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The doghouse

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

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Original poster

Dog in season. Walks?

37 replies

Popthepood · 21/09/2023 19:27

I have a dog and she is in heat. She has been very good, and when quiet letting her off lead on quiet areas as her recall is excellent.
Today suddenly a bunch of other dogs appeared and once we realised that some of them are intact boys we moved got the lead on and moved on.

One of the dog owners ran after us, telling that we ruined all their training and that it’s all our fault that her dog is now not listening. She also accused us her dog running after ours which is not true.

So I appreciate that you need to be careful. But I also trust my dog (to a degree) She has been brilliant throughout her heat and tells boys off/backs off and listens to her commands. I do keep an eye on her all the time and move on as and when required and/or put the leash on.

I was quite taken back by the other dog owner but she is literally at the end of her heat, she has been kept away as much as possible and done brilliantly well. Her dog seemed to be all over the place.

i get their frustrations but we all know what dog we own (intact or not) so got to train them depending on what you have. It’s can’t be always someone else dog. I’m not running around telling off make dog owners who have intact dogs…?

OP posts:

DiscoBeat · 22/09/2023 21:42

Interestingly, I had a male dog follow me with my spayed female once on a walk and there wasn't a single person to be seen. He followed us home and it took two days to find his owner. So they can still act unpredictably, which was a surprise to me.

lightinthebox · 22/09/2023 21:51

solvendie · 22/09/2023 21:18

We have an intact male. I really wish people with bitches in season would only walk them in areas where dogs are always on lead. The issue with walking an in season bitch in areas where dogs are generally off lead is that there scent stays - no matter if you walk them at times no one else is around - and hormonal, intact boys go chasing that scent. You cannot override this urge with any amount of recall training. My boy tends to come back to me eventually (who he likes to ‘protect’/guard but not for my husband)

I do understand it is difficult but I think people think if they walks quiet times that’s the job done…it isn’t - intact males will still smell and react.

Edited

That’s an unfair request, dogs need to be walked and walking at quiet times is a reasonable thing to do.

Jenzine · 22/09/2023 22:54

Dogs have gone through fences and windows to get to bitches in season, prior to having my youngest spayed, we drove for 40 minutes to walk her, on-lead, just to make sure no one else’s dog would put her or itself at risk, and you’re just doing what you usually do? Business as usual?

Sorry, but if I had even a neutered male who got a whiff of your bitch and couldn’t be called off, I’d be spitting flies at you, too. Not sure I’d make the effort to follow you across a field to do so, but I’m assuming they secured their dog before they did or you’d both have bigger problems right now than this well-earned reaming by MN. Risk management for in-season bitches is the responsibility of the owner of the bitch, and it seems like things that used to be common knowledge among dog owners are utterly baffling to this new wave of dog owners.

sillyuniforms · 22/09/2023 23:31

On heat females are a danger. My 5 year old neutered male dog will still run out of our park / woods where he's normally off lead after a bitch on heat. He's run across busy roads before as a result & completely looses his head

Onemonthtofindandbuy · 22/09/2023 23:49

sillyuniforms · 22/09/2023 23:31

Then maybe your dog needs to be kept on a long line. You can’t blame others if you know this is an issue with him. Imagine the distress it would cause a driver who hit him because you chose to ignore the fact you can’t always control him, but let him off the lead regardless, never mind your upset at losing your dog to a totally preventable accident.

LameBorzoi · 23/09/2023 00:19

@Onemonthtofindandbuy That behaviour is typical of an intact male dog, and many neutered ones will do that, too. All the training in the world can come unravelled if there is a bitch on heat.

octaurpus · 23/09/2023 00:22

Interesting thread. DH takes our intact boy to the local off-lead park twice a day. It's huge. Twice recently he's come home complaining of bitches in heat roaming free, and in both cases the owners have been on their phones, oblivious to the chaos. Unbelievable.

margotrose · 23/09/2023 06:42

@Onemonthtofindandbuy you can't train an intact dog to ignore a bitch in heat - their instinct just takes over.

Before he was neutered, my beagle tried to jump out of a window after a bitch. He also got out of our garden (leaping a wall) to try and follow - luckily he only got next door!

sillyuniforms · 23/09/2023 07:21

@Onemonthtofindandbuy 99% of the time he goes out on off lead walks in our local parks & woods. He's only off lead away from roads etc and has amazing recall. He's on lead on any roads. Never runs off for any other reason. In my area the norm is that people will only take on heat bitches very short walks and extremely early or late. He's a very calm dog. BUT male dogs even neutered ones loose their minds with the scent. It's happened twice to us when a bitch on heat in our park had led to carnage. Not just my dog

sillyuniforms · 23/09/2023 07:23

@margotrose mine and others I know still react. He's been neutered for 4 years

margotrose · 23/09/2023 07:31

@sillyuniforms that doesn't surprise me!

Luckily neutering seemed to "solve it" for mine as he had no concept of anything once he got that scent - it was quite scary.

wetotter · 23/09/2023 07:34

I think it's completely antisocial to take bitch on heat into an area where people walk dogs generally, and especially when you can't see other dogs until they are more or less on top of you.

And it's madness to let her off lead. Depending on how receptive a state she is in, she will not recall when she smells an intact male.

Walk her on lead, in places where you would expect to encounter only on-lead other dogs (pavements by busy roads being the obvious place) and at times of day when there won't be many about (so avoid times around the school run!)

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