First Season

[crunchie]

What sort of age do dogs have their first season?  Pringle is now 8 months old so I am guessing it could be any time now. 

What are the first sort of signs I should be looking out for, and how long do they last?  Also what do people do about walking?  I am assuming that she won't really be able to go out for a walk whilst she is in season and do you get bothered at all by male dogs hanging about your house?  I never see any stray dogs in our village but at what sort of distance would a dog be able to sense what was going on as we do have quite a lot of farms near us.

[Colin]

It can be any time after 6 months, although usually around the 10 to 12 month mark with Cockers I think ( solids tend to be earlier than particolours ) - although Mary's Lottie was over 2 when she had her first season. Misty's season started on her first birthday and she's had them every 8 months since - you'll have to wait until Pringle's second season to establish how frequent her cycle is - it could be anything from every 6 months to once a year.

The first sign is likely to be swelling of her bits - you can dab gently with a tissue each day to establish the first day of the season, when ther will be a discharge. Increased urination is another sign - bitches will start laying down a scent to alert any possible male suitors in the area. Other people have commented on their girls going off their food and being a bit down in the dumps - Misty sails through her seasons without a care in the world though, nothing puts her off food and she's permanently happy. 

I still walk Misty ( always on lead ) during her seasons, we don't have a garden so she needs out for toileting. I take her for very short walks to parks with sections requiring dogs to stay on lead, or a deserted car park nearby - usually I'm the only dog owner there. I haven't had any problems with males hanging about outside. If you do need to take Pringle for a walk it might be an idea to carry her to the car and drive away from your house, this will lessen the chances of males catching her scent. You do need to take into consideration other owners though and try and keep her as far away from any males as possible - it can be stressful for them and ruin their recall.

[crunchie]

Thanks Colin.  That is really helpful.  We are very fortunate in that our garden is about 2 acres, with 1.5 acres of that being a field, so I was just wondering if lots of playing and running around in this bit would suffice whilst she is in season.  My only concern is that one of our neighbours who backs onto this field does have a male dog and I don't really want to get his interest.  There is a conifer hedge and a wire fence between us but I am sure a really determined dog would be able to negotiate this.

[Colin]

You garden sounds perfect for an in-season bitch and should provide enough exercise, I'm jealous . I'd maybe pop round and tell you neighbour when Pringle comes into season and ask them to let you know if it is affecting their dog - it's always a good idea to keep neighbours on side. If you are worried about this dog jumping over then take Pringle into the garden on lead just to be sure he doesn't get to her. Misty doesn't seem to suffer at all from the reduced exercising during her seasons - although it's always great to let her offlead again when it's over.

[isla]

Jem was nearly a year old. We noticed some blood in her bed although at the COL meet the week before some of the boys were interested but not trying anything if you know what I mean! This gave a heads up that she was about to go into season.

She was a little low for a few days then back to her usual self.

We have a small shared garden which we used during teh day and early morning and late at night we took her on long road walks away from the parks. We have a complete lab round the corner and apparently he went off his food and howled for about a week when she was in season!

She was speyed last week. One season was enough!

[AnnB]

Bella was eight months and then had her second season at 11 months (both verified by the vet as we were a bit surprised!!) We walked her on lead in deserted places, but frankly rather than dogs looking for Bella, we had more problem with her looking for dogs. If she so much as saw another dog she was desperate to get to them.

Also, both times, we've noticed that rather than go off ger food, she has been ravenous. And I think the only thing that made her fed up, was the lack of off lead walks, especially the first time which seemed to go on for ages.

[MrsMac]

Melly was 8 months when she started her first season.  I just noticed her licking herself a lot one day and the next day there was a slightly bloody discharge and her bits were swollen.  She was clingy to me even more than usual and subdued for about a week.  She was in good form but she just wanted peace and quiet with me instead of haring around after the kids as usual.

She was in season during that hot spell and it worked in our favour as she wouldn't have been out walking in that anyway.  She stayed in the garden with us and we walked her late at night or first thing in the morning.