# Puppy's first season



## puppylove1 (Apr 8, 2011)

Hi All
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post as I'm only looking for advice on my beautiful puppy Dogue De Bordeaux's first season.
I'm slightly green when it comes to this and the last thing I want to be is naive to the point of irresponsible. I have done a lot of reading but just wondered if anybody could help with my main two conerns.

Firstly, I'm not even sure it's fully kicked in yet. I saw a sign of it about 3 weeks ago, watery blood stain on her blanket. Then nothing. Vet said you can often get a "show" and then nothing for a couple of weeks, then it'll come with a vengeance. 
So I've been waiting and waiting and on Friday morning there was another show of orangey coloured discharge - so perhaps watery blood? on her bed again so I thought this is it now, here it comes!!...and nothing since.
Now when I say nothing, because I was expecting two weeks of drops everywhere, it feels like I've got it wrong because I haven't seen anything since Friday. But that said, she is licking herself alot and she's slightly swollen so all signs that it's here. So maybe it's just her first one is not that heavy? Does it sound to you like she is in season?

Anyway we've been on the safe side and walks are not as long and we're not letting her off the lead ("it only takes a second" apparently and I would never forgive myself if something happened)
So because of this I can't say shes being a tart, we haven't been out much and believe it or not yesterday was first long walk and every dog we met was a bitch. But now I'm being warned that her in the garden on her own is dangerous because even though we have very high fences that seem secure, nothing will stop a lust hungry dog. Well I wasn't prepared for that and now I'm really scared. My thinking is, most dogs in the area will have been neutered. But I don't know that? Will they get in my garden to her? She's on her own for a couple of hours in the morning (and she just sleeps) and then another couple of hours in the afternoon - from about 3 til 5.30.
Is it possible for me to come home and find a dog shacked up with her??
I'm starting to feel really sick with worry for her. 

Any advice on this would be welcome - I don't even know how long this will be around - if I have no signs how will I know when it's over?

I'm open for you to tell me what a terrible and naive owner I am not spaying her if I don't know what I'm doing. But we don't want to spay her 
Can you help?......


----------



## Sparkle (Jan 28, 2010)

Why don't you want to spay her???

I have toy breeds but from my experience (and my girl didn't have a
Drop of blood) the swelling is the biggest clue her vulva went the size of a
Plum (on a 4lb dog) and was purple and then went to a black colour around day 13 she started flagging for me and for my spayed bitch! My spayed girl was going nuts humping her humping toys she was constantly up her crotch quite disturbing!!

One way you can tell is to run your hand firmly down her spine she may flag you! Is she marking etc?

You could possibly find dogs in yir garden on your doorstep etc but just be careful don't let her out without a lead etc... She could try to escape


----------



## puppylove1 (Apr 8, 2011)

Hiya! Thank you for replying!
We would like her to have one litter maybe on her third season.

So perhaps there's not always a lot of blood? 
I told you I was naive didn't I? What's flagging? And marking?......


----------



## delarhia (Jan 17, 2011)

Not spaying her at the moment is possibly the best thing to do as with my breed (very much like the ddb) they take a while to mature and when i sell puppy i reckonmend trying to wait untill they are 18 months old. 

flagging is when they present their back end and lift their tail and usually hold it to one side

marking is weeing a lot to spread their sent about


----------



## zigzoe (Jun 19, 2011)

Zoey barely bled all three of her heats. I only noticed it when I put a doggy diaper on her. I did this because we were taking a long ride and she cleans up after herself but I did not want it on the car.

Definetly keep her away from other dogs including unobserved in the back yard. We had a neighbor who had a nice tall fence growing up and 9 weeks later they had some very strange looking puppies. 

Also I too advise spaying. I got talked into breeding my dog because everyone thinks she is such a doll and let me tell you I am on week 7 of 9 and she will be spayed the moment she can be. It is a lot of worry.


----------



## BeagleOesx (Oct 9, 2009)

Hiya, when Willow had her 1st season she didn't really loose much blood at all, so this may be the case with yours. We had her spayed earlier this year after her 3rd season as our vet advised us to wait until she was fully mature.

You will probably find on her next season she will be a bit more of a 'tart' and it will be more noticable when she's bleeding.

You do need to be careful though if she is out in the garden on her own for dogs which may break-in, she really needs to be watched so no accidents can happen.


----------



## Sparkle (Jan 28, 2010)

Ok well I'm not being rude but why do you want a litter from her?? There is so much to take on with breeding and you risk loosing your bitch! It's a lot of stress and expense after health testing (not checking), whelping the litter (poss c section cost) time off work, stayin up 24:7 for 2 weeks to watch the babies, increase of food, vaccinations, stud fee etc. You should also only breed to better your breed!

You also need to take into consideration whether or not your dog is a good example of the breed best way to do this is by showing her, again mre cost I've done a handful of shows with one of my girls and have spent about £300 in total it's about £100 a show Inc petrol costs.

It's not something to take lightly and a lot of research needs to be done. I spent 2 years researching before I bought my first dual girl (show/brood) and am showing her to prove she is show worthy. 

Either way get book of the bitch it will help you decide. There is lots of info on the net on seasons different parts etc you also need to read up on pyometra as it's a deadly infection and any owner with an intact bitch needs to know what to look for as their dogs are at risk after every season (and whelping)


----------



## puppylove1 (Apr 8, 2011)

Thank you everyone for replying - I feel a bit better now knowing she probably is, but just not showing how I thought she would. I will just wait for more of the signs. She's not flagging (yet  ) and not noticed any unusual marking. But I'm sure they'll come later this week and then I'll know! That's what's worrying is not knowing if this is it or not and not knowing when it's safe to leave the house! 
This heat (London) is killing her as well which doesn't help!

We're not definitely breeding her - we've just taken advice from the vet not to spay her yet, but also advised not to leave it until later life either. I'm not experienced enough yet to debate on it, I've read a lot of threads on here and it's a very controversial subject. 
For me, hubby and our wee babby we don't know if we are in a position to breed her or not but it's not something we would enter lightly. We have discussed her having pups and have our reasons for wanting her to. I would have to be 100% ready and prepared for it or it would not happen. She is our whole life and we will always do what is best for her. I've researched her breed no end because we've had all the little experiences that comes with large breed pups / purebred pups / stubborn breed pups! She's got them all and wouldn't change it for the world 
But at the moment we're taking one thing at a time and this is her first season so I wanna get her through this as best I can 

Thank you for all your help and advice......I'll keep an eye.
Oh vet suggested also, if we know a male dog who's been neutered, could bring him around to see the behaviour to see where in her cycle she is. I'm a bit unsure about that, I dunno why - has anyone heard of that before?


----------

