Seriously. WHY?
My first intact female and I decide to let her have a few heats since she's an agility dog. Why do I get the dog that decides she's going to be a weirdo freak? I realize there's no absolute "normal" when it comes to females in heat, but for someone who really doesn't want an intact female why did I have to get one that has cycles I can't stand?
To recap, she had her first heat starting at the beginning of May (2014) at about 20 months of age. There was absolutely no warning, I just looked over one day at lunch and was like "Is your vulva kind of big?" and the next day I was like "Yup, you are definitely swollen". She never bled a drop. I ended up having to do vaginal cytology on her to figure out when she was in estrus. Her behaviour was fairly normal, she still trained reasonably well, she flirted a bit with Summit but not terribly. And then she went into about 2.5 months of absolute BLEH. I mean, she could barely be convinced to go for a walk. She lay around the house all day doing absolutely nothing. She had this hum-drum Eeyore expression on her face all day, every day. I couldn't get her to play with toys, I couldn't get her to play disc, half the time I could barely get her to eat. I'd take her hiking (her favourite!) and she would just trot along sniffing stuff, not wanting to run (again, her favourite!) and avoiding contact with all people and other dogs. It was terrible. Around the end of August I started to get my dog back, she started running and training again, eating normally, playing with toys, being an annoying dog in the house instead of sleeping all the time.
I kind of wondered at the time if she had a false pregnancy to account for the really awful behaviour. I decided to let her go through one more cycle and if it was the same I'd spay her as soon as she returned to normal (my original plan was to leave her intact until 4-5 years old). Her breeder said most females in her lines have a 9-12 month interestrous period. That put Kili due somewhere between February and May this year.
Well, maybe about a week or two ago I started to notice weird stuff. She's been sniffing a lot more on walks. At first I thought it was because everything is melting... Summit is sniffing lots too. Then I started to notice her urinating more often on walks and at agility class. She has a history of UTIs but has been good since she was 7 months old, and this is only happening off our property, it's not like she's asking to go out more or anything. Then today I tried to take her for a jog and I practically had to drag her the whole way. And she's got that same hum-drum, nobody home, vacant expression going on.
So I figure, maybe she's going into heat... she's due. But what the hell is with the weird "post-heat" behaviour without the heat? She has no vulvar swelling, no discharge, nothing, but she's acting like she's already gone in and out of heat. WHY IS MY DOG SO FREAKING WEIRD? Why is she having post-heat behaviour pre-heat? And if I decide to just freaking go ahead and spay her right now... do you think she'll get stuck in this weird behaviour? (Yes, I'm a vet, but no these aren't really the kinds of questions people ask me! lol)
My first intact female and I decide to let her have a few heats since she's an agility dog. Why do I get the dog that decides she's going to be a weirdo freak? I realize there's no absolute "normal" when it comes to females in heat, but for someone who really doesn't want an intact female why did I have to get one that has cycles I can't stand?
To recap, she had her first heat starting at the beginning of May (2014) at about 20 months of age. There was absolutely no warning, I just looked over one day at lunch and was like "Is your vulva kind of big?" and the next day I was like "Yup, you are definitely swollen". She never bled a drop. I ended up having to do vaginal cytology on her to figure out when she was in estrus. Her behaviour was fairly normal, she still trained reasonably well, she flirted a bit with Summit but not terribly. And then she went into about 2.5 months of absolute BLEH. I mean, she could barely be convinced to go for a walk. She lay around the house all day doing absolutely nothing. She had this hum-drum Eeyore expression on her face all day, every day. I couldn't get her to play with toys, I couldn't get her to play disc, half the time I could barely get her to eat. I'd take her hiking (her favourite!) and she would just trot along sniffing stuff, not wanting to run (again, her favourite!) and avoiding contact with all people and other dogs. It was terrible. Around the end of August I started to get my dog back, she started running and training again, eating normally, playing with toys, being an annoying dog in the house instead of sleeping all the time.
I kind of wondered at the time if she had a false pregnancy to account for the really awful behaviour. I decided to let her go through one more cycle and if it was the same I'd spay her as soon as she returned to normal (my original plan was to leave her intact until 4-5 years old). Her breeder said most females in her lines have a 9-12 month interestrous period. That put Kili due somewhere between February and May this year.
Well, maybe about a week or two ago I started to notice weird stuff. She's been sniffing a lot more on walks. At first I thought it was because everything is melting... Summit is sniffing lots too. Then I started to notice her urinating more often on walks and at agility class. She has a history of UTIs but has been good since she was 7 months old, and this is only happening off our property, it's not like she's asking to go out more or anything. Then today I tried to take her for a jog and I practically had to drag her the whole way. And she's got that same hum-drum, nobody home, vacant expression going on.
So I figure, maybe she's going into heat... she's due. But what the hell is with the weird "post-heat" behaviour without the heat? She has no vulvar swelling, no discharge, nothing, but she's acting like she's already gone in and out of heat. WHY IS MY DOG SO FREAKING WEIRD? Why is she having post-heat behaviour pre-heat? And if I decide to just freaking go ahead and spay her right now... do you think she'll get stuck in this weird behaviour? (Yes, I'm a vet, but no these aren't really the kinds of questions people ask me! lol)