a question...

a frined emailed me in "desperation" and honestly, im rather stumped

2 intact females...
1 intact male in the house...

1 female in standing heat...

the second female is displaying some signs of heat but doesnt seem to actually be in heat, shes not interested in the male AT ALL...no flagging, no bleding nothing, just swolen...

the male is interested in female #1, he cannot get to female number one do to her being pantied, him being belly banded and the 2 being seperated completly when they cant be watched 100%
but shows absolutly no interest in female #2...
and female # 2 wants nothing to do with him AT ALL...

heres where the strangness comes in..

female #2 is OBSESSIVE about female #1, shes humping her, shes following her round like a lost sheep, shes posessive, not eating much, obeseeivly, every chance she can humping female #1, and worse at night shes driving everyone crazy, female #1 and male are (seperately) crated in another room, female #2 sleeps with owner...
female #2 spends the ENTIRE night crying squeeking, scratching at the door, panting.

she says this has been going on a week now...
displaying ALL the signs of an intact male, not just somewhat, but full blown male with an intact female in heat in the house...
its driving her crazy, its driving female #1 crazy (the poor girl cant lie down without female #2 obsessivly humping her, guarding her, ect.

male has seemed to have hit a middle ground, he doesnt try and hump her much, (couldnt do anything if he tired) but he likes to snuggle up next to her...

but female #2 is seriously obsessing over female #1.

now personally ive known of dominant females humping sub females on occasion to assert dominance...
seems to increase more with intact females...

but this, ive never heard of anything to this extent, shes aparently trying to hump female #1 every 10 minutes, and is exhausted, panting ect yet WONT lay up...

she cant send her away as shes got nowhere to send her to...
she cant board her as the only local boarding place is aparently a hell hole...

female #1 has been in standing heat for 7 days now and this behaviour while present for the whole heat has gotten realy crazy this past 3 days.
i just dont know what to tell her, ive never delt with anything on this level before.

there all long haired chihuahuas...
shes trying to get them all to 3 before spay/neutering so their coats come in correctly and they physically mature properly.
the male is 2, the 2 females are both a year old (not related).

she talked to her vet who has never seen this kind of behaviour before...

so now shes thinking of just spaying her asap...because this isnt behaviour she wants to let go on again if this happens again before she hits 3.
shes very worried that this is going to make her ill too, shes so obsessivly humping ect that shes pysically exhausted and not sleeping and that cant be good for her...

so she asked me what i thought...
im clueless so im asking you what you think...

Help?!

Is this either one's first heat? Are the girls related?

I've seen this, although not quite to this extent, in some bitches in the past. I had 4 intact girls all in heat at once and they formed a humping conga line in the yard.

I'd try something to calm her, like Rescue Remedy, and see if #2 comes into heat soon. Also, watch her for false pregnancy - sounds like her hormones are out of whack. (Scientifically speaking, of course )

I've heard of this before, I actually thought it was kinda normal.

Can she just crate and rotate the girls for the next two weeks? I doubt the behavior will continue after they come out of heat, I wouldn't worry about spaying her ASAP.

this is neithers first heat. female #2 (the one obsessivly trying it with female #1) did seem to have a split heat. shell be watching for symptoms of false pregnancy...
unfortunatly female #2 goes insane in a crate, so other than keeping girly 1 crated full time...

right now shes just on "watch dog" duty with a squirt bottle...

ive never had a toy breed stay in standing heat for a full 7 days either...toys generally are in standing for 4-5 days, but this girl is in standing on day 7...

will definatly give her some rescue remidy to try.

ive seen this behaviour in terms of some humping with females before, but never this extreem.

It doesn't sound like the sign of a problem, but if she did this every heat, I'd want to spay her ASAP just because it's annoying!

This is sometimes worse when owning intact dogs of both sexes. Sometimes just bringing an intact male into a home of intact females can bring the females into heat.

Just being around the male hormones and not being able to breed can prolong the heat cycle.

If the girls are a year old, their hormones could just be stronger than they were last heat cycle. In my own dogs, I have noticed the first heat cycle or two they don't act much out of whack, or try to get to males etc. The more times they go into season, the worse it gets.

Since these are toy breeds, if she has such a problem with the behavior I would suggest s/n. Most toy breeds are pretty much mature by the ages of hers. The coat will still mature fully.