Can anyone talk me through the implications of choosing a female dog?

[opalescent]

Thank you all. This is my first dog. My instinct is to choose a female, but I am aware that she will come into season a couple of times a year.

What will the reality of this be like? It is possible to prevent mess as much as possible? What other things might we need to think about?

It's really interesting to read people's views on spaying. In particular the issue around breeding irresponsibly- as someone who has been searching for a rescue dog for over a year, my experiences is that rescue centres are far from full up- in fact they are generally massively overwhelmed with demand at present. We haven't had a hope in hell of getting a rescue dog, and definitely not one that is able to be rehomed with children,

This might sound grim but my lab licked the floor clean each time she bled.

We read around a lot about spaying and intended to spay after her first season. She was ill though and it was delayed until after the second. We opted for a laparoscopic operation, rather than the traditional style, for minimal incision size.

She has been our first female and I was quite stunned with her sudden awful behaviour prior to her first season (running off over two fields and through a hedge to get to some other dogs) but once she came into season I realised why. No other poor behaviour, she was just a bit sad for herself once it started.