Happy Easter everyone.
One of my saints is still bleeding, i think she came in heat on 26th/ 27th of March, which would make it nearly 20 days. The last time she bled for 14 days. She keeps herself spotlessly clean, so i'd be surprised if she was carrying an infection. Anyone got any ideas? Could she just bleed for that long and everything still be ok.
I am planning on breeding her on her next season.The stud dog i've chosen is in Belgium.It's going to make it very difficult to plan it if se bleeds for this long on her next season.

Jimbob

Hiya,

The amount of time a bitch bleeds can vary, but 3 weeks is pretty standard and definitely isn't a sign that anything is wrong :-)  without wanting to sound like a meanie if you are planning on breeding from her this is something you should already know - I don't know much about breeding but I do know that it is something that takes lots and lots of research and is best for a first time breeder to be under guidance of an already experienced breeder.

I'm sure your girl is having a normal season and if her last season was her first then that could be why it was shorter than this one.

All the best,

Karen

I have bred before but never had a bitch bleed for this long. It's her 4th season (6 month bitch) and all the others she stopped bleeding at 13-14 days. Another bitch i have bled for  3 weeks once. When the vet checked her , she had an infection.But she isn't great at keeping herself clean and he said that that probably contributed to it.
I have had this breed for 10 years so i would think i'm reasonably expierienced but i know there are people on here who have been breeding for 15-20 years so i just thought that i'd pick their brains.
You don't sound like a meanie but it can be annoying when someone mentions that they may be planning on breeding and they usually get slated for it.Everyone has to have a 1st litter (it's my 3rd).Expierience comes over a period of time , nobody is born expierienced.
My mother has bred dogs for the past 15- 20 years and she said it was nothing to worry about, i just wanted to hear other peoples opinions.

Jimbob

I've never had a bitch bleed for LESS than a full 21 days.

I'm sure it can be annoying when you just want answers to a querie and like you say get slated, (which I certainly wasn't trying to do) .  I think it generally only comes from genuine concern though.  The more I learn about dogs the harder I find it to keep my trap shut, something I probably should practise :-)

Hope all goes well with your girls mating.

Karen

Mine always bleed for the full 21 days too - even when they've been successfully (by which I mean resulting in a litter) mated.

>Everyone has to have a 1st litter (it's my 3rd).Expierience comes over a period of time , nobody is born expierienced.

No, which is why it's only sensible to have an experienced person as a mentor in the beginning, not 'go it alone'. You have your mother for advice - no doubt she had the experienced breeder of her first bitch to call on. :)

I have had a bitch bleed red fro a full months, and had her scanned to check it wasn't cystic ovaries and all was fine and she went on to have a litter on the next season.

Oh I have never found colour to be a reliable indicator of when a bitch is ready for amting.  soem seasons I ahve had bitches hardly show colour past a few days and soemtimes bleed throughout.

"I have bred before but never had a bitch bleed for this long. It's her 4th season (6 month bitch) and all the others she stopped bleeding at 13-14 days"

Er - I thought larger breeds came into season later than smaller breeds and I'm pretty sure that any breed would not have had 4 seasons by 6 months old :rolleyes:

Are you sure that she has been having seasons??   Bitches don't usually have a first season until around 5 or 6 months ;)

Or does the sentence above mean something different?

I daresay larger breeds can vary as to their first season just like smaller ones. I assume by the '6 months' comment Jimbob means she had her first season at 6 months and is now on her 4th, or that she has them every 6 months, thus letting us know roughly how old she is and reassuring us that he's not planning to mate a puppy!

In answer to your query, I am inexperienced with bitches, but my girl bled throughout her season - it went very pale pink at around 14 days at which point my boy started whimpering for her and going off his food, so I assume that would have been her 'red hot' time, but she never completely lost the colour until the swelling went down and the season finished at 21 days (she must have read the book!!). So your girl is probably just bleeding slightly longer than previously just to confuse you before you plan to mate her!! :-D

Correct LucyD, she is 2yo since december.Well done on reading between the lines.The term 6 month bitch may be an Irish thing, it means she comes in every 6 months, you figured that out yourself anyway. I'm not planning on mating her until her next season. I wouldn't breed any dog before 2 and a half to 3 yo. It's just going to make things more difficult to plan as i'm taking her to Belgium.

6 month bitch= She comes in every 6 months. Irish terminology i suppose.

I beleive the poster means they ahve a bitch with 6 monthsly cycles as the gaps between cycles can be quite variable between bitches and breeds.