# How does your dog react around in season bitches?



## JenKyzer (Jun 25, 2013)

A new topic for us thanks to an unpleasant encounter yesterday 
Kyzer acted like a different dog & not in a good way :001_unsure: he's 9months now so obviously maturing & i assume more likely to start reacting to bitches now? ..  

How have yours reacted if you've come across this situation? 
What is 'normal' behaviour for an entire male around an in season bitch?
Willow also went a little more nuts than usual too around her! 

Sorry if they seem like silly questions  

Luckily nothing major happened but it was an eye opener!
I thought people with bitches aren't 'meant' to walk them when they're in season, at peak times (in our case, 11.30am on a busy dog walking field!) 
:001_unsure:


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Oh dear  

Unfortunately not every bitch owner keeps their in season bitches at home, I do, as I don't feel it's fair on other owners, of both dogs and bitches. My girls will react to a bitch in season, so I can't imagine, well I can, what it's like for the owner of an entire dog, particularly a youngster.


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## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

Kilo before castration used to get very, very stressed and difficult to handle whilst out and even when we came home would pace and whistle and whine etc. He still gets stressed now but not as badly.

Rudi is entire and gets very teeth chattery and drooly but nowhere near as bad a reaction as Kilo.


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Dogless said:


> Kilo before castration used to get very, very stressed and difficult to handle whilst out and even when we came home would pace and whistle and whine etc. He still gets stressed now but not as badly.
> 
> Rudi is entire and gets very teeth chattery and drooly but nowhere near as bad a reaction as Kilo.


Rhuna gets the chattery thing from dogs when she's nowhere near in season!


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## JenKyzer (Jun 25, 2013)

Sleeping_Lion said:


> Oh dear
> 
> Unfortunately not every bitch owner keeps their in season bitches at home, I do, as I don't feel it's fair on other owners, of both dogs and bitches. My girls will react to a bitch in season, so I can't imagine, well I can, what it's like for the owner of an entire dog, particularly a youngster.


He went deaf. Running away from OH. Running circles round the guy who had picked up his staffie bitch in the end after Kyzer was jumping around her & got hold of her neck as she ran round too - didn't hurt her & he wasn't aggressive (growling etc) he usually ignores everyone & their dogs .. Rarely ignores recall either. OH was apologizing when the guy announced she was in season! OH struggled to get kyzer back on lead as he was more interested in the bitch 

I wasn't there but trying to process it all incase i run into the guy in the near future.. Hope i don't.


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## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

Thai will teeth chatter and drool with the occasional whimper and whine.
If he reacted any worse then I would seriously consider snipping the furry teabags off :ihih:


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## rottiepointerhouse (Feb 9, 2014)

My last gsp (entire male) would pick their smell up and be off into the sunset trying to find them ignoring his recall whistle - he'd be totally transfixed and tracked one bitch an hour after she had been on the path we were on out into the road where the owner was sat in her car. When our neighbour's bitch was in season (a few doors away) he would go off his food, pace, constantly try to get out of the house and be a general pain to live with. Chemical castration injections made no difference at all. On the other hand our entire male rottie we had at the same time took no notice.

The two boys I have now are neutered and I can't say if we have ever met a bitch in season or not. I'm sure we must have in 4 years but if we have they haven't reacted.


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## JenKyzer (Jun 25, 2013)

Dogless said:


> Kilo before castration used to get very, very stressed and difficult to handle whilst out and even when we came home would pace and whistle and whine etc. He still gets stressed now but not as badly.
> 
> Rudi is entire and gets very teeth chattery and drooly but nowhere near as bad a reaction as Kilo.


Eek. He was highly strung when they got back. I really didn't like the way OH described their encounter


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## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

Dex is long neutered but he's still interested in a bitch in their 'prime'. When Bo was entire and at the peak of her season, he'd pursue her and hump away. However telling him to cut it out would stop him, so it wasn't intense. With Tilly he'd do the teeth chattering thing and occasionally if she was very lucky, hump the air  doofus.


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## Bellaboo1 (Aug 10, 2011)

I have had fosters here that have been in season before and did walk them but at silly o clock times and in deserted woodland. That bloke with the staffy sounds like a prat, he's asking for trouble or perhaps that's what he wants ? Not fair on others at all, I'm afraid I'd have told him what's what if it had been me.

Another "I'm alright jack sod you" merchant by the sound of it, all too common these days


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## Dogloverlou (Dec 8, 2013)

Not by my own doing I might add, but Ty has been off lead with in season bitches before ( before the bitches' owner has cared to inform me their dog is in heat until the last minute!  ) He shows some initial flirty behaviour, sniffs around them a bit, but has never shown any OTT behaviours. He calls away, and will continue on our way without running after the bitch etc. It never ceased to amaze me how willing these bitch owners were to allow their girl's off lead when in season. Although, to be fair, I guess the majority of owners assume most dogs are spayed/neutered. I remember the panic in one man's face as he shouted out 'your dog isn't entire is he' when his Border Collie came running up, flaunting herself in Ty's face, and I shouted back 'yes he is'. His shouts for his dog to return were suddenly more frantic!

Oh, and forgot to say, Ty will drool, lick, and chatter over most bitches' pee marking, regardless of whether they're in season or not.


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## rona (Aug 18, 2011)

Muddy started bullying other dogs when someone had walked around with an in season bitch. It's the reason he was neutered. 

In season bitches scare the life out of neutered Alfie


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## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

Both my males were neutered young and have never been interested in in season bitches. Even before my own bitch was spayed they took no notice! They have been walked with friends dogs when they've been in season and again, they took no notice.


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## Fluffster (Aug 26, 2013)

Yikes, poor Kyzer. This is why I don't take Daisy out (she's in season at the moment and hasn't been on a walk since it started, although she has been in garden and my mum's field). Daisy did play with the border terrier boy next door to my mum, he's neutered though and showed no interest. In fact, Daisy tried to hump him which gave him a bit of a shock.

I felt bad enough when she obviously still smelled of season after her last one, and attracted a very amorous little shih tzu whose owners couldn't get him back!  It was a bit comical though the way he kept trying to climb on Daisy and her very polite manouveres to throw him off, which ended with her just sitting down and glaring at him :lol: I apologised to the owner and thankfully he found it funny too so no harm done.


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

JenSteWillow said:


> A new topic for us thanks to an unpleasant encounter yesterday
> Kyzer acted like a different dog & not in a good way :001_unsure: he's 9months now so obviously maturing & i assume more likely to start reacting to bitches now? ..
> 
> How have yours reacted if you've come across this situation?
> ...


Depends on what stage the 'in season' dog is in, and her mood. My own dogs are trained to recall even from a bitch in season, but that's not 'normal' behaviour, it's trained.

At the early stages males may well show additional interest in the bitch, but not try to mount. As dog walkers we've had 3 or 4 owners not notice their dog is in season, and we have to tell them - thanks to the dogs we walk telling us! I've found the males (castrated or not) still reasonably easy to control at that stage as the bitch is unwelcoming. A female who wants to be mounted is harder to resist, but having rock solid recall will help.


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Spen gets ridiculously sniffy and licky and interested if he comes face to face with a bitch in season but is happy enough to walk on and has never actually sought one out. Moving him away from where they've peed is difficult though lol.


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2014)

Oh the joys of male dogs...

Bates was neutered at an estimated 4 or 5 months - before he lost his baby canines (it was not us who chose to have him neutered this early). 
He is 6 years old now, and still will chatter and drool around a bitch in heat. Yep, the air humping too depending on how on the ball I am about changing the subject for him  I can also tell if by his behavior if it&#8217;s that time of the month for women. 

Also, if he&#8217;s going to be an a$$ with another dog, it&#8217;s usually a male. 
As others have shown, he is not the only neutered dog I know to behave this way either - which is why I don&#8217;t support the whole &#8220;neuter for behavior reasons&#8221; argument. 

The flip side is that since it is mainly a behavior issue, it is modifiable - in most cases.
We have put a lot of time in to impulse control and teaching engagement and getting his cues really solid no matter what the distraction, and it really does make a difference. 

I usually get flack for saying this, but the way I see it, life is full of distractions, a bitch in heat is just another one. As an owner, I stand a much better chance if I deal with my dog, not the things distracting my dog. For example, I have a great dane who is totally obsessed with small prey (squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, leaves blowing across the path that look like chipmunks...). As a youngster her obsession got dangerous a time or two. Rather than trying to avoid squirrels, or asking all squirrels to stay inside during peak walking hours, we dealt with the dog&#8217;s behavior around squirrels. She is still very much obsessed, but with management and training (and maturity), she is safe to walk around squirrels. 
(Control Unleashed by Leslie Mcdevitt and Susan Garrett&#8217;s Crate Games are both fantastic resources.)

In the US, most major dog shows will include bitches in heat. A responsible bitch owner will be courteous about it, crate the bitch away from busy areas, wait until the last minute to bring her in the ring, that sort of thing. But the bottom line is, male dogs are expected to learn to deal with it. I figure if they can handle the close quarters and stressful environment of a dog show together, a walk in the park should be - well, a walk in the park


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## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

I was extremely surprised to learn that one of the dog clubs I know allows in season bitches in all their classes. Everything i'd ever seen with regards to training, competitions and shows stated that in season bitches werent welcome so I was very taken aback to see this club go against the norm.

Their reasons are pretty much as Ouesi states.


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## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

Sleeping_Lion said:


> Rhuna gets the chattery thing from dogs when she's nowhere near in season!


So does Kilo and he is obviously a he!! Even Roo will chatter and drool over his urine in the garden sometimes.


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## Guest (Dec 31, 2014)

Leanne77 said:


> I was extremely surprised to learn that one of the dog clubs I know allows in season bitches in all their classes. Everything i'd ever seen with regards to training, competitions and shows stated that in season bitches werent welcome so I was very taken aback to see this club go against the norm.
> 
> Their reasons are pretty much as Ouesi states.


Where I train, we have no rules against in-season bitches in any of the classes. 
Common sense and common courtesy apply of course, youre not going to put a bitch in standing heat next to the adolescent male whos in the middle of hormone intoxication, but with a few dogs in between them as buffers, its a good way to teach both the dogs and the handlers how to deal with this sort of distraction. 
And thats exactly how you handle it - as a distraction. Figure out how much distance you need until your dogs brain starts working again and go from there.


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

Leanne77 said:


> I was extremely surprised to learn that one of the dog clubs I know allows in season bitches in all their classes. Everything i'd ever seen with regards to training, competitions and shows stated that in season bitches werent welcome so I was very taken aback to see this club go against the norm.
> 
> Their reasons are pretty much as Ouesi states.


When I ran dog training classes we trialled having in season bitches in class, as we'd been told by another trainer they allowed it with no problems. We ran small classes, we weren't a bit organisation with lots of classes going on at once so it was easily manageable. All the dogs are on lead the majority of the time, and none of the dogs took any notice of the bitch in season - but our classes really focused on attention to the handler, there wasn't very much standing around at beginner and puppy level.

I did explain to the owner it was a 'trial' and if there were any problems she would have to pop the dog back in the car and spectate (or handle one of my dogs).

I have seen the bitches be more bothered than the males - I once attended someone else's class with Tinker before he was castrated and he was a bit more sniffy on the floor than usual and I couldn't work out why. Another dog kept barking in his direction which I couldn't understand, then someone noticed the dog was in season (but not before she was squirted in the face with water by the trainer  ). Tinker showed no interest in her at all - just the floor where she had been sitting. That class was very traditional though, very BiPDT so lots of hanging about and trying to do close heelwork in circles (which is never a good idea).

I left that class and went somewhere else!


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