I have reason to believe that Gypsy is coming into her 1st heat cycle. I was in the bathroom, which I rarely get to go to unaccompanied of course, and as she turned around to leave the room, I saw a lightly pink droplet. I also just found a light pink smear on a blanket on the floor. I am soooo unprepared! I don't have doggy diapers or anything to contain the mess.

I do believe this means a few weeks of No Walks around the neighborhood (we did go this morning before I saw any issues leaking out), which will be utterly detrimental to my sanity and hers too. Zisso seems to be more interested in her bum than usual. Thank goodness he is fixed! But seriously, this is not how I envisioned my first 4th of July with her. I can't get close enough to look and see if it is true because she is still too excitable- she gets wound up in a hot second the minute I try to do anything with her. (ie: look in her mouth, look at her feet, look at her privates) she instantly thinks it's time to get wild and play.

From Banfield.com: in part: "Your dog may display changes in behavior such as being jumpy or on edge. In this stage, she may hold her tail close to her body and shows no signs of wanting to breed. She may also become more clingy to you." My first thought was how can she become more clingy than she already is? LOL She Never leaves my side unless it is to get into trouble or go poop!

Anyway, she is 8 months old and I seriously wasn't expecting it so soon, especially today with it being the 4th of July. Oh boy! This is the one part of having a female that I do not enjoy. Even if I had the diaper things to put on her to contain the mess, she is not the kind of dog to leave them on; she would shred them and make a bigger mess....but why I wasn't thinking ahead for this moment I don't have a clue.

Do you have a tractor supply or petsense? They should be open today for doggie diapers.

I picked up some disposable doggie diapoers, but decided not to even try them...she will just shred them to get them off
IF I could even wrangle her enough to get one on. So far she is in the super light stage and not noticing the pads under the blankets on the couches and I can wash them every night (blankets). The coming days will prove to be interesting. I am giving thought to getting cloth diapers from Amazon-they should hopefully get here in time to conquer the worst of the mess. The lack of walks is going to be the hardest- but I refuse to take her while in heat, with her serious dislike for other dogs and the attraction she would be to the boys out there. That would be asking for trouble.

Beware when ordering the bitch britches on line. Measure your dog rather than going by the sizing offered by weight. I have a pair I bought because they were cheap but they are too small for BTY2. I can make you an adjustable pair. I just use the pads made for human females in these cloth britches. The ones designed for dogs cost a lot more. Another thing that worked for my dogs, was for me to take a pair of women's briefs and alter them by slitting up the front (as in human perspective ) This would leave a flap on either side to tie over the dog's back.

My dogs both like/d (BTE2 is spayed) their britches -- it was like they were something special. Kinda funny. "Panties!" and the dog trots right up. Neither of my dogs bled particularly heavily....

Good luck and you will do just fine. So will GB. BTW I didn't notice any marked personality/behavior changes with my two.

My experience is limited to Nova's two heats-the first at 9.5 mo and the second at 15 mo. She was spayed at 19 mo. The dog diapers and their modifications were a new kind of sport for her. Actually the whole thing was no big deal (thank goodness). There were a few drops on the floor-she really cleaned herself a lot. She was more clingy and whiny and much more interested in the scents of the other dogs around here. She only excretes on walks so we just avoided other dogs and that worked well enough.

I really hope it's easy for you and Gypsy.

MJ

Thanks Ladies!

I have decided to skip the whole thing (diapers) mainly because miss excitable would fight me to get them on, and I am just not going there, and partly because I know she won't leave them on. I think we are going to sail through this-she is a very clean dog as far as I can tell. Z's interest is manageable...just something new to check out. Of course, I say all with with caution as it is only day 2. We walk every other day now, and go early enough that there are few other dogs out so I will try to continue those too.

On another topic real quick, the 4th of July fireworks went off without a hitch last night. I kept my bedroom TV on till just after midnight. Not one bark from Gypsy. We went to bed around 9ish. Sadly it proves to me more than ever that Z is losing his hearing because he slept in his usual place all night without so much as a tremble...matter of fact he zonked out hard. It was the 1st time since I adopted him at 16 months old, that he did not need to be in bed with me during the fireworks and he is going to be 12 in September. At least Gypsy wasn't affected by the noise which means she was good for the night and that was one less thing for her to be reactive about. That was a relief!

The only one of the bitches I did britches was Rayna, we could go to OB class but she had to have britches on. I kept the girls off the carpeting and tile floor was easy to wipe up.

Personality changes, Cheyenne pretty much nothing, DeeDee was a drama queen she just laid around and moaned, Rayna was a bit snarky.

Day 2 seems I have seen nothing. False heat maybe? I am confused. I have a big protective pad ( like for beds ) that she has been laying on and no signs of anything.

Don't count on it just yet --- Riah's discharge is uneven. Day 1 & 2 light, 3 heavier, then this time it looks like lighter for a bit Also, as you aren't using britches, she could be self-cleaning. Or it just could be a very light heat - she may have very light heats She may be very tidy. .....

Her age seems about right. I think that's about when Ciara had her first season. We used the pads/ doggie diapers. I waslucky that she didn't fuss much about wearing them.
Caleb did show a lot of interest in her during this time and we ended up having to supervise. One night we let them out to do their business and found them tied, which Ciara didn't seem to be too enthused about at the time. Fortunately, Caleb was neutered, but it didn't stop him from trying.

Oh wow Johanna! I didn't think a neutered male would even try! Luckily for me, Z seems attracted to her but not overly anxious.

She is bleeding heavier today, so I am not taking chances by doing our daily walks. She is being very clean and acting totally normal otherwise. She wants to play a lot due to the lack of walks, and it is getting warmer, so I am upping our training indoors. We need to work on impulse control anyway. And Stay!

Yesterday I decided a washing machine drum that dad had to use as a little burn barrel would make a good deep planter and started cleaning it out. Found an infestation of earwigs in the bottom .... eeewww! Later Gypsy wouldn't leave it alone and I didn't want her eating the remnants of burnt debris in the bottom so I tipped it over with my left foot, thinking it would stop on the side, but it kept moving and landed on my right foot. Later it was quite painful so I went to the ER and had it x rayed- no breaks- just swollen and painful. Now that I have been up several hours it feel pretty good and isn't so painful to walk on, but another good excuse to not do our morning walk LOL And I am still going to use the drum for a planter

Bev,

If I remember correctly, Caleb was neutered a few months before Ciara's heat. You may not have any problems with Z. But. I'd still keep an eye on him with her. It wasn't til later in Ciara's cycle that he did that, not the first week. And I was like you, I didn't think he would try because he was neutered.

I like the idea of the drum as a planter. But I also need a burn barrel.... I have no drum anyway except for the washer that's, too new (I hope) to be turning into something else very soon.

Bev, as I understand it, unless she's one that bleeds throughout her cycle, it's not the heavy bleeding that's a sign of fertility. Kinda late to suggest this, but you could have taken her temperature throughout --- that might help predict ovulation - or not - but vets can do hormone checks and give you the acurate "handler alert" days. I know the worry that comes with a bitch's first heat when you live in town. But even in the berg and neighborhood that regularly saw people let their dogs loose at night (I guess they thought that after dark the animal control laws didn't apply) we managed fine. But I watched!

One of my friends had two small dogs - male neutered, female intact. The male would repetedly mount the female when she was in heat. Johanna isn't the only pair that tried this. We're going to hope that Mr. Z gets no ideas about that.

Good plan to use the time for training. It's great when they are somewhat desperate for attention.

BTW it must have been "hard on human feet in Oregon" day. I stepped into the tub to rinse of a pair of dirty feet - only the left one didn't get high enough. Three of the four good toes on that foot got banged. I knew they were sore but figured I was just being a woose. But with socks off, at least two are swollen and all three have "more color" than usual. So not as fancy a job as you did but I should get extra point for "very stupid"

Oh Middle...extra points given! Oddly enough after walking on the sore foot yesterday to play fetch 2x's and doing other things around the house the soreness wore off. It hurt more to just sit.

I kind of figured it would be later in the cycle before she would be receptive, but she is a hater of all dog but Z, so it would be an ugly situation if another dog try to cozy up to her just for the scent alone...LOL I feel safer keeping her off the streets until this of over. Remember...I am reactive...and over protective too!

This is working out pretty nicely though- extra training is working out....I won't say her impulse control has improved much, but I am determined. At the moment I can't get her to stay in the living room while I back down the hall...the second I am out of sight she is up to find me. Zisso is of no help- he has to be outside or he makes things worse. Meanwhile I got the lawn mowed early and have water on it, dishwasher is running, flowers are watered, and dogs are quiet.

Nothing better than quiet dogs on a Sunday morning...except sleep haha

It's my day off and I am relaxing. Not a lot of play going on outside because of the heat. So Gypsy is entertaining herself by chasing a fly around the house. She is usually good at catching them, but this one is elusive...it keeps teasing her and she is on the move looking for it constantly. Cracks me up! She can't catch it in the window sill like normal because it's isn't going there and when it does, Z is in the way hahaha!

Her heat cycle is going off without a hitch. She is doing great despite the lack of walks every day. We do a bit if training, but I have kind of dropped the ball there with extra work popping up. Lots of bones to chew on to keep her busy too (never unattended though) and she is extra cuddly in the evenings.

We are in a good place.

Now if she could catch the fly and settle down hahaha!

Thanks for the update-glad Gypsy is behaving so well for you. Z has rights belonging to the big brother .

MJ

Z is showing a heightened interest in Gypsy today so I am assuming she is close to ready to accept a male.

I am keeping them separated for now. He is becoming a nuisance very quickly. Getting on my nerves because he won't leave her alone. How long does this phase last? I googled but can't find anything specific to the question. A few days?

I am ready for this to be over.....I miss our walks, miss the old routine and much prefer it over this one.

Is she flagging her tail? You've probably got about a week to go, based on when you said she started. If she flagging her tail, that means she is ready to accept a male.

Not flagging her tail yet that I can tell...will keep close watch though. Thank you Johanna!

It jsut dawned on me that she started this heat cycle on July 4th LOL It has felt like weeks already but in reality it has only been 9 days, including today