I am interested in your thoughts re this....

It strikes me more an more whilst out and about... (in our area certainly) that owners now are more and more taking there bitches out and about in season. Maybe just me but i dont take our bitch out at all, she has the use of our secure back garden. Unless a field in the middle of no where personally i just wouldnt chance it... what are other peoples thoughts or am i just on another planet altogether.

I'll walk them for the first week in very remote areas, River also got walked in the last week but only at 5.30 in the morning on a walk that I knew we wouldn't meet anyone on.

Otherwise I won't risk it.

It's been covered several times over the years, but personally I always took my in-season bitches in the car to the places where we were least likely to meet other dogs, whether on or offlead. Now that I have entire males I still don't have a problem with people doing that.

I would never trust a bitch not to go selectively deaf when in season and be as ken as any male to be mated, but then my breed can be pretty 'natural'.

Before we had our bitch spayed I walked her.  Only "on lead" and not every day.  I also picked areas where other dogs were on their leads too rather than open fields

I never take my girls out when in season but I have a fare sized garden although it's not big!  It's never done them any harm and when you have a male like I do you know how hard it can be to control a strong lad who all of a sudden has only one thing on his mind!

I have 2 bitches & an entire male and I walk my girls off lead in season - my breed just couldn't cope with garden only and neither could I.   Luckily I live close to forests & countryside so I'm lucky but if I do meet a bitch in season on a walk, I put Curtis on a lead and give him sufficent time away from the 'offender' then release him.  Never had a problem yet.

I find he's more bothered by bitches in season at shows especially at SKC there was 3 in my breed around the ringside as well as a Wei just about 5 feet from him!

Thanks for the replies Guy's am pretty much the same will take them to remote areas etc, keep on lead, i can understand every ones replies and takes on this so far.... What i mean is the people whom continue on a walk, in there own areas from house to house on estates and where likely to meet lots of dogs etc :rolleyes: We had an in season bitch (not my dog, a strangers walking by) mark  near our front conifers a while age..... Despite being washed down immediately, i literally had ever dog in the district, convening on my doors step or trying to if being walked by on lead... I just think in built up areas its not on. I totally agree about shows, particularly open ones.

Dogs should be on lead on the roads.  I don't drive and have to walk my girls from front door onward yet have never had a problem with passing dogs beating a path to my door. 

Often had 3 girls in season at once.  The pavements in built up areas where dogs are required to be on lead are exactly the places that I believe an in season bitch should be restricted to walking.

Out where dogs are allowed off lead you are being unfair to other dog walkers as they won't know they are about to run into an in season bitch. 

> my breed just couldn't cope with garden only and neither could I.

Neither could mine or me I cant miss one day's walk,lettalone 3 or 4 weeks,it would drive them mental :(

I think if one wants to keep an entire female then they owe it to them not let it disrupt their normal routine.If the owner cant handle walking an in season bitch then perhaps they shouldnt have one?? It is afterall the owners decision to keep their animals entire or not.

I went through one season with my girl,after that experience i got her spayed!

I live in a busy city with effective Dog warden (no loose dogs roaming), I lead walk my bitches throughout their seasons, but do not take them anywhere a dog has a right to be off lead.

We have plenty of signs on lampposts regarding fines for off lead walking on the streets and not picking up fouling.

If I see another on lead dog I will cross to the opposite side of the road, if the dog looks strong and boisterous and is male I may even warn that I have a bitch in season.

Since living here I have never had a follower, or a dog camped on the doorstep or attempting to gain access to the house or garden.

Taking an in season bitch to anywhere where others may have dogs off lead and obviously won't be aware of the bitches condition and the effect it may have on other peoples normally obedient males is the height of foolishness and lack of manners and common sense.

Maybe some of these bitch owners think all males are neutered these days?,

I'm sorry but why would you risk walking them off lead whilst on their season?  My dogs are active dogs, even my hyperactive one can cope with 3 weeks at home.

Never walk them off lead in season, I road walk them.  As dofsa ae required by law to be leashed near roads, then why should my dogs be reduced to no excersise and become unfit.

They are on lead, and any  passing dog will also be on lead, so what danger?

Also with bitches tending to follow each other into season it isn't just 3 weeks often 6 to 9 weeks.  Even if I wished to walk the girls in shifts I don't take the not in season ones to off lead walkign areas as they will often be pestered by dogs who can smell their in season companion on them.

So if one is in season they all get road walked until the last one has finished.

My girls being in season & confined to barracks would be more of a problem to the entire males in the area I live in than me taking them out in the car to the countryside to run.    I have an entire male Labrador next door and an entire male Lurcher over the cul-de-sac and the owner of our one & only village shop has an entire male Springer he leaves to wander everywhere.  I've had 'said dog' jump the fence into my garden so my girls are safer out on walks!

> Taking an in season bitch to anywhere where others may have dogs off lead and obviously won't be aware of the bitches condition and the effect it may have on other peoples normally obedient males is the height of foolishness and lack of manners and common sense.

Exactly. I don't have bitches, but if I had an in-season bitch I would think off lead walks whilst in season gave a very high likelihood of ending up with unwanted puppies. :( And it's not a risk I would fancy.

Though I did feel rather sorry for the poor bloke walking his in season bitch on-lead somewhere where there shouldn't be an off lead dog (not pavement but next to a road) with a dog with no owner in sight continually pestering her....

"Exactly. I don't have bitches, but if I had an in-season bitch I would think off lead walks whilst in season gave a very high likelihood of ending up with unwanted puppies.  And it's not a risk I would fancy."

Well, touchwood, the only accident I've had happen has been in my house and not outside.     I bought my first bitch in 1991 and I certainly haven't stayed indoors since then!

That's why River was only walked at 5.30 am - she was off-lead, but I only walked her on one woodland trail, knowing full well the only dogs we could meet were two labs that arrived at 6.30-7am.  So she was walked and back in the car before they got there.

When Opi was entire I didn't know of any such safe walks, so I did the best I could - she was indoors for most of the 3 weeks except a little at the beginning and end, and in the last week I took her to the local playing field at lunchtime.  In theory there shouldn't have been anyone there, there wasn't normally - but I picked the one day that the couple down the road from me walked their two at lunchtime instead of late evening (they'd never done that since I had mine).  That ended with me having to literally pick Opi up as their lab mix was entire and a sod with in-season bitches, and ran the length of the field to get to her.  Luckily they realied and ran up to get him, so I didn't have to hold her for long - not easy with 30kg, and she was wriggling trying to get to him!

Weren't you worried that her instincts might tempt her to run off in search of a mate.  some bitches can be just as keen to reach a mate as males are to find a bitch.  would never trust mine to be obedient at this time after my first ever bitch did a runner out the front door while in season and didn't return for several hours.  this was in the pre dog warden days when there were loose dogs on the estate, and not my current breed.

I rarely walk at that time - but it has been very occasionally known. So anyone who did the walks I took on a regular basis wouldn't expect to see me. Alright you'd be very unlucky (especially if you looked full at me :D ;) ) since it's been twice in seven years - but on both occasions I had an entire off lead male who was rootling in bushes....

He wasn't a sod with in season bitches he was perfectly normal male following his instincts having been presented with a present of a nice in season bitch

Surely you can walk your dog on the streets (though lack of pavementss can be a problem on soem roads) without encountering loose dogs?  If not then I would be having words with my council that they do something about it and get their dog warden on the case.

There is someone who walks the fields around my area with an in season bitch off lead continually, every time I pull this woman up and tell her she is playing with fire as there are entire dogs walking in the fields and woodlands all the time, she always just smiles and says well she just sits down when she sees one. :rolleyes:  I was happy to see last week that she did not only not sit down she chased after a male lab across the field and happily was standing for him, luckily the males owner called him and he obeyed, but boy that would have just served the woman right. Will she learn from it, I guess not, and the poor bitch will no doubt be giving birth to some sort of crosses soon enough.

i have always walked my bitch when in season only street walking and on the lead

i never had a problem in 20 years

plus i am in control over my bitches on the walk