My dog has started bleeding today. She's 10.5 months.

[Goingtobeawesome]

She is a golden retriever and I'm assuming this is the start of her being in season. I would appreciate any advice and any tips for getting her through this part of her development. We will be getting her spayed afterwards so timings for that would also be helpful and if two or more seasons would be better. Any help would be great, thank you.

Please don't get her spayed until she's at least 18 months! She still has a lot of development to do in all areas of growth (not just physically) and getting her spayed before this development has finished will stunt her growth and could cause serious health problems. Definitely let her have a few more seasons and wait until around 2!

As for helping her through it I'm not sure what you mean. As for the blood she'll most likely keep cleaning herself. Just wipe any off the floor that you see. She may become clingy or a bit mischievous but you shouldn't really notice much difference.

I do recommend walking her at quiet times during the day to avoid male dogs

I second Sparkling, she needs her hormones to mature physically and mentally. GRs are prone to joint problems as is and an early spay could make those problems worse.

Thank you. Earlier in the week I met a vet walking five dogs and one looked like he was considering her but she said he was just playing. Maybe he has a feeling. She said 14 months is the best age as long as she's had anseason but I knew more than one might suit her. Is there an issue with doing it too late/letting her have too many?

Today we set off and I put her in her retractable lead which she's scared of but with someone else holding it she did really well. She kept jumping up to the other person and wanting cuddles and they also said she might be more clingy as well as wanting her own space.

We then had a lovely walk with her best friend and no one was about so she was off lead. So day one, we did okay.

If a male dog was to get too close any tips?

Thank you very much. Very helpful 🐕

We took her out on her retractable lead again this morning and she was very clingy. I have quite a few scratches where she's jumped up. We'd not long been there when a boy retriever arrived. He definitely was trying but luckily we separated them before anything happened then DDog laid down and sulked. Eventually three small dogs arrived, all done or girls, and she was desperate to play so she was taken off lead and had a lovely time. Put back on once we were setting off for home.