Hi. I have a question which I hope some-one can advise me on please. I am not planning to breed, but I have a Golden, who, on following good advice from here, I decided to not have spayed until she is at least 18 months old. She is now 14 months old, and last Sunday (8 days ago) she started her very first season. It was extremely light. Literally just spotting. I've only ever had one bitch that had a season before (the others were spayed early), but this other bitch had a really heavy blood flow, apart from a few days after 19 days, where it got less and more of a clear discharge, then she went back to heavy blood loss again until the 4 weeks were up. I thought maybe our current bitch would get heavier in time, but just 4 days after a couple of spots, it just stopped. No discharge at all now, not even clear discharge. She's completely dry, even when I check by dabbing with some tissue. Surely she can't have finished already could she? I've looked online, but it says that roughly 9-12 days into their season, that it may change to a clear discharge, which is what my other girl did, but 19 days into it. If her season is over, I can resume her training, and taking out for walks, but if it is just her ovulation time, obviously I won't. Trouble is, no sites say it can be after just 4 days of spotting, and none seem to say that they are bone dry when ovulation. Her swelling has also gone down a bit too, although it was quite minimal to start with. Has anyone had this experience? There's little point in expensive tests, as I'm not intending to breed, but would welcome any advice, thank you.

Its not unusual for a first season (or any other season) to be particularly light. The same bitch could have identical seasons through her life or no consistancy at all! Treat her as if she is "normal" and keep her away from other males for at least 21 days from the start of her season. I know of  bitches that have mated up to 25 days after the start, so be careful. ;-)

For safety's sake, you have to assume she is still in season but just not bleeding - and behave accordingly with exercise until 21 days.

That's late and could indicate she has a hormonal problem in which case once this has all settled down again (and hopefully she's not caught because these split seasons can be difficult re knowing exactly where she is in terms of being kept away from any other male), the best thing would be to get her spayed.  End of problem.

I wanted my Whippet spayed but after being advised by my vet at the time, we held off until by 11 months there was still no sign of a season starting, so I asked my vet to go ahead with the spay.  Which is what I think I'd have done with your bitch rather than sit it out to 18 months.  Hindsight and all that ....................

I would treat her like its a normal season and keep her safe for 28 days.
As for delaying the spaying i would too because for a large breed its actually better for them to fully mature before you spay them which lends itself roughly to around 2yrs old.

One of mine was similarly late with her first season and had only two or three until the age of 5 when I decide to spay. Vets were happy she had no signs of hormonal problems and we had no problem in spay. I also always counted a full month for her season for safety. Bleeding varied each time ,similar to other bitchers I've had

Thank you all :) I will keep her from her regular walks and training until 21-28 days. I only have one male here, and he was neutered about a year ago, so no worries indoors, and our dogs at always watched closely in the garden (too many garden thefts of dogs around here). The garden is very secure regards her jumping out too, with a 7.5 foot fence. After having a bitch develop problems, potentially due to early, I’d rather wait until she is mature, so at least 18 months old. There’s no risk of pregnancy, so I’d rather not risk potential problems by spaying before she is fully mature, and I don’t think that is yet. She is still very puppy like in ways and looks. I think the advice I received on here regarding spaying later is sound advice. I have also found additional advice online supporting this. Thank you x

From what I've read Golden's can be this late with their first season can't they? I've read that some can even be past 18 months old before their first season, although more commonly before then, so I wouldn't think she had hormonal problems based on the late first season alone. I know her line started around a year of age, and she's only just 14 months old, so not far past the normal age for her line. As she'll be neutered in around 18-24 months old, I wouldn't have thought it'd pose too many problems if she was slightly hormonal would it? I would always check her before I left the house anyway, especially at the age she is, just in case. I just don't want to give her potential further problems by spaying before she was fully mature. xx

I had a GSD whose first season was at 12 months, another at 18 months and a BSD at almost three years. Maybe some larger breeds do have a tendency to come in later. The GSDs had at least one season at six month intervals and were both spayed at about two years old having had no problems. The BSD was five when she was spayed as her second season was 14 months after the first and the third about 11 months later. The last one was a bit of a problem as she was in for four weeks, stopped and then a week later lost dark, old blood, which worried me in case she had pyo. It was a bit of a problem knowing the correct time to have her done as the recommendation was three months before a season.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice <3 xx

It's normal for some dogs not to have a first season until 24 months.  If it's later than that, get a check up at the vet (check hormone levels, thyroid etc).