# First Heat Questions



## khrios (May 5, 2010)

I intend to allow Emma to go through her first heat before spaying. She is the second female pup I have raised. The first, Maddie was 10 months old when she had her first heat. We were expecting it. We had the breeder advising us. I kept checking...and nothing. 

Finally, we found out she was starting her heat in the worst way possible. An intact pit bull scaled our 6 ft fence and got into our yard. Our male, Simba fought the pit bull. My 11 year old son and I banged pots and pans and sprayed the pitbull with a hose to distract him, called our Simba and Maddie...and locked the pitbull in the yard. Called animal control. The pitbull's tags were from Sonoma, 17 miles away. Who knows what he was doing in our neighborhood. 

What is the best way to tell she is beginning her heat cycle? What should I expect? What safety measures should I take?


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## Suni52 (Jan 18, 2012)

I was on the lookout for Sadies heat and started watching for signs of it. The first thing I noticed was that her nipples looked slighty bigger right before as did her vulva. I really didn't know until she started bleeding. 
What an aweful first experience you had. I can't even imagine. I watched my dog like a hawk whenever we were outside in our yard, and I was always on the lookout for stray males. We even have an intact male two houses over from us. Thank goodness that never happened to us. After the fact, I thought that maybe it was the stuff of legends, but I guess not........


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

Did you take her places or was she quarantined in the house the whole 3 weeks?


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## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

Kye came in at 10 mo too. She is an active girl and I noticed she got much more quiet, more loving. We were watching too and sure enough a few days later nipples enlarged as did her private parts then the bleeding. She was pretty well house bound for 3 wks and outside only on leash. No walks during this time, but she acted like she didn't want them anyway. We boarded our male even though he was young, just didn't want to take the chance. Long 3 wks, but honestly went very quickly.


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## Suni52 (Jan 18, 2012)

We kept her either in our house, or in our fenced in back yard (we also have a 6 ft fence). But we never left her unattended. If I let her out to do buisiness, I was with her. I could never elicit the "flagging" reflex, so I wasn't sure when she was most fertile, or finished being fertile for that matter, so I kept her quarantined for a full 4 weeks. At that point her vulva started to shrink back. I also gave her a really good bath before bringing her out and about again so that she wouldn't have any residual smell on her.


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## Suni52 (Jan 18, 2012)

The other thing I wanted to tell you about is that Sadie's breeder told me that dogs often (obviously not always) go into their first heat around the same time that their mother did. Sure enough, Sadie did at nine months just like her mother. The breeder also has another dog that is the same age as Sadie that hasn't yet, and she said that this dog's mom didn't go into heat until she was 12mo, so she's expecting she will probably do the same.
Maybe you can ask your breeder, it might give you a rough estimate.


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

I will guard her like the gold in Fort Knox....


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

khrios said:


> Did you take her places or was she quarantined in the house the whole 3 weeks?


I would recommend a complete and monitored lock down for a month. She should be leashed and with you even in the yard. No going places- Why look for trouble?


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## goldhaven (Sep 3, 2009)

Too bad they don't make chastity belts for dogs.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Molly is 6 months and I'm spaying after her first heat as well. I'm not looking forward to wasting an entire summer month indoors...


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

goldhaven said:


> Too bad they don't make chastity belts for dogs.


Hilarious...but really, why hasn't anyone come up with one?


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## Aspen's Mom (May 15, 2012)

Can I ask why it's best to wait until after their first heat to spay? We're already on the surgery calendar for next month, when Aspen will be just over 6 months old. Should we wait? The vet said he wants to spay before her first heat, so now I'm confused. Thank you for any advice!


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Aspen's Mom said:


> Can I ask why it's best to wait until after their first heat to spay? We're already on the surgery calendar for next month, when Aspen will be just over 6 months old. Should we wait? The vet said he wants to spay before her first heat, so now I'm confused. Thank you for any advice!


You need to have your girl on a leash 24/7 when outside of the house. Even in your fenced in yard you can run into trouble as you quickly found out. What a traumatic experience! Best of luck!

It is not for everyone, some families are not equipped with time or patience to keep a female intact through one heat cycle. Read the article and discuss it as a family and then with your vet. 

http://www.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/2...her_and_when_to_neuter_a_golden_retreiver.pdf


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## coffenut (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks for this information. I have to admit that I am worried as I want to wait for at least one bleed before getting her fixed. The problem is ... I have a very large intact pit bull who lives next door. He is very sweet but I don't want pit mix pups.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

coffenut said:


> Thanks for this information. I have to admit that I am worried as I want to wait for at least one bleed before getting her fixed. The problem is ... I have a very large intact pit bull who lives next door. He is very sweet but I don't want pit mix pups.


There is an intact pit in my apartment building. Extremely sweet as well, and my breeder assured me he (or any dog) will not be chewing through my door to get to Molly. Still worried, though.


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## Aspen's Mom (May 15, 2012)

CarolinaCasey said:


> You need to have your girl on a leash 24/7 when outside of the house. Even in your fenced in yard you can run into trouble as you quickly found out. What a traumatic experience! Best of luck!
> 
> It is not for everyone, some families are not equipped with time or patience to keep a female intact through one heat cycle. Read the article and discuss it as a family and then with your vet.
> 
> http://www.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/2...her_and_when_to_neuter_a_golden_retreiver.pdf


Thanks so much for the link to the article. It definitely gives me something to think about! I had no idea it was better to wait to spay...I'm so glad to have the GRF to learn about these things!


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

Aspen's Mom said:


> Thanks so much for the link to the article. It definitely gives me something to think about! I had no idea it was better to wait to spay...I'm so glad to have the GRF to learn about these things!


I agree. This forum is amazing.


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

We have an action plan. Someone will be home with her the whole time. And, no going outside without a leash.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

khrios said:


> We have an action plan. Someone will be home with her the whole time. And, no going outside without a leash.


Are you planning on taking her out on regular walks?


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## khrios (May 5, 2010)

We have a large yard and she can play fetch, and we will work on training, and indoor games.

Even though during her 5:30 AM walk, we don't encounter anyone, I just don't want to risk a bad situation occurring.


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

khrios said:


> We have a large yard and she can play fetch, and we will work on training, and indoor games.
> 
> Even though during her 5:30 AM walk, we don't encounter anyone, I just don't want to risk a bad situation occurring.


The fact that I don't have a yard is making it really hard for me to go through with waiting one cycle.  I think it's going to be one of those things I'll be glad I did and be super happy that I got that over with.


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