Can you tell me about keeping an intact *****?

Question

I was talking to someone about getting a puppy. She's an excellent, responsible breeder who has been in her breed for decades and has produced some excellent dogs. I would be showing this dog in conformation and probably some other fun sports like agility, obedience and tracking.

I've never had an intact dog. Can you tell me what it's like to have an intact *****? There are no intact males living in the same household.

If you're more comfortable answering privately than posting for all to see about not-neutered dogs, feel free to do so.

Any experience about this would be appreciated. Here are some of my thoughts, but if you have anything else, that'd be cool.
How difficult is it to keep an intact *****?
Do you know before she goes into heat? Are there other signs before the first blood?
How regular are the heats? Can you say "it's about time for her to go into heat"?
Is it always obvious she's in heat? Aren't there "silent heats"?
Is there any personality differences?

I'm hesitant to post this question... I've been around long enough to know the dangers lol.

To precede some questions... I'm just in the very beginning of considering this. I know the breeder well by reputation but not as well personally. I'm just trying to gather my facts and consider if this is a good idea at this time, which is why I'm asking here and not asking the breeder.

Answer 1

One plus for you is you have no intact males. One thing to consider when thinking aobut keeping intact animals is, you may be vigilant about her needs to be protected from unwanted breeding, but is the rest of your household? When I first started breeding, my sons were rather young. I had a room that I had put a Dutch door on (the kind where you can open the top while the bottom is closed) to keep the boys seperate from the girls when they all went into heat, and the dogs would take turns during the day having free roam of the house. While one sex was in the spare room, the others had play time, then they'd be switched. Well one fine day when I had all three females in heat, I came home to sons outside, and dogs all mingled together in house. One son, neither has admitted to which, had not bothered to slide the latch I had on the Dutch door shut, and my only intact male had gotten out to play with the girls. SO instead of the one litter I had planned for this cycle, I had two. Granted I had planned to do the other breeding next cycle, IF I was pleased with the second female, but at the time I wasn't convinced I was even going to keep her, let alone breed her! (I did send her back, which made the whole situation worse, so someday I'll expound on why you never buy a dog unseen, regardless of how sincere a breeder seems over e-mail)

Predicting heat is hopeless, except you can count on when one goes in, they ALL follow close behind. And it WILL be at the most inconvenient time.

It's usually pretty obvious they are in heat, but some can hide it pretty well.

They might get a little clingy or protective before or during heats. They tend not to tolerate any crap from other dogs at the time. I can't say intact girls are different than spayed girls over all. Too much individuality going on.

Conformation showing is a blast, if oyu never take it too awful personally. Usually when I don't win, it's because there were honestly better dogs there. Sometimes it is because the lesser dogs are the latest ring fad. Like in shelties, incorrectly high on the leg dogs are winning. But sometimes you will look at what the judge is putting up and think, "WTF???" even if you haven't got a dog in the ring. If you have thick enough skin for that, go for it.

Answer 2

It really depends a lot on the b*tch in question, and how conscientious you are.

Some bleed all over the place, some are very clean and you never see blood (my girls are generally like that, I may see a spot or two but that's it).

If the b*tch is smooth-coated, it's usually pretty easy to tell when she's in season because her vulva will swell noticeably. You can also check by swabbing with a tissue and checking for blood. With a coated girl it may be harder to notice. When she's "ready" she'll be flagging if you touch her back end and generally being a "ho".

Sometimes there are personality changes, sometimes there are not. The big issue in my house is that there are more likely to be fights (among the girls) when someone is in season. A friend of mine had a girl that would pee on the bed ONLY when she was in season.

Most b*tches are pretty regular, but then sometimes you get an oddball that hasn't read the book.

I live out in the country, so I haven't had issues about taking them for a walk. I've NEVER had a stray male come around, although I do keep an eye out (my other dogs would certainly let me know if there was a strange dog on the property). What it might be like in the city I couldn't say.

Keep in mind that while she's in season she won't be able to compete in performance events, so you have to plan your trialing schedule around that. You can still compete in conformation, but there is a certain etiquette involved in that so as to minimize the inconvenience to others at the show. You also will not be able to attend training classes for the duration (although our agility instructor would allow in season girls wearing britches, so they didn't smell up the equipment).

All in all, it's not really that big of a deal if you are responsible and observant.

Answer 3

You're getting some pretty accurate advice here.

Realize that some b*tches bleed more heavily than others and some cycles can be heavier than others (my girl just went through a mostly silent season... the ONLY reason I noticed it was my young male Samoyed was being an a**. She usually bleeds and can make my kitchen floor look like there's been a murder.. this time all I saw was a tiny smear of blood on a papertowel when I wiped her ... had I not seen that we'd have been off to the vet since male Sams are often good at noticing infection also.)

Some girls are regular. Some are not. I had a b*tch who I had to purposely BRING into season by exposing her to other b*tches who were in season.

I'm a fan of little girl panties with a tail cut out and a women's panti-liner.... inexpensive, more easily washable etc... Of course, my dogs think being dressed up is an opportunity to earn TREATS... so I don't have her ripping the panties off.

Agility can be challenging with an intact b*tch if you're like me and insanely competitive (I want top Agility Dog for my breed which means a year of straight showing... and NO B*TCHES IN SEASON). However, if you're a normal human... don't worry about it.. just don't show her when she's in season.

Feel free to email me if you want more info.

Answer 4

Back when I was breeding afghan hounds, I regularly had several intact b!tches in the house (with at least 1 male but that's not your situation!). As far as personality goes, I've never found any difference whatsoever. I've never had a dog who had silent heats, they're not all that common but do occur.

Yes, it's very obvious she's in heat. Besides the blood, there's also swelling, a few of them act a little bitchy when they're in heat and yes, the schedules are regular. In fact, when I had several females, they all conveniently came into heat at the same time.

I don't think there are any problems keeping unspayed females if you've got common sense. You will know when they're in heat, so you have to be extremely vigilant every time they're outside, you can't do things like obedience or agility while the dog's in heat, but you can show in conformation. It's just not considered good form to show if she's in standing heat.

I don't see any reason not to get her if your interested in showing and potentially breeding in the future.

Answer 5

Female dogs usually go into heat twice a year and it lasts around 3 weeks. The first week of the heat is when the bleeding occurs. It is often very smelly because they let out a musk smell to attract male dogs; however, they do sell doggy diapers which many people put on their females in heat to keep them from ruining furniture and what not. If you do get her, make sure you do not leave her outside (even in a fenced in yard) while she is in heat because male dogs can smell a female in heat from miles away and some have even dug under fences to get to the female so make sure she stays inside as much as possible during the heat.
The most common sign of a female going into heat besides the bleeding is she will be licking her vulva a lot.
There is also something called a false pregnancy which some females go into. Their bodies think they are pregnant when they actually are not.
I say go for it as long as you keep her away from intact males.
Also, there are a few diseases that can be prevented by spayed your dog so you need to be aware that even though it is rare, it may occur.

Answer 6

The main troubles with keeping and intact *****, other than the sanitary issues and keeping her away from intact male dogs would be health related.
When you choose to keep a ***** intact, you not only have a responsibility to not allow her to accidentally get bred, but you need to watch her after every heat cycle for signs of Pyometra. Pyometra is an infection that is located in the uterus and can be deadly to the *****. We often see this about 1 month after the ***** goes out of heat. The ***** may go off feed, act like she's toxic or been poisoned, ar just get lethargic. You must know your ***** well and watch for these symptoms carefully after every cycle.

Another problem is false pregnancy. The ***** will believe she is pregnant and even "whelp" an imaginary litter and possibly carry around toys or other items as her "puppies". This is psychological, but if this happens again, we recommend breeding her on the next cycle, or spaying her.

Mammary tumors, uterine cancer, and ovarian cysts and tumors are other difficulties that an intact ***** may deal with in her lifetime. All of these can be life threatening so they must be concidered when making the decision to leave the ***** intact and/or raise a litter of pups.

I would advise you to spay her immediately after you breed her for the last time. If you are not planning to raise a litter but will show her in conformation, finish her Championship, then spay her immediately afterward. Every heat cycle she goes through will increase her risk of the above mentioned problems.

Answer 7

With no males in the house, good fence, and going out side with her when she comes into heat.. I wouldn't call it "hard" but you have to always be thinking, and make sure you don't forget or give any dog a chance to get near her.

In Dobermans you know because you can see the swelling. A good.. hmmm.. I guess about 3 days before they actually come into heat you can look and think " hmm I think she's coming into heat '
It can be different I guess, but basically it seems to be every six months. I don't know about other breeds, but Dobermans are pretty consistent.
You can easily think ' hmmm it's about time. ' Actually when she is in heat.. Right across your calendar write her name, then you'll know.. Then count ahead 6 months on the calendar and mark in huge red letters her name.. THen you'll know that sometime that month she's very likely to come into heat again.
Again I can only talk for my own dogs, It is obvious when they are in heat, they are regular..
Hmmm.. no personality changes w/ people, they can be a little short with the other dogs sometimes. Nothing huge, but enough that if you didn't realize that she was in heat, it might be an indicator there for a few days. Not nasty but just a little short...

BUT It would be far better to have females spayed if you didn't need them to be intact to be bred :) Spaying takes away all that worry, and mess and everything else.

Answer 8

I got my first unaltered pup this past year. She will go into heat every 6mo. but there are some that will only go into cycle only once a year (rare). The average is once every 3-6 months and the bleeding stage will last about 10 days. You can buy special "panties" for her during this time and even pads. In my very limited experience with b!tches I found that the human pads were 10x better than the doggy pads made and alot less expensive.
There are mood changes in some females. They can get moody and grumpy in situations that normally woudn't have bothered them. I wouldn't recommend taking them out much during this time, it's not fair to the intact males and can even cause fights amongst other dogs.
IMHO, it's not difficult to keep an intact *itch you just have to be much more cautious and take more health percautions for her sake.
Yes, there are silent heats however they are more common to happen around the first or second heat cycle.
Hope this helps some and good luck!

Answer 9

Every female is different. I keep a folder for each of my dogs. I keep all vaccination records in the folder, AKC reg. papers, veterinary statements, and......probably one of the very important things is: a record of the female's seasons. I put in the date and if there are any comments I want to add, such as when she begins to flag her tail... After two or three seasons you will have an idea of her cycle.....every 6 months, 9 months.... whatever. You will then be able to expect her season around a certain time. Some females will be like clockwork and others will vary by a few weeks. Yes, some have silent seasons but even with the silent season, she will have noticeable swelling in the genital area. The seasons will last about 3 weeks...most females do follow that time schedule. If bred and she is pregnant, she usually will go out of season earlier, right after breeding.

Answer 10

I know you put that because people will probably bash me but I really don't care!! So I hope this is of help to you.

~ Bfore she starts to bleed, you will start to see swelling in her area that is how you can tell when she is coming into heat usually Also some bitches do get a bit aggressive with other females before & during thier heat.
!Thier heats are usually about 8 months apart but no she may not swell each and everytime she is coming in heat bt I find with my girls they always swell even if only a little bit.

~All together I have 4 Intact Females, 1 Intact male
I also have 3 Spayed females & 2 Nuetered males.
~2 of my females are breeding Bitches (Boxers)
And 2 females I use for show. (Boxer & APBT)