bitches with "silent heats" - Page 1

I was wondering how many of you have run into this problem. i have a bitch that is incredibly well bred and an absolutely great specimen of a GSD. the only problem is that her heat cycles are almost undetectible. she hardly swells or bleeds and she keeps herself impecably well groomed so spotting her bleeding is very hard. she is 5yrs old and has never been bred. any suggestions on regulating her cycle or making it easier to detect? a male would obviously know when she's in season but putting one with her would be a problem as i want to use a stud from another kennel. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dont put your male with her. Only use him to test her. Or spend a fortune at the vet for testing daily.

I have the exact same problem with my Fleischerheim/Bullinger girl.....she is 6 and by accident , I noticed last feb. a spot and her cleaning herself,,,and bingo ,,I bred her to an Arminuis boy and had 6 pups... Also the Iska Kapbrusch girl, has baredly shown twice,,very little spotting and no swelling and she is 18 mos old...Was going to ask the board the same question ,you just did....and is their something to feed or do , to bring this bitch into full heat...or is there something wrong.. Plan to take her in next time she does this to let vet run the test on her.........not interested in breeding, right now,,but wondered if something was wrong internally.......???????

Progesterone testing is the way to go.. find a good reproductive specialist and see what they recommend.. yes, it will be expensive My question is do you want to know whats going on or not?? We use progesterone testing all the time since our girls are bred to outside studs from all over the country... If you can stack the odds in your favor, why wouldn't you??

We have one like that, what a pain. She ended up being spayed, not for that reason, but life is much easier not having to worry about her and the males anymore.

"My question is do you want to know whats going on or not??" DKiah, the answer my 6yr old son would give that question is "DUH" had i not wanted to know i would have never asked the question in the first place. it's non-helpful statements like these that are unneeded on this board. this board is great because we all own the same breed and odds are that someone out there has run into the same problem previously so when you start to do your research it's not a bad place to throw out the question. now i know this is not uncommon and it's not due to some physical problem. i was just hoping that there may be something that could be given to induce more of a sign she's comming into season. i do my own progesterone testing but that doesn't help much with a bitch and the stud is clear across the country. a little more notice would help with arrangements.

Very good question. Pick a day out of the week that works for you and every week take your girl and YOUR male for a walk or a session of playing ball. Be faithful and do it every week on the same day. It will even be fun. On one of these days over the next six months your male is not going to want to do anything but pay attention to her. Now is when you take her and get a progesterone test and call to make plans to take her to the male of your choice. Not expensive, but it will work!!

I own a female exactly like you have described. The only way I know when she is in heat is based on the behavior of my male and this makes it difficult for outside breedings. By the time the progesterone test comes back she has peaked. I have placed her in a home in the meantime. But now with her not in my home, it will be difficult to assess if she is in heat or not. I am unsure if another breeding will take place because of the reason I describe below and I have not discussed this with any experts or people who have experience in this. I am unsure if there is a hormonal problem or not with my female. With her last litter, she never wound up going into labor. She is turning 4 years next March, so she is a young and healthy gal. She had a healthy 10 pup litter in her first litter and heat cycle as well as whelping was all normal. The silent heat thing started at the beginning of this year (so around her 3rd Birthday). It will be interesting to see if she has a normal heat cycle coming up after the successful pregnancy.