Previously, when my Labs have been in season, I have continued to walk them, in a particularly quiet area, where I rarely see another walker. Today however one of the bitches was mounted by a dog who appeared well before his owner. Before I could rescue her, the 'mating' was over. (Seconds, maybe a minute, no tie)

She lives outside. I am almost certain she is only 4/5 days into her season. She has a red discharge, no swelling of the vulva. She 'play' mounts her kennel mate and allows her to do the same. She showed no sign of distress. I am unsure if she actually was 'mated' or rather mounted.

I immediately rang my vet who advised me that I can have injections for her on days three and five to prevent a pregnancy.

I would welcome advice from breeders. I feel she is not yet at the fertile stage, and while she 'stood' very nicely, she does this for the other bitch, so I am unsure it is an indication of her being 'ready' I would not subject her to an unplanned litter, yet I am concerned about side effects from the injections, especially if they are unnecessary. She is an excellent working dog, with clear health checks and I had hoped to breed from her in the future.

if there was no tie that you think of then the chance of pregnancy is minimal are you sure he didnt tie i have bred a female where the tie only lasted a couple of seconds before it let go so there is a chance he did tie. I would get the injection whether you were planning to breed her this time around or not. If you are unsure it is too big of a chance she could get pregnant and i would have the injection.

i never walk my bitch when she is in season for two reason to prevent a male mating her and also because she is usually lethargic the first week then she goes to the stud dog and then after that i have a little incubation period to prevent infections or further matings the incubation period finishes as soon as her heat has finished, i would suggest not walking a in season bitch in the future

one thing you could do is have a smear test done and if it says she is ready i would have the injection but you are still running a risk of an unwanted litter

We bought our bitch at the end of the first week of her first season - she was a year old. The stud dog had been sent to a friend of the breeders. Eight weeks later she had six beautiful puppies , much to the embarrassment of the breeder - it transpired he had not been despatched quite early enough......

Thank you for replying. Certainly learned a lesson the hard way. It did not occur to me at the time to ask if the dog had been neutered.

For future reference, it might be a good idea to walk with a stick when your bitch is in season ;)  simply swinging the stick would have kept the dog away at least until the owner arrived :)  Or a large bunch of keys thrown on the floor (NOT at the dog ) has a similar effect ;)

Be careful with your keys!!! A friend threw hers and it bent her door key and she had to call a locksmith out and was £90 poorer!:rolleyes:

OK ! - let's amend that to bunch of old keys :D :D :D

It would take MUCH more than a bunch of keys and a stick to keep my dog away from a bitch in season!  Wild horses more like! :rolleyes:

Soz Dill!!

>Be careful with your keys!!! A friend threw hers and it bent her door key and she had to call a locksmith out and was £90 poorer!rolleyes<

Ahhh - must have been Uri Geller's dog she threw them at. :D

Dill you must have an enormous bunch of keys  And a stick is no guarantee of success either (unless of course in either or both cases the potential suitor was the size of a small gerbil and possessed the determination and tenacity of a sleepwalker...........:rolleyes:

I've found with mine a straightforward "Oi! NO!" is enough to make them change their minds! ;)

I have found a stick very useful in the past.  I have never had to clunk a dog :) most of them, I find, have a healthy enough regard for a waving stick to enable their owner to catch up and share in the responsibility of ensuring two entire animals do not succeed in mating :)  True, no guarantee but a very useful addition to the usual precautions of having the bitch on a lead and trying not to walk where you are likely to meet dogs outwith any level of control.

LOL @ you lot :D :D

Yes, its a large NOISY bunch of keys (old ones ;) ) and the noise distracts them enough to get their attention and see them off ;)  I'm pretty scary looking :D :D  and the dogs round here are wimps, probably wouldn't necessarily work for a stud dog, but most of the local yokels have never got that lucky :D :D

Re the stick, yes most dogs have a healthy regard for a waving stick attached to a menacing-looking owner :D :D and it buys you time to control the situation :D :D

surely she doesnt go to the stud dog every season slee?
and no way will a stick stop a male dog!

no she doesnt go every season this girl that i have now is her first litter and i have bred others before and they go on either their second season of the year or one year later i once had a bitch who seasoned every 4 months so she went to a stud once every 12 months instead of on the second season of the year

I am assuming your bitch was off lead as was the dog.  For this reason I never ever allow an in season bitch off the lead, or go anywhere a dog may be met loose, bitches can be just as keen to be mated as dogs are to mate them.  I stick firmly to pounding the beat (road walking).

For the very rare chance of meeting an off lead dog in the street, having the bitch on a lead gives me means of controlling the situation and preventing a mating.

As the others have said treat this as a fertile mating and have the injections, many bitches can be ready early in a season as well as late.

A friend of mine had a bitch that she tried to mate at the usual times and she would not have the dog, next time she happily accepted only days into her season, yet when she was used for an AI breeding, she didn't ovulate until much later.

A friend had their bitch mated on day 8 and that produced 10 pups.

I know of someone else who had their dogs kenneled together dogs and bitches.
Now they were always very careful and removed the bitches when any sign of
season was shown. (at the earliest stages i.e. bitch vulva swelling)
Now this person awoke to hear a commotion in the kennels, looked out and saw
father mated as to his daughter. That produced 8 pups, the bitch never had any
symptoms of being inseason

I would ask the vet again, however I know that the vet/dog breeder Gill Averis
didn't advise having the jab for preventing seasons if you wanted to breed from
your dog. It may be the same for the injections to prevent pregnancy.
You may be advised to let nature take it's course if you wish to breed from her
again. In which case you have to face up to the real possibility of having an unplanned
litter in 9 weeks.

I don't walk my bitches when they are inseason, they are confined
to barracks at home.

As far as I know having the pregnancy terminated will not affect future fetrtility, as it is a one off as opposed to regular doses for preventing seasons.  It may upset the timing of the next cycle.

As far as walking in season, it is all very well and good to confine a bitch to baracks if you ahve plenty of your own ground, but in the average home with a normally active bitch would be unnecesarily restrictive, unless you really have a lot of latchkey dogs.

I agree with Boxacrazy - one of my bitches opened the door and let my boys out when she was in season and I took her to the vet to have the misalignment injection.  He did advise against it, telling me of the risk of pyometra.  Since my bitch was only a year old, I felt obliged to let her have the injection and yes, she ended up with pyometra and had to be spayed. 

I agree with Boxacrazy.

You need to ask yourself - how bad would the worst case scenario be, if she was pregnant and had the pups from this dog?

Could they be KC registered?  Is the stud dog hip scored/elbow tested/ PRA clear (or whatever the tests are for the breed)?  If not, is the stud dog owner willing to have these tests carried out now, before the litter is born?  You may well get the results back in time before you sell the litter, if he has the tests now.

Is the bitch hip scored, elbow tested etc? 

If the answer is that he's not an awful match for her, if the pups would be KC registered, and if most, if not all, health tests have been done, or can be done, then if I were you I'd let her have the litter if she turns out to be pregnant.

I've heard of the chances of pyometra happening after the "abortion" injection too, and personally I don't believe it is as "safe" as the morning after pill for women, for eg.  Therefore I'd only use it as a very last option, if the mating was absolutely terrible and the pups shouldn't be born on any account.

Tha chances of the dog in question met by chance on a wlakeven being the sme breed. let alone compatible and health tested are non existant.

Whoops I just assumed the dog was at least a lab because the poster didn't say otherwise. 

Poster - can you say what breed the dog was??

was mounted by a dog who appeared well before his owner. Before I could rescue her, the 'mating' was over. (Seconds  a minute no tie

I would think you have no concern, even if the dog had
entered your Bitch for a second or two, the first ejeculation
is a  wash  what is known as a
Pre sperm fraction. 

"seconds, may be a minute - no tie" :rolleyes:

You know, after some sixty days the pair is called a sire and a dam...

Slip matings can produce puppies - therefore go to the vet.

Margot