Well, Lana has come into her first season the day she turned 13 months, she has been lightly bleeding for 2 day's and is very clean.  Although its only been a couple of day's she doesn't seem to mind on lead road walks (even though I feel guilty not letting her have a run :rolleyes:)  But I wont walk her over our field cos I dont think it fair on the boy's!  I realise the worse is still to come and I intend to do extra training sessions at home to keep her occupied but she doesn't really seem bothered at the mo.  Does anyone else experience a disinterest in exercise during season's, or how do you exercise your bitches??
Sarah :)

We exercise our bitches in season exactly the same as when they are not in season (although we obviously take the males and females separately after the first 4 or 5 days!)

Our bitches still look forward to their walks when in season and are no less active than usual.

snomaes

I would never take a bitch out where dogs are likely to be exercised off lead. I consider it very inconsiderate to the owners of dogs. Although I have full control of my bitches the scent of a bitch in season is more than enough for a good many dog owner to loose control of their dogs. If they try to follow my bitches home then the dog is going to have to cross busy roads with all the attendant risks to both itself and to the road users. I walk mine on lead around an industrial estate where all other dogs should be on lead.

I take my bitch to a very secluded area - a good distance from where I live and walk her through the woods on a lead. We don't have stray dog problems here, but you never know. The only thing she usually meets is a very strangely marked cat - and since she lives with cats has no interest anyway. I also bleach out my back patio area every day, as I live is a heavily residential area to keep unwanted visitors away. I never let her out unsupervised, even in the front garden which is fenced in as I have known dogs to mate through a fence!!!!! 

When my bitch was ready to stand for a male, she was keen to get out - usually about day 12ish. but we were vigilant.

When our neighbour brought her bitch in season to the park it caused havoc. Our male lab ran away and we found him nose to ground very close to where the bitch lives!

That is exactly how I feel John and will continue to exercise on 'road' on lead.  Thanks ManxPat - We do have some secluded spots but I will remain vigilant and careful around day 12!!!  Lana can be a bit of a tart when not in season, so I dare say she will be even worse at her most receptive??
Sarah :)

I dont take my bitch out till the season has nearly finished . her seasons are well over 3 weeks sometimes 4 but for probably the first two weeks or more she dosent get a walk we have a very big backgarden with 6 foot fences not gates she gets to run about with me . hey its good for both of us :D  keep her ocupied with footballs ( she loves them ) but its better safe then sorry . after 2 weeks or so shes on road walks.  In 15 years i have only seen one dog straying and i picked him up twice . aparently no one else could get him he used to run away he just walked up to me .weird . so i dont think theres much chance of meeting an oflead loose dog. once she has been to the toilet i put her swimmers nappies back on . i cut a whole for the tail so even if a dog got in he would have to figure what the heck she was wearing :D

You do realise that by ewaiting around two weeks you are actually waiting until the bitch is at her most attractive receptive, so if you have no problem with lead walking at two weeks polus you may as well have been taking her out from day one :D

Mine get road walked right through (good dog warden coverage means no latchkey dogs) but I would never dream of taking them to a secluded spot for off lead excersise, as surely if I go there then other dsog owners must at other times, and poor unsuspecting male dog owner will wonder why their male has gone deaf with nose to ground hunting for my bitches scent.

At least on the lead any dog that picks their scent the street will be under control.

Milly, young pointer, is about to come into season and she will be lead walked.  Although we live in a fairly remote area where there are no other dog walkers around - there shouldn't be because it's private land - there are farm collies around here.  The two that are allowed free range are neutered but the other collies aren't.  She will also be walked separately to Harvey, who is entire.

To get back to the original question, she loves her walks and is never tired of them.  We have to go further because she's not getting the free running that she usually does and the one thing pointers enjoy, is running :-D

Helen

Helen - our situation sounds similar to yours. We live in a fairly remote area, which is private land, so there are no other dog walkers around (apart from our neighbours setter who is castrated). We do keep an eye out for the farm collies but they are not allowed to roam free and only come out with the farm hand so when our bitch came into season (a week ago) I let him know (we've only ever met him and the dogs twice in the four months we've lived here) and we discussed when would be the best time for us to walk our bitch - he's only around from mid morning to mid afternoon which suits us fine as we can walk her in the early morning and then again in the evening. So we're fairly lucky in that we can continue to exercise our bitch pretty much as I would have done normally (we don't allow her to go off the lead where we live anyway, as we can only let her off in secure areas). The only difference is that I can't take her to the country parks around here like I do normally but that's not a problem :)

The area I live in has quite a few loose dogs running around (never seen the dog warden). I tend to road walk my girls either very very early in the morning or late at night. I have a six foot fence round my garden however, I have to take my girls out on leads in the garden as one of the loose dogs jumps, scrables, climbs and manages to get in. My older girls come into season within about 2 days of each other so it's like a military operation just getting them out for the loo.  
Alli