Hello all,
Layla, according to my mom, appears to be in heat. I could really use some tips on what to watch for. How long do I keep her protected. Will she be in pain? She seems to finally be eating less. Is that a result of being in heat? How miserable will we all be until this passes?

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from the moment your mother saw blood or spotting you need to keep her separated and like rapunzel in a tower for a full month....

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Shalva and the Milbrose Retrievers and Irish Wolfhound
Milbrose Retrievers and Irish Wolfhounds

Shalva is right on. You will have a period of discharge, some will be bloody, then you will go into a stage they call Standing heat where she will accept any male dog, and then you have a period of days that she slowly goes out of heat. To be on the safe side it is recommended you count a month for heat and during this time she should be kept away from all unaltered males. She should be monitored even in the backyard during this time because males will come from a great distance and may crawl your fence to get to her, so someone should be with her every minute she is outside. Keep her on leash if you walk and away from where other dogs may be (just easier).

Heat goes over soon, but you must watch her every minute.

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Thank you both! I haven't seen any discharge yet but it us her first heat and so was wondering if she may not? The boys that have taken interest in her are neutered. Our own male golden...unaltered....hasn't shown her any extra attention so i wasn't sure. She is about to be 8 months old tho.

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Thanks for this post. I'm on watch waiting for G to start....she is 7 mos now. is there a rule of thumb for what month they start?

There is no rule of thumb when the girls have their first heat cycle. They can have it anywhere from around 6 mos old up until 14 mos old. Your breeder should be able to give you a guesstimate as to when most of her girls typically have their first heat cycles. For example, ours usually have their first heat from 10 mos to a year. We have had a few come a little earlier and some as late as 14 mos. They are all "normal".

While a girl can be "in heat" without a discharge(it is called a silent heat because there isn't blood) it is rather uncommon and not at all common on a first heat cycle. The heat cycle starts when you see blood. There will be some swelling and they will also usually start to clean themselves more however, wiping a tissue across the vulva will give you a smear of blood and often the first sign is tiny droplets of blood on the floor.

Heat cycles typically last between 3 weeks to a month. The discharge will start off as a brownish colored blood and then change to a more red color and then change yet again when they are in standing heat(and would accept a male dog) to the color of straw and then a bit more color comes back before they are finally done bleeding. I recommend people keep them away from male dogs for 4 weeks once they see blood. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security that if your girl lives with neutered boys, they won't breed her or try to breed her-they will and they can also "tie". The only thing a neutered male dog cannot do is get them pregnant.

If you have more than one dog of different sex, you can usually trade with a friend or family member and send one to them and then you can watch their dog while they are on vacation or something. Another option is boarding one of them and yet the last option is just keeping them separated.

The girls are not in pain while they are in season. Maybe a bit crampy for a few days, but other than that, you should not notice any changes other than maybe a bit clingy from the hormones.

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Thank you so much HV for your post. I am printing it out for guidance!

With an unaltered male in the house, please keep them separated during her heat vice waiting to see if he shows any interest because at that point it may be too late.