Season - is she or isn't she

[jla]

Reah will be 9 months old next week and on Wednesday we thought she had come into season as she was very swollen and the other dogs were making a lot of fuss of her (down there), I checked her and thought that there was a very small trace of blood on the tissue but it was hard to tell.  Since then I have been giving her a wipe a few times a day and have noticed some very pale pink watery stuff on the tissue (very very little) once, other than that there is no sign and no mess at all.
She's still very swollen but I can't make up my mind whether she is actually in season or not and when to count from.

With my other girls I remember there being very noticeable blood and it being very obvious so I am not sure.

[JaspersMum]

Sounds like she is.  It is so easy to miss with Heidi as there never has been any quantity of blood with her either.  The only time I could tell was using a tissue first thing in the morning.

[spanielcrazy]

Certainly sounds like she is. A couple of my girls were not heavy bleeders and kept themselves really clean so I had to watch them carefully.

With the obvious swelling and blood going watery, it sounds like Reah may be further into it, she may possibly be 5-10 days in, so I'm not sure how you would count it If you are counting for the sake of keeping her safe, I'd just assume you have to take precautions now and observe her behaviour

[bajoleth]

Belle is only just having her 1st season she is 12 mths, I got a bit paranoid from about 9mths onwards checking her bits everyday etc, there were a few times when I thought she was swollen etc but no signs of blood, by the time she was 12mths I had convinced myself that she had a season only it was a small unmessy one . A week last Mon I saw a small amount of blood on my trousers where she had been sitting, the next day her bits were the size of a big satsuma love her, she has had very little in the way of bleeding , only noticable when you wipe. What I am trying to get at is that all those times I thought she was swollen etc was nothing compared to when she actually had her season, so if this is the norm you will def be able to tell

[jla]

She's definitely more swollen than normal.

[wrenside]

Sounds like your little girl is in season.

It can be quite tricky keeping an in season bitch away from male dogs because she will be smelling lovely to them and she will probably want to be flirty etc... 

There have been some past discussion threads on what to do to keep your bitch safe when she's in season. I've posted a few links to discussions below:

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=65354.0

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=69903.0

Hope this helps 

Mary xxx

[jla]

Thanks all - just done another swipe test  and there is definitely blood there now so I will start counting today I think.  Better to keep safe from here on then not long enough I think.