Hello, sorry if this is going to sound stupid, but I've never had a bitch from pup before, so not used to un-spayed ladies!

My Lab is now around 10 months.  She is having her first season now and has all the usual signs - quiet and feeling a little sorry for herself at times, nesting, small amount of blood, swollen teats and swollen vulva.

This all seems quite normal, as per the books, internet info I've read.  However, most info is very general.  What I need to know, is how much is a normal amount of swelling down there!  She seems so swollen, that at times it is affecting her walking.  My hubby says she looks like a Baboon (harsh - but I didn't expect a bloke to be sympathetic!).  She seems enlarged around her whole back-end area, right up to her bottom.

As I said, sorry to sound dim, but is this normal??!

Thank you

It is quite normal for the whole perineal area to be swollen and hard, and with some of mine it is all the swelling I have ever really had as a couple of my girls actual genitals hardly swelled.  My youngest ahs just been in  season again and she swells markedly and is slow to return to normal and is bigger when finished than her grandmother was in full season.

The bitch normally becomes receptive to mating once the perineal and vulval swelling reduce.  A season lasts on average for 21 days, but I have a male staying and he would have mated his daughter up to day 25, so I always say keep well away from male dogs for nearly 4 weeks.

Thanks Brainless.

Sorry to sound neurotic - just worried about my little girl.

You have re-assured me though.  Poor little thing can't understand why we wont let her off the lead.  Think she'll go stir crazy soon...

Don't be surprised if she gets a bit full of sighs for a few weeks after the season ends.  Lots of walks, and if she has any signs of nesting broody behaviour cut her food a bit especially the protein, and don't allow her to nurse toys, or mope around in heer bed.  You may even have3 to take her bed away if she develops a phantiom pregnancy to a marked degree.  It is perfectly normal for a bitch to show some signs of a phantom after a season and most have mild symptoms.

Ok, thanks for the advice.

I have to admit though, it makes a nice change to see her being gentle with her toys - she's normally decapitating them!

Hi LizzieB, its quite normal. I have 6 bitches and all vary in their seasonal swelling. But Penny always looks like she has a prolapse, she swells so much she finds it difficult to sit comfortably.  She is now 4.5 years old and has done this every season, and as your husband says, poor soul does look like the back end of a baboon :D  Just to add, she has never been mated so dont know if this would make a difference to later seasons.