Those who wish to consider me a sucker for punishment or devoid of normal intelligence are welcome to do so.   I don't really care.  What I DO care about, though, is to be able to understand what is going on right now with my females.  I wish to stress that I am asking because I have never experienced or been obliged to think about such a phenomenon before.  And this could be of interest to others besides myself. 

My 9-month-old female Rini came into heat (as I wrote a couple of days ago) with plenty of color and swelling, but the color disappeared totally within a few days.  She remains swollen, and now, on what is probably day 13, my males would very much like to cover her, if I would let them.  Naturally, this little girl will not be bred in any case until her third season.  But the behavior of the males at the moment leads me to think that she is still sending the message "mate me!" loud and clear, despite the bleeding having ceased completely many days ago.  It was not at all like going into the "straw-colored" phase of a normal season, it simply stopped abruptly.   A specialist I had the opportunity to consult yesterday (about something else entirely) feels that probably this very young female is having a split heat.  He felt that this, if indeed the case, would present no problems in the future.

What I cannot understand is that this little girl's MOTHER (Lulu, age 4.5), who has had a couple of litters already and who has now also come into heat along with her daughter (Rini) and her sister (Felicia, age 5+, also with a couple of litters behind her) is also having a very different season from her previous ones.  She too has shown next to no blood so far.  She has started to swell, but it does not really seem to be progressing like it usually has done in the past. 

So I am wondering if Lulu (and indeed perhaps even her daughter Rini) could somehow be "holding back".  We know that females who live together often cycle together.  Lulu held back the birth of her last litter (in which Rini was born) until I had returned from a surprise two-day stay in the hospital.  Lulu spent those two days - due to the birth being so imminent - in the clinic, while someone else jumped in to take care of my dogs at home.  I returned home after the two-day absence, picking up Lulu from the clinic on the way, and the pups started coming an hour later! So she had gone through the first stage of labor in the clinic and had held the final stage in check long enough that it was able to take place upon my return.   My breed is not at all a primitive breed, full of atavistic impulses and instincts, it is simply a member of the bichon family of dogs.

Any experiences from those on this forum welcome.  Thank you.

Sounds more like silent heats, (ones with little or no blood) that are perfectly fertile if the boys are telling you yes it's the right time.

The amount of blood can vary from bitch to bitch season to season.

Some like mine bleed little in the first week, and copiously to end of the season, which often goes on into the fourth week, but most of mine are not 'ready' to day 15+).

Some so the books say have a lighter discharge from the middle.