Dog in heat

[beretta]

Hey guys,

I have a young lab. It is the first female I've owned and I know absolutly nothing about their heat cycle. I do know that they bleed before, while or after they are in heat (dont know when), but she is has been bleeding the past week. Now her "female part" is swollen and shes peeing a lot.

First of all, Im wondering if the swollenness and frequent urination is normal?

Also can someone give me a rough breakdown of the heat cycle? Like for example, what happens when, when would be the time to breed her or the time to keep an extremely close eye on her, the changes or "symptoms" I might expect to see, and when she is going to be normal again?

That would be awesome! Thanks guys I appreciate it!

[JConrad]

The cycle is normally 21 days and comes on twice a year. The swelling and peeing a bit more often is normal. If your dog is in the house I would recommend a diaper for dogs in heat. They have them at PetSmart and they work great. Helps prevent a mess in the house. Also keep a close eye on your dog since she will attract just about any male dog in the area.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I would add: Don't bring her to a dog park or any public place like that. There'll be dogs all over her.

[gspman]

I'd echo the posts above and add if you are not planning on breeding her you may wish to consider getting her spayed.

[Archerysniper]

My lab is at her boy friends now,expecting a litter about memorial weekend if it works out. Like they said keep her away from other dogs if you don't want pups. I would wait till she is about 2 years old if you do decide to breed her though.

[2448]

Depends work good for a diaper. Just cut a hole for the tail and tape around the hole.

[beretta]

Thanks for the help guys! I think I have it figured out now! I want puppies one of these days but I dont think I have the setup right now for it. I also havent looked into a stud and I want to have the right one. Thanks again for all the help!

[FCspringer]

If you do breed and are going to test for health things I would advise doing the eyes, CERF first, PFK,PRA, ect. and then OFA the hips. The hips are the most expensive and to pass that and find out the dog should not be bred after a bad eye exam is well more expensive for a bad test . save the spendy test for last.Which is the hips. Take your time at this and do your home work first. It is not at all as easy as you might think. There are a number of things that can and do go wrong. And there are tests for all breeds that should be done before breeding to even see if your dog can be bred. Good luck

[LABS4ME]

For labs, the list should include:

CERF - eyes

OFA - Hips and elbows... dogs should only be bred with good or better rating... not big on breeding 'fairs' as they generally will fail an OFA test by the time they are 5 or 6.

CNM and EIC clear. These are two fairly new tests that we can and should do for all lab breedings. Both of these disease are hideous and need to be removed from all future breedings.

All told you will be into several hundreds of dollars to get your clearances befre breeding, but you owe it to the puppies and their future owners to minimize the chances that any and all of these disease will not be passed on to them.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Ralph Wiggum]

All told you will be into several hundreds of dollars to get your clearances befre breeding, but you owe it to the puppies and their future owners to minimize the chances that any and all of these disease will not be passed on to them.

Sound advice. Too many people out there breed their dogs because "they want puppies". Lots of thought and planning should go into breeding a litter.

[theghost_03]

Agreed! Very good advice by all! Labs, just out of curiosity are there many clinics performing the CNM and EIC tests in the state? If so where? I have also heard of a more extensive test on the hips called a PENN hip, that is a bit more detailed I believe, do you have any information on this test?

[FCspringer]

The penn hip is done with more views and positions and can be done at an early age, OFA is kinda the old standard, I think Both are good tests jusst a matter of prefrance, Some will side to one or the other, but both are effective tests. I Know the U of MN does the other tests and Laraka or Olivero or the U for eye testing. Just an example of what a friend of mine just went through, Had the hips done first 200$, Exelant, Eyes 54$, clear, brought the stud over Nights of discouragement and time wasted driving to pick him up and return him, no penitration. Vet check 37$ Only to find out that because he waited so long to breed (71/2 Years old), the canall muscle tissue grew so tight the male could not penitrate and the dog would not have been able to pass the pups any way and he would have had an emergancy procedure and a huge medical bill along with long agonising hours of caring for the litter if he would have caught it in time. So for him thank God the stud did not get the job done. He would have saved allot of time off work and money if he just did the Damms exam first then the other stuff in succesion up to the Hips, he would have been done at 37$. There are a bunch of people out there that say AHH I just letem do there thing and I never have a problem, But I guarentee you if those people keep it up it will eventualy catch up to em sooner or later. The Old saying, If you keep playing with snakes long enough you are sure to get bit. Also When you do the Damms exam your vet will have a welth of info packets for you and will fill you in on simple disease checks for the sire and damm to do first to make sure your dog does not get infected with Bruciliosis or whatever they call it,I am not the greatest speller on the block, But just some things to consider for a easier breeding and piece of mind for you, Good luck. Ken