Hello all :-)

I have a 2 year old bitch who as had one season and should have had her second last month but as yet nothing.

She as developed slight bold patches on either side of her body which I know is down to her hormones, at the moment I am giving her some Evening primrose oil with vitamin E is there anything else I can give her to get her fur back to full bloom as I would like to start to show her?

Both those things are classic symptoms for an under active thyroid, so I would ask the Vet to get a full thyroid panel done.  I don't know if schips are like some Norther/Sp9itz breeds that are still under active even if the results are very low end of normal.

Thanks for the reply its a Lab, I had the same thing with my other girl (again a Lab) and the vet said it was her hormones and it would sort its self out which it did but I wanted to show this girl and was hoping to move things along by helping the hormones and fur to sort themselves out sooner rather than later.

Thyroid is a hormone.

Thyroid is a hormone.   REALLY

The thyroid hormone regulates the metabolism.  If the thyroid is under active then the symptoms can be, hair loss, weight gain, tiredness, it can also affect the menstrual cycle, so it's possible it could affect a bitch's seasons.   If it's over active it can also affect menstrual cycles and hair loss, but in this case you would notice a weight loss rather than gain.

Lots of symptoms when thyroids are not working properly but the good news is once it is diagnosed it's easy to regulate :D :D

She as not gain weight always been a fat little lump even though she loves her food I have to regulate how much she has so I can keep her weight down, she as plenty of energy (to much sometimes), :-d and it's only slight hair loss not a huge patch.

I have spoken to her breeder who says that late seasons runs in the line every 9 months or so but fertility is great, but never had one of her bitches from my girls line i.e. Mother ,Grandmother, Sister, half Sister with this problem but having said that it could come from her sire's side she does' ant know?

So I suppose the next point of call is a visit to my vets :rolleyes: I suspect that this sort of problem is common in Labs as I have 2, both from different lines with similar problems but it never had an affect on breeding or litter size with my other girl

Thyroid is a gland that sits in the neck near the windpipe. It secretes two types of hormone, thyroxine and triiodothyronine. When the thyroid is underactive too little hormones are released, hyperthyroidism occurs when there is to much hormone released. I have to say, your girl sounds a bit 'well' for either-IMO I'm not a vet etc, but do know of people with either  under or over active thyroids- obviously a vet check is the way to go, but I would take his advice before you worry to much about something so serious. As you have this happen in your girls, and know of it, sounds more like hormones of a different kind ;)
Are there any other Lab people you could talk too?

My girl as just come into season so hopefully the problem will now sort it's self out

Thanks for your thoughts :-)