Sorry if this one has been done before, but its been a while since my older girls went through this (now both spayed) and my memory is not great! My 9 month old kelpie is showing signs of coming into season. Her vulva started swelling about a week ago, but as yet no discharge. Her behaviour became a little more scaty last week, which i expected too. Yesterday my neutered male became interested in her (which is unusual as he isn't a particularly randy dog, seems to prefer neutered males, and never even noticed when my boyfriends dog was in season!) and keeps trying to nibble her and sniff her, which of course we are distracting him from her.
Typically molly was due to come camping with me at a flyball show on the 14th aug, but i'm sure thats out the window now. :-(
My question is, could she be having a silent season or could she just be taking her time with coming in? How long are they usually swollen for before they start bleeding? I think there is definately a chance that she could swell some more as she isn't quite as big as her mum and sisters were when in season.
Also is my neutered male likely to be interested for the whole 3 weeks? I know they can still tie when neutered, but i wasn't sure he would even notice tbh! He was a little depressed last week and i wondered if it was connected to her homone levels changing.
Thanks in advance

A bitches first season can be a bit 'funny' in that it doesn't always follow the rules ;-) She may just be pre season. This can be a week or so before she actually comes into season properly, or she may be keeping herself very clean, which is why you aren't seeing any blood. Some bitches don't bleed too much with a first season, others will bleed like there's no tomorrow

I would still keep your male away from her. If they do mate when you aren't there to supervise you could end up with seriously damaged dogs. :-( If she pulls away from him when tied he could rip himself badly, and that will not be easy to heal. She could also do some damage to herself, which again is not easy to heal.

Why do bitches always come into season at the wrong time? I have one in season just now and will be at the height of her season when I get my new kitchen put in ;-) Oh, I also have an entire male in the house :-D

Well she is still just as swollen, i saw a tiny drop of blood yesterday but haven't seen anything since. Murphy has stopped taking interest now which is odd! I assume she has been in season all this time but is just very light and very clean. Its going to be hard to work out when she finishes though as i don't really know when she started!