Post heat risks

[kazP]

Abi commenced her heat on 20th January... so she is now at day 14. I don't know if this is relevant, but it's her first heat and she's 14 months old.

On Feb 10th I've got a dog trainer coming down from London to stay with me for a week (talked about on a different thread). An important part of the trainer's brief is to help Abi socialise with other dogs (she currently lunges for them making walks a dangerous nightmare - so really this is at the top of the list of things to be sorted).

The trainer arrives on day 22 of Abi's heat... how will this affect things? Will she still be a bit of a stinky-poo and attract male dogs? Can we walk her in parks and places we know other dogs will be? Will dog socialisation training be a waste of time because she will be at the tail end of her season (so she's behaving differently)?

I always feel so daft asking these question. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jude]

By day 22 she should no longer smell attractive to male dogs as she should be well past her fertile period. However, she may still retain some nice smells - it might be a good idea to give her a bath or use one of the spray shampoos that you can get from pet stores, which might help to mask any remaining scent. As far as changes in behaviour are concerned, it really depends on hormone changes and personally I would just carry on as normal and expect her to behave as "normal"!

[sami]

She should be all over with it by then but some dogs have extended seasons (my Samis used to last 6 or 7 weeks) but that is not the norm.

Generally speaking if her bits have returned to normal you should be ok, which they should be starting to do over the next week.

Try not to stick your head between her legs in public it tends to make you look a bit of a weirdo!!!

As Jude says unless anything else turns up treat her as normal.

Tracy

[kazP]

Tracy... that is gonna be so hard trying to break the habit of sticking head between legs, but I must resist the urge

Abi's lunge is so horrid that I'm desperate to get this fixed (Jude got to be on the other end of one of those 'lunge to kill other dog' moments).

I've got a feeling her heat will last longer because she's still dripping red blood and I thought they went through a 'straw / salmon' coloured time half-way through (sorry tmi?).

Thank Jude and Tracy for offering 'hope' (lol) and shampoo advice

Zee's lasted 4 weeks. Even when there were no visible signs like blood or discharge, other dogs found her 'interesting' and sniffed her bits. So some smell was still there in her case.

[kelpiemad]

All the best with the trainer. keep asking lots of questions and ask if they will go over and over the advise and explain it all to you when you have a trainer come in. its is a lot to take in I will be thinking of you and I hope you solve your problems

[kazP]

Many thanks Anni and Kelpiemad

The breeder has just told me that her mum usually goes 21 days, so fingers and toes crossed.

The trainer usually trains whilst the owner is away, this will be his first time with an owner present... I hope to learn loads. I'll let you know how we get on and take some pics too.

x

[GV9297]

Originally Posted by kazP

Many thanks Anni and Kelpiemad

The trainer usually trains whilst the owner is away, this will be his first time with an owner present...

??????? sorry but I find this a bit odd as usually the handler needs to be trained too - I know I needed some training when Diesel was doing this (he was 14 / 15 months old as well!)

I hope it goes well but if there is something you dont like the trainer doing stop the session immediately - sorry dont mean to be rude or tell you how to suck eggs etc.

[kazP]

No problem... in fact I think the trainer himself thought my request was a bit odd:

YouTube - Training your dog to heel on a loose leash: Dog training In London (HD)

[kazP]

Oooops, wrong link... this is the one:

YouTube - Dog Training in London: Consultation on separation anxiety