Hi all,
just thinking ahead of myself really, what is the earliest you have known a bitch to come in season ( of large breed ?)  I am asking as Xena was 6 months a few days ago, now i am always alert about this... I am just hoping to either get it over with before christmas like now :-) or hoping she will wait out till after as it will be easier for travelling to see family etc. I wouldn't trust anyone else to have her (i:e kennels )when she is in season. I know from my boys litter, ( the same breeder and parents)  the earliest bitch was 8 months.

thanks in advance :-)

I have heard of bitches having their first at 5 months. Delilah was over a year old! I am afraid the first season seems to be anyones guess! :D

ok, I know it is something that I can't predict! but I am just hoping she holds out till the new year ;-) will make things alot easier if she does. Thanks for your thoughts anyway :-D

Hiya,

I think 8 months to a year is pretty average for Dobes - If you find out when other bitches in her line have come into season this sometimes can be a good guide.  Ciara timed it perfectly for Christmas!! She was 8 months old.

Karen

Thanks Karen,
Have been speaking to my breeder about this and she thinks that it won't happen till at least Jan when she will be 8 months. So hopefully fingers crossed she can hold off till then :-)

Another thing to do is keep an eye on her behaviour as sometimes bitches do tend to show a 'PMT' type behaviour before they come into season :) 

All my Lab bitches have come into season for the first time about 7 to 8 months old :)

Sorry to take the thread in a bit of a different line, but is there any beahvioural or other signs as to when a bitch is about to come into season?

I have to be careful as Daisy lives with her in tact brother (well, he's in tact for now anyway, I will have him castrated eventually) and I need to know when I need to deal with it.

There is no bleeding yet, but she looks a little redder in the "area".  She is also behaving a bit strangly.  She never sleeps in her bed when were on the sofa. (We usually have a Daisy scarf!), but tonight she is just lying in her bed looking sorry for herself??

Douggie always tries to "practice"  his moves on her, but she growls so I don't think she is on heat.  But she is just over 6 months which I thought was a bit young?

Any advice?

Get them seperated now :)

Did you not read my last response to one of your posts about that this  :) ? :)

Lucy
xx

Quite probably Lucy, but I forget some things.  The first time I asked about Daisy and her behaviour, the thread got diverted a bit onto Douggie and when I should have him castrated.  I did decide to hold off on that for a while, until he's properly grown up.

They are a nightmare when they are separated , so I wanted to wait until the very last minute until I had to do it.  They pine terribly for each other, I've tried "practice" separations to try to get them used to it, but it never turns out well.  I just wanted to know if there were any tell tail signals that I could look out for.  I've told work that I will be working from home constantly for a little while, to make sure they are not on their own at all so I could leave it as late as possible.

Please don't take it personally that I may have "forgotten" your comments, as I am sure they are in there somewhere.  I've asked for so much advice, peoples comments tend to blur into one really.

If you could be so kind to reiterate them, it would be much appreciated :-).  I may have asked about seasons before, but I didn't think I asked specifically about pre season behaviour.  Again I'm sorry if my brain is not functioning very well ;-).

Sounds a bit suspicious, and she is old enough... agree with LJS, keep them apart from now ;)

Jenny you can't leave it till the 'last minute'  its not set in stone when the time is right, all bitches are different. Besides they will have to be seperated for at least 3 weeks I would have thought, so they will just have to get used to it I'm afraid. Keep a close eye on her, if he starts getting really interested and slobbering just seperate them. He will probably howl and go off his food too :)

thats why I have always had mine seperate at home from the day the bitch came home, didn't want too much pining because they are missing one another as it will be bad enough that they are crying to mate with each other :-)  I know it is nice to have them living along side one another but it does make things easier when in a situation like this.
Edited to say: they do have supervised visits to let off steam, but when the time comes this won't happen and it certainly isn't for lengthy periods

Hi Jen

Here is my last post ! :)

Another thing to do is keep an eye on her behaviour as sometimes bitches do tend to show a 'PMT' type behaviour before they come into season 

Lucy
xx

Thanks Lucy,  I tried to find it, but couldn't.

She isn't acting like she has PMT (well a version similar to mine that is! :-P) and he isn't slobbering over her.  He's not really that interested at all, only on the odd occassion when his hormones get the better of him and he jumps on her - she growls.  She is totally not interested in any of that behaviour... thank you very much!  So I think it is ok.  I am making arrangements now to make sure I can seperate them for the duration.

The reason I haven't separated them in the past is because I intended (on my vet's advice) to castrate him before the day came.  But after a previous thread on this forum, I changed my mind and delayed it.  If I'd known this from the start, I would have trained them a bit better at separating. 

Another tip is to keep dabbing her with some white tissue so you can see the first sign of blood and keep an eye out for drops of blood on the floor  :)