every 6 months I think. Clingy is probably to do with her being in season, I'm sure I've read it's because of hormones.

I think if you give until day 21 after the bleeding started - it should be more or less over then I think, maybe give another few days.

Your vet will explain it all much better about when she can safely be done in her cycles. Make a note of dates bleeding started, changing colour, her behaviour and anything else you can think of then the vet will have a pretty clear idea of this season.

Dh has mentioned breeding but it's an absolute no chance from me. A) dpup is not, as far as we know, a pedigree and B) I don't want to put her through it.
So she'll be getting done after her first season too.

It's good that they have a specialist place - I'm imagining something like high dependency unit maybe with vets experienced in heart probs.
They'll have done it before on many other dogs and like I said up thread, in your shoes I'd do the same.

She'll have to go to Bristol possibly for the specialist. (We are W. Wales). But worth it if she needs extra care. She has been there before.