# Tips for having a bitch in season



## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Find out from her breeder when her mother first came into heat, daughters typically are similar to their mothers in that regard. Selli had her first heat at 13 months. You will notice, probably that she is cleaning her genitals a lot when she comes into heat. That is usually our first sign. Then I will see a little blood on her butt feathers and a swollen vulva. Then I know she is in full blown heat. 

Heat usually lasts 3 weeks, with Selli we say the first week is Bitch week, where she is a bit grumpier than usual, then comes **** week where she is chasing the boys and the last week is back to normal week. Selli wears panties when she goes out, but our house and our shop have hard floors so we just wipe up after her. We do put a plastic cover in the couch she uses and the car seats.


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## Retrievers Rock (Apr 4, 2010)

Selli-Belle said:


> Find out from her breeder when her mother first came into heat, daughters typically are similar to their mothers in that regard. Selli had her first heat at 13 months. You will notice, probably that she is cleaning her genitals a lot when she comes into heat. That is usually our first sign. Then I will see a little blood on her butt feathers and a swollen vulva. Then I know she is in full blown heat.


I'll do that. See? These are the things I had no clue about! 



> Heat usually lasts 3 weeks, with Selli we say the first week is Bitch week, where she is a bit grumpier than usual, then comes **** week where she is chasing the boys and the last week is back to normal week. Selli wears panties when she goes out, but our house and our shop have hard floors so we just wipe up after her. We do put a plastic cover in the couch she uses and the car seats.


Oh God... define grumpy. She won't go off on Piper, will she? I don't have any boys here, but I'm dying to know what '****' means! Is it what I think it is???

We have new carpet; how much do they bleed? Is it just a drop here and there? Does it wash out easily? Piper is one _those_ kinds of dogs. I think she'd try to eat the britches off of Molly. 

I am really dreading this. If I hadn't have wanted a puppy out of these two dogs so badly, I would have looked elsewhere. This is definitely a drawback in my book. But I'm committed!

ETA: They cycle usually every six months, right?


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Oh what fun, the bleeped out a word! Lets just say it had the first two letters of slap and the last two letters of gut.

As to the grumpy week, how grumpy she will be will depend on her basic personality. If she is a very sweet friendly dog, that won't change. Selli never grumps at her brother Duffy or any of her friends when she is in the grumpy stage. She just is less patient with dogs she does not know very well getting into her face (or her butt)

I do know a Dobe female rescue pup who had a very bad start to life and was from poor breeding who got nasty toward the other dogs in the house during most of her heat (the owner wanted to wait until her growth plates had closed before she spayed her. After that experience she spayed her as soon as she could). But, I am sure you won't have to worry about that.

If you have new carpets, I would use panties, because they do spot (once again how much depends on the dog). Selli does not mind her panties and will even run agility in them. Get her started early wearing them so she gets used to them. You can just fit a female protection product in the panties to keep everything neat.

Selli is almost six now and I can't say it is a huge bother having her intact. You do need to take precautions, but she is in heat only once every ten months, so it doesn't seem like a huge deal to me. Now my boyfriend on the other hand thinks it is a huge hassle, but I think that is a typical difference between men and women.


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## Retrievers Rock (Apr 4, 2010)

Selli-Belle said:


> Oh what fun, the bleeped out a word! Lets just say it had the first two letters of slap and the last two letters of gut.


Oh. That is so much more ladylike than the word I was thinking of, lol.



> As to the grumpy week, how grumpy she will be will depend on her basic personality. If she is a very sweet friendly dog, that won't change. Selli never grumps at her brother Duffy or any of her friends when she is in the grumpy stage. She just is less patient with dogs she does not know very well getting into her face (or her butt)
> 
> I do know a Dobe female rescue pup who had a very bad start to life and was from poor breeding who got nasty toward the other dogs in the house during most of her heat (the owner wanted to wait until her growth plates had closed before she spayed her. After that experience she spayed her as soon as she could). But, I am sure you won't have to worry about that.


Molly is probably the sweetest puppy I've ever been around, so maybe I'll luck out!



> If you have new carpets, I would use panties, because they do spot (once again how much depends on the dog). Selli does not mind her panties and will even run agility in them. Get her started early wearing them so she gets used to them. You can just fit a female protection product in the panties to keep everything neat.
> 
> Selli is almost six now and I can't say it is a huge bother having her intact. You do need to take precautions, but she is in heat only once every ten months, so it doesn't seem like a huge deal to me. Now my boyfriend on the other hand thinks it is a huge hassle, but I think that is a typical difference between men and women.


Okay, thanks. I did email her breeder, and if the pattern follows through, Molly should come into heat at around 8 months. I guess I'll be looking at three cycles before she can be spayed.

Thanks so much for the advice!


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Mine came in just before 12 months. The amount of bleeding will depend on the bitch--some are heavier than others. Scout's last week of heat she went on a total hump/whining fest and that was the worst part for me. She kept pulling blankets of the bed...

If you need to walk her drive her to a distant park so as not to spread the smell around your neighborhood. Have someone go with you, and don't take her when she is in the thick of it.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

I discovered last year that the term slap/gut was used historically for female dog. In an early document about Chesapeake Bay Retrievers they kept using the term "slap/gut pup" to refer to a female pup.

Oh and Selli never gets humpy herself, she flags down the boys to have fun.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My Towhee's vulva turned a deepish red color and got swollen right before she came into season - she also stated marking to let all the boys know she was getting ready to be 'available' - but Towhee really is a sweet heart so never got b*tchy just wanted to be extra friendly to the boys 

If Molly likes rolling in the grass as much as Towhee, you will notice the swelling and color change and know she's about to come into season.


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## amy22 (May 11, 2008)

My daughters dog, Gemma, just started last Sunday. She signed a contract with her breeder that she would not spay her till she was 1 year old. Do you think she will go into heat again before then? Gemma is 9 months old. She wears a diaper thing when shes out and about in the house, but when my daughter is gone and shes in her crate she doesnt have it on her. She says she does not come home to a mess...


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## Retrievers Rock (Apr 4, 2010)

This will be the first dog I've ever owned that has not been spayed at six months, so I have no idea when she'll come into season, or what to expect, but this thread has helped me tremendously!

I think it helps more than anything, to know what signs to be on the lookout for. I half expect Piper, my Lab, to be my 1st indicator. She your typical trash-can raider, panty snatcher type of dog. If it's nasty and smelly, she wants it. Since their noses are so keen, I suspect she'll be know something is going on with her. :yuck:


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

To Amy22, It is not very likely that your daughter's girl will come into heat again before she is a year, but you never know.


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