My male entire Papillon is driving us nuts at the moment and I wondered if anybody had any insight. I've experienced a couple of silent seasons in the past, but nothing like this. One of my Papillon bitches is due in season -she goes either 6 or 7 months and therefore would be due December or January. So far so good. A few days ago she started to swell a little, so I have checked her every day. No blood, no discharge at all. Now my entire male dog is absolutely CONVINCED she is both in season AND ready to be mated, and this is what confuses me. Even if she is having a silent season, she is not ready. She's not standing, and every time the dog has been near her, she's screamed, lashed out at him etc, but he tries to mate. It's got to the point where I've had to separate them today as she was shaking with fear as soon as she saw the dog (I don't want them mated) -he just would not leave her alone. Why on earth does he think she is ready?? He's a reasonably experienced dog and normally can pinpoint the right days no problem, so would not be out of control an entire season. Now he's going round cocking leg indoors, picking fights with the other dogs etc (poor Ripley the Malinois gets bitten if she as much looks in the bitch's direction!!), acting as if there was a READY bitch here. The biggest question is, if she has a silent season, how on earth do I know how long to keep them separate for?

I think I read some where that a uterine infection can cause a male to think the bitch is ready for mating, her extreme behaviour may indicate she is in pain.

Hopefully that is not the case and her season continues as normal.

As to how long to keep them apart, it is going to mean you bring the 2 dogs together and when the male shows no further interest it should be safe to allow them to mix with the other dogs.