Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Bitch in season

29 replies

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 25/03/2015 21:44

How do you handle it? No walks for three weeks or walks on the lead in safe areas? Our girl has just started her first season and I am dreading three weeks of being at home with her.

OP posts:

EdYouKateShaun · 25/03/2015 21:47

I have a small dog so I can lift her up if necessary but for approx 3 weeks is the garden or very secluded areas for walks. It's a nightmare but I wouldn't feel comfortable doing anything else.

Buttholelane · 25/03/2015 21:58

No walks for the full four weeks.
She never seems to mind.

CandyAppleFudge · 26/03/2015 10:02

Before we got ours spayed she used to get short on lead walks early in the morning and late at night either by the road or quiet places. Never had a problem

LokiBuddyBoo1 · 26/03/2015 10:56

Try onlead walks in areas you know there aren't too many other dogs and do the walks early in the morning and late at night if you can avoid walking at peak times when other people will be walking their dogs. Also if in garden make sure she's suppervised as male dogs are very persistent once they have the scent of a bitch in heat.

Original poster

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 26/03/2015 10:59

We're quite lucky as we are rural, we've got a couple of riverbank walks near us where I never see another person so am going to take her there later as she's already looking longingly out of the windows and huffing when she sits back down. Thank goodness we only have to go through this once.

OP posts:

dotdotdotmustdash · 26/03/2015 17:00

I'm in the same position with our little girl dog. We already have a neutered male and we got the little one from a Freead on Gumtree at Christmas (because I hated the thought of a collie going to a random home). We arranged with the vet for her to be spayed 3 months after her next season and she's currently in the middle of her season.

She's not very happy in herself at the moment. She doesn't want to play with our other dog and she's not terribly interested in walks, other than to pee everywhere. I take her out in the morning at at night on a deserted and barricaded old roadway where I know we are unlikely to meet other dogs and if they did appear I would see them long before they reached us.

I don't plan to ever had a dog in season again!

CarbeDiem · 28/03/2015 20:01

I'm dreading this too OP - I live in a place with lots and lots of other dogs. I'm also in an apartment with no garden she can toilet in so I'm going to have to take her out.
The majority of these dogs are off lead so I can only imagine that there will be a few situations where I have to pick her up with a male dog attempting to jump up and get to her :(
I only plan to go through it once too, thank the lord.

Original poster

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 29/03/2015 22:27

Today I am mainly glad for laminate flooring and large outside spaces where a bitch on heat can run free.

This will be her first and only season

OP posts:

CarbeDiem · 30/03/2015 14:53

Can I ask any of those who've gone through it before - is the first time bad? I've read conflicting info about it. From saying I'll more notice her mood changes/different behaviour than I will any bleeding to something else saying there'll be a lot of blood. Or is it a case of all dogs are different?
I don't remember my previous bitch's first time, I was too young to notice.

Buttholelane · 30/03/2015 19:05

I don't notice any behavioural change whatsoever really, except when she was just coming in once and I didn't realise and a male gsd kept following her, she did get a bit air snappy.

However, an hour or so earlier she had been involved in an unpleasant incident with some cretins out of control, vicious dogs so could be that more so.

She doesn't bleed that much, a few drops spattered across the floor and sofa as she moves about or if she's been asleep a while but just a few drops really, no trails or puddles.

dotdotdotmustdash · 30/03/2015 20:08

My dog has been dropping spots of blood for the past week, luckily we are mainly hard flooring downstairs and she cleans them up with her tongue! Yuck!

CarbeDiem · 30/03/2015 21:13

Thanks both for the reply to my question about the bleeding. That doesn't sound so bad. I had visions of it being quite heavy.

Ahh Dotdot - at least she's saving you the job. Bleurgh! :)

Do many owners of male dogs get them done too? Is it like cats where there's some good reason to have them castrated? I'm totally clueless.
I ask because I'm already quite scared about when her season does come and how I'm going to avoid males.

Original poster

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 30/03/2015 21:27

The only real clue with our girl's temperament was some raised hackles when she greeted some dogs she is usually OK with and it's only in retrospect that I realised there was a small change in her demeanour. The bleeding is more like spotting.

We had our old male dog castrated when he was about 18 months old and all of my friends with boys have them castrated too (except for one and she owns a young male who isn't a year old yet).

OP posts:

dotdotdotmustdash · 30/03/2015 23:33

My boy (and my previous boy) were both castrated by their respective rescues. There has never been any lampost-piddling or annoying other dogs. Both boys do (and did) squat to pee a few times a day. Simples!

welshpixie · 31/03/2015 07:53

Our DDog has never been spayed for various reasons. She has become easier to deal with as she has got older, there has never been much blood maybe 1 or 2 spots when she first starts then she cleans up after herself. This last season there was no blood at all and the only sign was to check if her vulva was swollen.
She does go off her food for a week before her season and then is ravenous after it finishes. We always walk her on a short lead and vary our route so that we avoid the 2 intact males on our normal route. (1 is an old engish sheepdog and our mutt is a dachsund cross)
HTH

CarbeDiem · 31/03/2015 08:39

Thanks for the info and sorry for your thread hijack OP.

I hope the males here are done then, I'll soon find out no doubt.
Another stupid question if I may :)
Do girls in their first season know what to do? Will she allow the males to come near her with her tail up and bum out or because she'll still be young, will she be thinking WTF? and not want them near her? She doesn't like it now when a dog is too pushy and wants to have a good sniff of her and often sits herself down so they can't continue.

Original poster

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 31/03/2015 12:24

Mine appeared quite confused when she got some unwarranted attention the day before her season started, in retrospect she must've been giving off some hormones as a dog she usually plays with nicely and another young male both showed extra interest in her rear end. Her hackles went up and she tried to snap at them which she never usually does but as my dog's mum was pregnant at the age of 10 months I am assuming that the hormone drive would take over and she knows exactly what to do. I will be very glad when I can book her in for her spay.

OP posts:

CarbeDiem · 31/03/2015 13:49

Oh no pregnant at 10 months kind of shows that they must know what to do. Isn't that dangerous so young?
Damn it! I was hoping she'd not allow them to get too close.

Yes, I'll be glad once it's happened and over with too for exactly the same reason.

There should be some kind of oral contraception for dogs shouldn't there? If you don't want them to have a season and get pregnant then they could just go on the pill, like we do - I realise I'm over simplifying it but still..... :)

Original poster

hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman · 31/03/2015 14:28

There is a morning after pill for dogs in the worst case scenario and there is a contraceptive pill for dogs but I understand the risks are high and it is not considered to be a realistic alternative to spaying.

OP posts:

SirVixofVixHall · 31/03/2015 15:04

My dog had her first season a few months ago, and actually there was more blood than I imagined there would be (I'd never had a bitch in season before). She also put on weight as she was very hungry, and she was more lethargic and grumpy. She is back to her very slender bouncy self now, and it being spayed soon. She has a heart problem so has to go to a different vet quite far away for the surgery, which I am dreading. It will be keyhole, so hopefully she will recover pretty quickly.

CarbeDiem · 31/03/2015 16:51

Oh I never realised that it already existed, I was joking. You learn something new .....

Aww Sir, I'd be worried too but sure she'll be fine if it's a specialist vet.

Ddog has been off her food the last few days but I suspect it's more kong related - she isn't inhaling it from her bowl like usual but will eat the majority of it if I put what's left in her new kong.
She's been very sleepy the last few days but again it can be put down to her just maturing a bit more because normally she only catnaps in the day as she's too terrified she'll miss something.
Nothing unusual with her lady bits so far so I'll just keep my eyes open.

BabyGanoush · 31/03/2015 16:57

I walked mine on a short lead at quiet time of day.

She was quite needy and whiney the day before it started.... Doggy PMT

HoraceCope · 31/03/2015 19:04

mine was spayed after one season. It was such hard work, lead walking, and not too much mess as first season, but it was a decider

SirVixofVixHall · 31/03/2015 22:46

The decider for me has been two dogs I knew well dying far too early, one of mammary tumours and the other pyometra. The incidence of pyometra seems quite high, and as Vixdog has a heart problem, I really really don't want a situation where she needs an emergency hysterectomy. I don't madly want her to have any non-essential surgery, so we have weighed up the spaying issue over the last few months, but I think it is the best option. Hopefully it will get done this month.

SirVixofVixHall · 31/03/2015 22:46

Just out of interest, will her personality change?

Flip

1 2