# 1st heat



## CSF (May 19, 2017)

I have an almost 14 month old Vizsla named Piper- she hasn't had her 1st heat yet. Her mom came into heat at 11 months- so we are thinking it could happen here pretty soon. I wanted to wait until after her 1st heat to have her spayed-but 3 to 4 weeks of keeping her away from other dogs and not letting her off leash- seems like it will be quite the chore. She is used to most days- an 1 hour plus off leash hike or play time with another male dog (who isn't altered yet). I am afraid she will go stir crazy and will hate just been on leash. 
Any suggestions for those of you that have gone through heat cycles that will help tire her out- so she is not too crazy to be around. She just is stopping being mouthy with us and I am afraid it will start up again if she doesn't really get to run every day. 
We can take her for on leash jogs and she does pull my husband on his skateboard on leash- but nothing tires her out like running on a trail.

Thanks in advance!
Christine


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## Lesa P (Feb 3, 2017)

Our Viz is 17 months and we never noticed if she had a heat at all. Our breeder told us it could take up to 16 months. We had her spayed 2 weeks ago. I was surprised that I never noticed the tell tale signs of a female in heat...Our vet told us she had it, we just didn't realize it.


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## bertrand (May 17, 2017)

Breeze got her 1st heat a couple of months ago and we were dreading it a little bit for the same reasons you mentioned, but in the end, it wasn't that bad. First off, she was a lot more tired than usual so her energy level were much lower, which meant she didn't need to run as much. We are also lucky to have areas where we could take her off leash where the chances of seeing another dog are fairly slim. We also bought some doggie diapers just in case we had to take her to the dog park.


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## CSF (May 19, 2017)

Piper has started her 1st heat. We had 3 days of brown spotting and now we are in day 2 of bright red spotting. We have currently turned little boys underwear with the PawPatrol characters on them in underwear for her to wear. It is pretty silly to see her wearing them around the house! 
She does seem to have slightly less energy- but I have still been letting her have off leash time. Is this a bad idea?
She has a best friend that she likes to play with every morning and he is an intact male. It makes me sad that they can't play together for almost a month. 

He is showing a little more interest in her- but he is not fixated on her and they still want to play. If he goes to sniff or lick her- Piper just turns around and hits him with her paw and then they are off running and playing. 
How does it work for those of you that have intact males and females around each other- do you let them continue to be together until the female is in standing heat?? or keep the separate from day 1 of bleeding??
Am I playing with fire- as I don't want puppies?


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## Anida (Jun 10, 2016)

CSF said:


> Piper has started her 1st heat. We had 3 days of brown spotting and now we are in day 2 of bright red spotting. We have currently turned little boys underwear with the PawPatrol characters on them in underwear for her to wear. It is pretty silly to see her wearing them around the house!
> She does seem to have slightly less energy- but I have still been letting her have off leash time. Is this a bad idea?
> She has a best friend that she likes to play with every morning and he is an intact male. It makes me sad that they can't play together for almost a month.
> 
> ...


We kept ours separate. Our male would go crazy if he got to lick, sniff etc. so it worked better just keeping them in separate areas and not allowing any sniffing contact. I'd have our girl do her business in the front yard and he had reign to the backyard. As far as puppies go... I don't think she'll let him mount her until she's ready least that was the case with our girl. She'd get mad about any mounting until she was fertile.


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## CSF (May 19, 2017)

We have made it to day 14 (in standing heat since day 10) of Piper's 1st heat. She stopped getting to run and play off leash at around day 7- so we have been going for 5 mile jogs on leash- I can't wait until she is all done and can go back to being her silly self on our morning off leash hike. Her energy level is slightly lower- which is nice- I really was scared that she was going to be miserable with less exercise.


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## CSF (May 19, 2017)

Okay- when did you feel it was safe for your females to hang around with unaltered males? we are on day 27 of Piper's heat cycle and I would really like to let her off leash- She stopped bleeding completely on day 20. She is still peeing like a boy dog on our walks and is still slightly swollen. I would hate to have been so careful to slip up now.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

It's normally 3- 4 weeks total. And I only give it 4 weeks, because we can be a little off on the timing of the heat cycle. 
They are not receptive to males, the entire cycle.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

@CSF, it'll take a while for her vulva to return to it's normal size, but if there hasn't been any bleeding for a week now, you're good to go! Typically, I let my dog off leash in areas away from other dogs once we're past the standing heat phase, i.e. when the discharge goes from light yellow or pink back to red. Mine can still be a little sensitive about strange dogs sniffing back there for awhile after the cycle ends, so just be aware that she might not be up for meeting new dogs yet.


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