What do you do with in heat females?

As some of you already know thanks to my pre-trial woes, Kili is coming into her first season. We've had increasing vulvar swelling for 5 days now but that's about it so far.

From those of you who now find this commonplace... what do you do with your in season bitches? I'm mostly talking management and activity.

Summit is neutered so there is no risk of an accidental litter, but he may well still be quite interested and I'm not entirely sure how to deal with that. I mean, while typing this he just went over before I could stop him and licked her vulva and is now chattering and slobbering all over the floor. Disgusting.

And then ther is the matter of... what the heck do I do with her for 3 weeks to prevent me from going insane? I mean, should I continue to leash walk her until she stops bleeding? Should I just keep her in the house and attended in the fenced backyard from now onwards? Our once or twice a week major exercise is usually off leash hiking or jogging and that's out. My trainer said she was still welcome at agility class if she wore panties so at least we still have that. Fortunately our yard is big enough that we can do a bit of agility training (a few jumps and weave poles) and a tiny bit of disc (but she's good enough now that really we need to start getting out of our yard to get more distance).

So let's hear it. What do you do? Am I being over cautious about the leash walking thing? Or can I pretty much not let her out of the house ever except to pee?

I'd keep it to yard exercise if you can. She'll survive.

Your male can still "do the deed" and tie, even though he's neutered.... so no unsupervised time together.

Didgie's first and only heat so far was in winter and they were already on way reduced exercise because of it so I didn't really end up changing much. Just play in the yard for a few weeks.

She's showing signs of coming in again I think and my plan in yard play and biking since we don't have any issues with loose dogs around my area and she's never unsupervised outside.

As for the boy (now boys), I use belly bands and panties (on Didgie) for extra precaution. During the first part of her heat I didn't separate if I was right there but that was only doable because he had no interest in her. Farther on into her heat I kept them separated just for my peace of mind.

Now, I have intact males so I made sure I had at least a door between them and often she/he was crated behind a door. I think Fergus is going to be a major pain this round, Traveler overall last time was fabulous. He only started getting anxious right at the tail end of her heat.

I did have her pee in a separate area away from where they normally go because the pee smell would set Traveler off.

I guess this was my main interest. We don't have a loose dog problem here either so I thought maybe I could keep walking her. Then I was like "But at work we always tell people that male dogs will eat through brick walls to get to a female in heat so maybe dogs will come busting out of houses left, right and centre if I walk her!". lol. But seriously... is that paranoid? I thought I'd just walk her up until she stopped bleeding and keep her in during her receptive period. But then was like... "maybe I'm not being paranoid enough!"

I think everyone has a horror story they've heard :rofl1:

My own parents years ago had a GSD break into the house to get to their Golden who was in heat while they weren't home. But, to be fair they never walked her so it wasn't that leading him to the house and they left the door open so it was just the screen door stopping him.

I figure there is a good middle ground between paranoid and way to lax.

If I was out of the house Didgie was in a crate and behind a door and if I could I brought Traveler (more to get him out of the house than anything else). I bet there are probably dogs somewhere that would be intense enough to go through the door and the crate but the likelihood of them finding their way into my house is...slim.

Well, she is crated overnight and when we aren't home. I guess I'll have to see what happens with Summit. It would suck to lock him out of the room where she's crated because that's the bedroom and he sleeps on our bed. Not that there aren't dog beds in the living room if need be.

I just keep my bitch separated via multiple doors, but her exercise/training routine stays the same. She's never unsupervised when out of a kennel anyways, so it hasn't been an issue here

Xanax and vodka?

Alright, no real horror stories here. Little female dogs with big male dog. Just sort of crate (or bathroom, or bedroom) rotating. It felt like the heats were never ending, male dog totally antsy and shaking through the whole thing, stops eating for a few days, and starts marking in the house. No one ever broke through doors or windows . I did have the intact male neutered last month finally because it's more of a pain for me than it was worth.

The neutered dogs don't really care about dogs in heat. Sometimes they seem to notice, but it seems like they don't know what to do. I do think they all got a tiny bit 'testier' among each other, but it could have been the intact dog in that state of mind.

lol. Is the xanax and vodka for me or for Kili?

Have you had one in heat since the neuter? Summit is neutered but he has definitely noticed. He's not overly obnoxious about it or worked up, but she's not really in yet either. He's been sniffing her vulva more and has licked and chattered once. But I'm wondering just how worked up he'll get about it. It probably differs from dog to dog, but I'm curious if the neutered boys tend to really get upset as well or just sort of "Huh, something is different... you smell good... I seem to remember I'm supposed to do something now?"

This varies, for sure. Some will breed bitches if given the opportunity, some are ho-hum.

You AND Kili .

Not that I've noticed...it should be any time now but Ritzy is like, 6lbs and I never see any bleeding or anything from her. It's possible I might not be aware if the other dogs don't clue me in.

The only real difference for the girls is I make them wear panties when they're in the house. Pepper also has to hang out with Georgie. =P Generally speaking it's girls together and boys together, no gender mixing, so instead of being out with her bros she is only let out with Georgie.


Auggie is interested in the girls when they're in season, BUT he is also the one more likely to hump all the time. Payton isn't really a humper unless the girls are in. Then Payton takes obnoxious to the next level, because why WOULDN'T Payton take obnoxious to the next level? It drives Payton insane - it doesn't really seem to "bother" Auggie exactly except that he'll wander over and go "oh hey so I'm going to hump you k?" But there's no pacing, no crying, no howling and singing, no chasing them around any chance he might get, no hovering outside the door where the bitches are because I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE, no driving me crazy in the middle of the night because THERE IS A GIRL IN SEASON IN THIS HOUSE!!! from Auggie. Also he's not really a lick-and-chatter dog, so that's never happened with him. Payton is though... Payton is. >=|

Lark has a heat coming up in the next two months so we will be dealing with this for the fourth time. Her life doesn't change too much besides having to be diapered in the house. I still play ball with her off leash out in the yard, we live out in the country and there are no houses within at least half a mile with intact males. She is still crated while we are gone. The biggest change is for Hawk who is normally never crated, suddenly has to deal with being crated while we are gone. He is still calm enough to be supervised with her in the house(with her diaper on) until she gets to about day 11 then he starts being nuts and needs to be separated completely with zero contact for about 4-5 days.

We now have a large kennel run set up in the garage tho so he will have a larger area to stay in while we are gone instead of being confined to the crate. Can only use it in good weather tho as the garage has no temperature control so temps outside have to be between 40F and 80F for me to put him out there.

A friend of mine has a dog who was neutered around 3 years old, and she also has an intact bitch. He has tied with the bitch on two occasions and he whimpers and whines at the door if he knows she is on the other side.


There are people who own a plot of hunting land right next to our land and sometimes they work out there and bring their male Labrador. A week after Larks second heat they brought there Lab out and he took off on them and walked around our house quite a bit, I think he could smell that she had been in season. So definitely be careful of suitors!

Strider couldn't care less, and that's even though he did breed her accidentally one time when he was intact. (it didn't take thank goodness!) Most sight hounds aren't especially aggressive breeders. Usually.

I walk Kaia during her season, but I do carry a cane just in case. She doesn't like strange male dogs rushing her and loathes being humped. She's especially tetchy about males approaching her rear when she's in season. If she was flagging everything in sight it'd be different, but she doesn't. If a male dog did try something there's a good chance he might need stitches afterward.

Edit: After her discharge turns straw colored I only take her out for potty breaks though. That only lasts a few days.

I've owned multiple intact bitches and honestly haven't done anything too differently that stands out. I don't walk them off leash, and I supervise in my yard, but I will walk them on leash if I feel they really need to get out. But mostly we stay home and play in the yard and just play fun little games or work on tricks if they're bored. Journey has panties but doesn't really wear them. She likely will now that we have carpet though. Last time we had hardwood so I only put them on if I wanted her on the couch. I also did not leave her and Ripley unattended eventhough he is neutered, but he really didn't show much interest in her anyway (not as much as I was expecting). The main thing I had to watch is Journ and Dance were being a little bitchy with one another, so if I saw anybody give eachother the hairy eye, I'd tell them to knock it off. And obviously Journ was not left unattended with Dance (or Keira) either.

I don't have any males in the house so that helps. But other than that i don't do anything different when they are in heat. We do the same training, we go to the same places, we bike the same routes, play outside the same.

^basically that, except that my neutered male really would like to breed my girls, so for the standing heat week they were kept separate. For him, any barrier was enough, he just would mount and annoy the girl if in the same room sans barrier.

Great thread, I'm a little scared about the day Cajun goes into heat! So much easier to not have to give it any thought.

The plan is to just play and train in the backyard and inside, pretty much, and no going out unsupervised. It will make for a sad Feist, but better sad than pregnant.

I lock 'em up and throw away the key!

(Also: Train & play as usual just am very picky about location and keep her on a leash or long line during standing heat if not otherwise confined. So what we do is affected, but not really how much we do.)