skye is still in season loosing quite a lot this is her third week does it go on till week four? as it did slow up then started again with avengence

Bitches are not all the same some do not bleed in any noticeable way and others bleed for as long as 4 weeks, so each bitch is individual, if you are concerned about her health in anyway then take her to the vets otherwise patients.

My girl is on day 20 and still showing colour (so not going to show tommorrow :( )

That is a shame Barbara and it is one you particularly like. As a matter of interest is that the bitch my lad was going silly about at National, he is always friendly but not usually that friendly :-) perhaps I should loan him out as a 'soon to be in season checker' One of the problems with a dog that has not been used they have not learned to wait.

Yep that's the one came in the next day about 3 weeks earlier than expected.  I really don't like having Summer litters and had hoped she would if anything go late. 

They are a law unto themselves, perhaps she has come in contact with an in season bitch at a show ;-) nothing like competition to bring a bitch in. Agree about summer litters much easier to keep the pups warm than to get it right if you need to cool. Remember putting bails of straw on the roof of my sisters whelping room and keeping it sprayed with the hose to try to keep the air in side at a reasonable temperature.

I have had a litter in July and one prior to that in a very hot spell at the start of September.  It was a nightmare with unhappy whelps and Mum.  I froze bottles of water and put in the whelping box.  So much easier to keep warm than cool down.

The worst thing for me living in a suburban house with lots of neighbours is early waking once pups are 5 to 8 weeks old.  Also if it is hot they will sleep all day and want to play at night, nd a litter of that age can be anything but quiet.

As you know our breed won't stay confined for any length of time in a puppy pen by that age, but want the freedom to go outside and keep clean, stretch their legs in boisterous play etc.

Too true Barbara, at least 75% of the pups I have owned have climbed out of a play pen in two seconds flat, try telling them that dogs can't climb and the are out in the garden tackling the first tree they come upon. They seems to grow out of the climbing thing as they get older but seem to think they are cats until they become too heavy to clamber up the kennel panels.