# I think my 14 month old Standard is going into her first heat!!



## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

If you have a lot of dogs in your neighborhood and you take walks............dogs can smell your girl's P-Mail and follow it all the way to your house! You just may find an escapee in your yard .......so I would suggest no unsupervised outdoor/backyard wandering be allowed....... keep an eye on her! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!!!!! Hahaha! If her heat is a messy one, you may want to get panties for her too! When she reaches her 'stand & flag' stage she also will be eager to mate ....some dogs get very affectionate during heat others may get moody, you just have to wait and see............and really watch her!!!! Good Luck!


----------



## Eclipse (Apr 26, 2010)

Is this the first bitch you have had come into heat?


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

What to expect:
The first sign is a swelling vulva, followed by a discharge. At first this is usually like rather watery blood, becoming lighter as her heat progresses. There can be a lot or a little - first time around she may be rather confused by it all and not very good at keeping herself clean, so pads and panties or lots of washable throws are a good idea. For the first week or so she will probably not want to be bothered by other dogs; somewhere around day 5 - 12 she will hit her most fertile time and become a lot more interested in mating, possibly to the extent of setting off to look for a male - be warned! 

Male dogs will be able to smell her from miles away. How much of a problem this is depends on how many free roaming entire dogs there are in your area (when I was a child we would have several camping out around the house even in the depths of winter; these days I can walk my dogs without any problems at all). It is best to err on the safe side - no off leash walks, no unsupervised time in the yard, no dog parks, etc, etc. If there are a lot of determined dogs around you may need to limit exercise to your own yard.

She may be a bit confused, hormonal, snuggly, or no different. She may be particularly upset by the overwhelming attention from males, and that can affect how she feels about other dogs even when the heat is over - another reason to avoid them. Stay cheerful and comforting, keep things as routine as possible, and don't be cross with her if she leaves bloodstains all over your favourite cream rug - not her fault!

Some degree of phantom pregnancy following a heat is very common in dogs - read up on it to be prepared.

What you need:
Throws, panties, pads.
A suitable stain remover.
A really good, reliable collar or harness and lead. Not a retractable, and probably not a long line - you need to be close enough to fend off unwanted suitors!

This all makes it sound a considerable palaver which it isn't really - just a time when you need to pay extra attention and be prepared for some extra washing and cleaning up.


----------



## im.speechliss (Jul 4, 2017)

MollyMuiMa said:


> If you have a lot of dogs in your neighborhood and you take walks............dogs can smell your girl's P-Mail and follow it all the way to your house! You just may find an escapee in your yard .......so I would suggest no unsupervised outdoor/backyard wandering be allowed....... keep an eye on her! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!!!!! Hahaha! If her heat is a messy one, you may want to get panties for her too! When she reaches her 'stand & flag' stage she also will be eager to mate ....some dogs get very affectionate during heat others may get moody, you just have to wait and see............and really watch her!!!! Good Luck!


Charlotte IS in heat! I found drops of blood in her crate and on the kitchen floor. She is swollen too. The day before she came into heat she shredded the back cushion of an old loveseat in the sunroom. PMS?? She's never been that destructive before! There was shredded foam everywhere. Now her strange behavior makes sense. She will stay in the backyard. She has her sister to run around with. She doesn't need to be walked. But I have to go buy some doggie diapers!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


----------



## im.speechliss (Jul 4, 2017)

Eclipse said:


> Is this the first bitch you have had come into heat?


Yes

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


----------



## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

The shredding was probably just a coincidence!

You should expect her to be in season for about 21-28 days. She will likely bleed for at least a couple weeks during this time. My girls all bleed for 21-28 days. Spotting to light bleeding for the first week, then huge swelling with heavy bleeding for the second week, then light bleeding again for a third week, and then it tapers off to dark spotting and swelling goes down for several days before they are out of heat. 

The phases of a heat cycle are proestrus (early heat), estrus (standing heat, fertile period occurs within this phase, you may see her flagging her tail when you put her panties on, or rubbing her back end on things), and diestrus (end of the fertile period, going out of heat). Estrus is the time where you need to be the most careful to keep her away from other dogs. But its definitely safest to keep them away for the entire heat cycle. 

She should be supervised at all times when outside. If you have a fence just be sure you have your eye on her. If you do not have a fence, walk her only on lead to potty. I would avoid taking her to parks for walks, etc. 

Bitch panties with a pad can be helpful if you want her to be able to have her usual freedom in the house. Just be sure that she has several hours a day to air out her girl parts. My girls air out in their crates all day while I'm at work. I like to let them air out as much as possible at other times, too. Otherwise they can develop UTIs or yeast infections from sitting in panties all day.


----------



## galofpink (Mar 14, 2017)

Good luck with heat! We just went through it a couple months ago. It wasn't too bad. 

Our biggest issue was that Shae went off food. She used to gulp her food down like a madwoman, but then started picking at it slowly. I gave her toppers here and there just to make sure she wasn't wasting away. 

Only behavioural issues I noticed were that she was highly distracted by normal and routine household noise. She wouldn't train at all, so I just let her be for the better part of a month and didn't train anything. She became much more affectionate and she has retained this.

When she was out in our yard, we just kept an eye on her. We don't walk, so that wasn't an issue. 

For "panties", I put some snaps (like the ones you use for cloth diapers) on the waistband of some old spandex boxer shorts DH had kicking around. Put the tail through the access hole and away we went. Shae could still lick herself through these and they provided some air movement, but prevented messes on the floor. 

Hope it all goes well with you and Charlotte.


----------



## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

im.speechliss said:


> Charlotte IS in heat! I found drops of blood in her crate and on the kitchen floor. She is swollen too. The day before she came into heat she shredded the back cushion of an old loveseat in the sunroom. PMS?? She's never been that destructive before! There was shredded foam everywhere. Now her strange behavior makes sense. She will stay in the backyard. She has her sister to run around with. She doesn't need to be walked. But I have to go buy some doggie diapers!
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


Be careful even if you have a fence. Keep an eye on her. Males will do anything to get to her, including jumping a high fence.


----------



## emilinaML (Sep 26, 2017)

We are at the tail end of Senna's first heat and are hoping to not do that again! Already talking with our vet about her spay once she is completed through and no longer swollen. 

Over all it wasn't that bad, we got some doggy diapers for when we needed to leave the house and covered all our furniture with towels to let her be comfortable.

She was really timid once the discharge actually started and seemed very confused and unsettled. Through out she would cuddle and then stalk off and lay away from us, only to run back a few minutes later into our laps. She needed to pee a lot more than usual and may have been spoiled with some chicken broth mixed ice cubes and peanut butter! 

Now in week 3.5 she is still cleaning her self often but much more settled and very much looking forward to some spring time walks!


----------



## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

im.speechliss said:


> Charlotte IS in heat! I found drops of blood in her crate and on the kitchen floor. She is swollen too. The day before she came into heat she shredded the back cushion of an old loveseat in the sunroom. PMS?? She's never been that destructive before! There was shredded foam everywhere. Now her strange behavior makes sense. She will stay in the backyard. She has her sister to run around with. She doesn't need to be walked. But I have to go buy some doggie diapers!
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


You'll need to closely supervise time in the back yard unless you have a 10 foot fence! Male suitors can overcome almost any obstacle - I once saw a male German shepherd wiggle through the tiny window in the garage door of my neighbor's house. He thought his girl would be safe in there! And do not depend on doggie diapers to prevent a tryst - they are only useful to keep the house clean.


----------

