Any dog owners got tips for when a bitch comes in to season/on heat?

joneve

Ours finally(!) after 14 months, has come into Season at possibly the worst time ever, since I go skiing a week Sunday, so my wife is going to have to somehow juggle full time work and a dog who has excess of energy because she can't be walked properly! 

We have some cheap tesco pants and a cheap "woman's towel" for the bleeding but any other tips on how to cope/what to do/not do? Any advice greatly appreciated! 

Sporky

Sprocket went through her first heat quite early - 9 months maybe?

She got slightly nervous and a bit clingy (she's a bit of a velcro dog anyway) and her appetite was up and down, but otherwise fine.

We kept her on a long line or lead and told other dog owners that she was in heat and everything was fine. She also goes on pack walks which don't allow whole males and are in fenced grounds with constant supervision so we made it through OK.

joneve

Sporky said:

Sprocket went through her first heat quite early - 9 months maybe?

She got slightly nervous and a bit clingy (she's a bit of a velcro dog anyway) and her appetite was up and down, but otherwise fine.

We kept her on a long line or lead and told other dog owners that she was in heat and everything was fine. She also goes on pack walks which don't allow whole males and are in fenced grounds with constant supervision so we made it through OK.

Cheers mate. Trouble is my wife googled it (mistake number 1), and read loads of guff on how walking your dog whilst they're in heat makes you an irresponsible dog owner, due to the effect their scent can have on male dogs. But most people I've sought opinion from walked their dogs during their season, but just took extra pre-caution. 

Apart from being a bit lethargic last week before it actually started, she's been her usual self, and not gone off her food one bit....just concerned that if she doesn't get walked, I will come home from skiing to a murdered dog as she'd have driven the wife crazy! 

Are you keeping sprocket whole or are you going to get her spayed? 

digitalscream

I've had experience of this with an extremely small dog (~2.5kg) and an extremely large one (~44kg) - aside from the obvious difference in discharge quantity, our main problem was that they were both desperate to escape the house/garden during heat. My advice would be to ensure that she's not outside at any point without supervision; even if she can normally be trusted with an open back door, it's not worth the risk because an escape attempt can be sudden and over before you've even spotted what's happening. The urge to find a mate can often be strong enough that training and normal boundaries go right out the window.

This goes double if, like ours, your garden is surrounded by others with dogs.

Another thing (which is usually a bit more breed-dependent) is that females in heat will sometimes try to attack other female dogs.

Apart from that...have a mop and bucket handy. When Coco had her first (and only) season, we tried the t-shirt-as-a-nappy method of keeping everything clean. First thing she did was run outside for a dump...I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

Sporky

joneve said:

Are you keeping sprocket whole or are you going to get her spayed? 

Not sure - Lady BMcH is in charge of that one, and I think we're going wait-and-see. Certainly not until after second heat.

We're fortunate in that the entire back garden is surrounded by 6-foot fence, and while Sprocket is bouncy she's not much of a jumper.

digitalscream

Sporky said:

joneve said:

Are you keeping sprocket whole or are you going to get her spayed? 

Not sure - Lady BMcH is in charge of that one, and I think we're going wait-and-see. Certainly not until after second heat.

We're fortunate in that the entire back garden is surrounded by 6-foot fence, and while Sprocket is bouncy she's not much of a jumper.

The bouncy ones with energy and a bit of size are the scary ones. Coco's not much of a jumper either...on her heat, she discarded the "over" and "around" solutions in favour of "through".

Yes. She went through the fence.

I should also qualify my first response with the disclaimer that there isn't really a "this will happen" with these things, only "this can happen". It's wildly different according to temperament, size, breed etc.

joneve

Sporky said:

joneve said:

Are you keeping sprocket whole or are you going to get her spayed? 

Not sure - Lady BMcH is in charge of that one, and I think we're going wait-and-see. Certainly not until after second heat.

We're fortunate in that the entire back garden is surrounded by 6-foot fence, and while Sprocket is bouncy she's not much of a jumper.

That's the problem we have - because we've spoiled poppy with the amount of walks she gets (we walk her about 2 and a half hours a day), she basically refuses to go in the garden now. It's completely secure (6ft brick wall and fencing all the way round), but she just won't go out, because she'll think "I'll wait for my walk"

Sporky

Ah.

Sprocket practically demands at least an hour of kicky-ball in the garden a day in addition to at least 2 hours of walks.

Kicky-ball, for reference, is where she runs around with one football in her mouth while someone else kicks the other football at her regularly. If you stop kicking the ball at her she pokes you with her nose until you get with the programme.

joneve

digitalscream said:

I've had experience of this with an extremely small dog (~2.5kg) and an extremely large one (~44kg) - aside from the obvious difference in discharge quantity, our main problem was that they were both desperate to escape the house/garden during heat. My advice would be to ensure that she's not outside at any point without supervision; even if she can normally be trusted with an open back door, it's not worth the risk because an escape attempt can be sudden and over before you've even spotted what's happening. The urge to find a mate can often be strong enough that training and normal boundaries go right out the window.

This goes double if, like ours, your garden is surrounded by others with dogs.

Another thing (which is usually a bit more breed-dependent) is that females in heat will sometimes try to attack other female dogs.

Apart from that...have a mop and bucket handy. When Coco had her first (and only) season, we tried the t-shirt-as-a-nappy method of keeping everything clean. First thing she did was run outside for a dump...I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

 

Yep, if she goes outside, she'll be on a lead, tethered to one of us! She's not showing any "urge" signs yet, but from what we've read, this comes after the 1st 10 days (again, worst. timing. ever!) and the discharge has been light thus far. 

We are partly relieved it's finally come, as we've been anticipating it for weeks/months! and it would explain her erratic off lead behaviour the last few weeks (just bolting without warning and not coming back - just charging up and down hedgerows, going bananas). 

We have no plans to breed from her (as much as we'd love to), so will be getting her spayed when we can - as I don't think it's fair for her to have to go through this if she's not going to get to follow through, so to speak! 

digitalscream

joneve said:

We have no plans to breed from her (as much as we'd love to), so will be getting her spayed when we can - as I don't think it's fair for her to have to go through this if she's not going to get to follow through, so to speak! 

That's the main reason we've had all of ours done; the biological imperative is enough to cause a lot of stress if you let females go through heat every year without breeding...our Ruby (RIP) actually had a phantom pregnancy and imprinted on one of her toys, to the point where she'd practically have a meltdown if she couldn't find it.

Of course, there's the other side of the coin with larger breeds where if you don't let them have a season or two, it massively increases the chances of joint problems due to an imbalance of hormones relating to growth.

You probably already know that, but it's worth stating for any drive-by readers

joneve

digitalscream said:

joneve said:

We have no plans to breed from her (as much as we'd love to), so will be getting her spayed when we can - as I don't think it's fair for her to have to go through this if she's not going to get to follow through, so to speak! 

That's the main reason we've had all of ours done; the biological imperative is enough to cause a lot of stress if you let females go through heat every year without breeding...our Ruby (RIP) actually had a phantom pregnancy and imprinted on one of her toys, to the point where she'd practically have a meltdown if she couldn't find it.

Of course, there's the other side of the coin with larger breeds where if you don't let them have a season or two, it massively increases the chances of joint problems due to an imbalance of hormones relating to growth.

You probably already know that, but it's worth stating for any drive-by readers

Yea - our vet said we shouldn't have any issues having her done once she's had her first season as she's as developed as she's going to get...so we'll probably get her done some time in the summer. 

Motorhate

Put a nappy on the dog. Problem solved.

Bridgehouse

Ugh. Our rescue Spanish Greyhound had urges. She's quicker than a cheetah on full chat when she goes for it, and she could clear our susbstantial fences.. management on a lead was painful to say the least. 

She is now speyed thank goodness 

digitalscream

Motorhate said:

Put a nappy on the dog. Problem solved.

I think I addressed the problem with that above

Dominic

There is an injection from vet which will stop the season although it can lead to Pyometra in some cases after a few months.
Do not excercise a bitch in heat unless you really have to in which case wash her bits with white vinegar water beforehand and use bitch spray on vulva region........make sure she doesn't urinate when out on the street 
But ,if you don't have a male at home I don't see the problem other than a bit of mopping up

Sporky

Dominic said:

Do not excercise a bitch in heat unless you really have to

Dude, she's a dog. She needs exercise.

digitalscream

Dominic said:

There is an injection from vet which will stop the season although it can lead to Pyometra in some cases after a few months.

In a young medium-to-large-breed dog, stopping the season is entirely defeating the point and can lead to serious joint and skeletal problems later in life.

Dominic

Sporky said:

Dominic said:

Do not excercise a bitch in heat unless you really have to

Dude, she's a dog. She needs exercise.

I only bred Irish Wolfhounds for 25 years .........what would I know ?

Dominic

digitalscream said:

Dominic said:

There is an injection from vet which will stop the season although it can lead to Pyometra in some cases after a few months.

In a young medium-to-large-breed dog, stopping the season is entirely defeating the point and can lead to serious joint and skeletal problems later in life.

I have huge experience of large/giant breeds........and 2 vets in the family .....you are not wrong but it's not conclusive 
the principal concern is pyometra far above the risk of FCE although in larger breeds calcification of joints is pretty much complete by 11 to 14 months.
 The greatest threat to joint and skeletal problems other than breed specific genetic susceptibility is over balance of protein in the diet ,imbalance of phosphates and calcium and especially over - excercise  ie ;the strain on bones and joints that are so rapidly grown and still semi-cartiligenous rather than fully calcified . Giant breeds for example should not have more than 10 minutes free excercise per day until they are at least 9-11 months .Impact damage from allowing dogs to climb steps and stairs or jump out of car boots etc until all bone is fully calcified is the proven cause of most joint/ skeletal damage especially in heavier breeds .

Emp_Fab

I didn't know about any of this !  Sounds rather messy to me.  I'm not even going to google the 'discharge' bit.....

Get a dog with a cock seems to be the moral of the story.

Sporky

Dominic said:

Sporky said:

Dominic said:

Do not excercise a bitch in heat unless you really have to

Dude, she's a dog. She needs exercise.

I only bred Irish Wolfhounds for 25 years .........what would I know ?

Don't wolfhounds need exercise?