my ddb is 11 months old she has been in season now since 5th october. 6 weeks. has anybody else had this with a large dog. if so was there a problem or is this normal for first season. thanks

I would say this was excessively long.  Are you sure she hasn't had a split season.  That is started a season, didn't have enough hormones to ovulate and then restarted.  At 11 months I would have thought it was her first.  I would take her to the Vet and make sure there is no infection.

If any of my bitches are in season for more than 4 weeks they go to the vet.  This is due to having a bitch in season for 6 weeks years ago and finding out it was due to cystic ovaries.  She had to be immediately spayed.  Hopefully in your case it'll be nothing but I'd take her in if I were you just to be on the safe side.

Debs

how did they find out it was cystic ovaries. is there any treatment appart from spaying.

They did a scan, then an exploratory op and I agreed that if they found anything that required spaying that they did it there and then.  We're talking over 20 years ago now so things might have moved on but spaying was the easiest option back then.

Debs