heat behaviors? - Page 2

We are waiting for Echo's first heat.  She is 7.5 mo old and the only thing I've noticed of late is she has lost her appetite.  Where before she was eating 2 cups of kibble twice a day but I've dropped it to 1 cup twice a day.  You would think she would be starving by the next meal but she looks at it and walks away.  Eventually she will eat it, maybe an hour later.  Any longer than that and we pick it up.  We've only had to do that a couple of times.  She is healthy, happy, energetic, pees and poops are all normal and pretty much on schedule so no issues there.  She has no discharge, no swelling but I'm thinking we may be getting close.  She wants to be outside all of the time right now.  She lies and tells me she needs to go potty but then all she does is play.  She seems (if it's possilbe) to be even more hyper as of late.  I wish she would get it over with so I know what to expect if there is another.  It's been so long since I've had to deal with a heat cycle.

Echo weighs about 65 pounds now and she really isn't fat.  Veiwed from above she curves in nicely at the flank and when she sits down she has no roll of fat but you can't see her ribs.  You can feel them easy enough.  She seems to be one solidly built little girl.  Her mom and dad are large about 80 & 90 pounds and they were lean enough.  I look at her and think my gosh she's a horse but then we met a 9mo old male that dwarfs her.  She is bigger and heavier than our old girl was as an adult.  Hard to say where she will end up size wise.

I'm always worried until the finish growing, the height range seems so small.

Hero is 70 lbs at 8 months and hans't stopped yet. He's already past the minimum size requirement, Now I'm worried that he might be oversized.........That would be terrible. His rate of vertical growth seems to have slowed a bit, Lately his head chest and butt are getting much wider. He is going to be a tank.

Poor puppy, he "woke up" yesterday and all he can think of is his girl who he cannot get to.....Its gotta be stressful for them.

Well Echo is officially into her first heat.  I noticed the bleeding & swelling late yesterday afternoon and rushed to petsmart for doggie diapers (I have light carpet)  The first time on was a wrestling match but since then she is pretty cooperative. I really figured she would have it torn off in a matter of seconds but she is tolerating it well.  We have two more classes in obedience and the trainer told me it would be ok to bring her.  We have one intact male and he is 9mo and very tractible.  Echo has turned into a clingon and wants constant hands on right now.  Am I right in thinking she will bleed for a week and then the discharge turns clear for a week when she is ready...what if anything happens the third week. 

my female had her first heat at 12 months.
i can tell you the average dog goes 21 days.
1 week of blood 2nd week very little blood which is the time they are ready and then 3rd week they are going out.
but i must tell you that not all dogs  are average.
i have heard of some dog being in the standing heat for 2 weeks.
heat cycle are as little as 2 weeks to as long as 6 weeks,  avarage being 3 weeks.
yes it is a big pain the whole heat thing, and then the females are pretty bitchy towards other dogs.
i hope this helps.

thanks bea

I think she's done now. she has stopped cocking her tail every time she sees another dog........hero has lost intersted in her......and things are getting back to normal.........

Thanks bea..

Echo went to obedience this morning, no problems.  In fact she was better behaved than normal.  The young male didn't pay any extra attention to her.  They are used to being allowed to play together after class so Echo was a pain whenever the lesson brought us close to him.  She just can't understand why we were encouraging her to play with him and now won't let her near.  We start agility this Wednesday and the male will be in that class as well.  Not sure what else may be there.  Hopefully we can get through it with no problems.  Her main problem is her handler...me!!

i hope things go well in class,
i always say you just need to keep up with the work and yes it will pay off.
just keep working with her it will get better.
i have been working with my girl jasmine  for awhile now and want to get that last leg for her CD, but between heats and getting pregant how can you.
i heard agility is pretty fun , i have never tryed it.
now my male teddy i am just starting with him in obedience.
i did put him in a reginal conformation show German style. he now has a SG.
he is sita brother.

i am also glad for you that sita is done with the heat, it is a nite mare.

i like jasmine she only comes in every 7-8 months , not like some of these females that go every 5 months.

take care

We did agility with our old girl to help build her confidence (she had been abused before we got her at 1.5 years of age)  She really enjoyed it and it really helped her out mentally.  She became very confident and secure.  I encourage everyone to take at least one course.  The communication between dog and handler is amazing.