Keeping bitches and dogs apart

[Jenko109]

I am very much just musing as I won't be getting another dog for years.

I have always kept bitches. They are spayed.

I do now have a dog. He is intact and I intend to keep him that way.

Once my older bitches have passed, I will want another bitch.

So there will be a period of time where I have an entire dog and an entire bitch.

The bitch will be spayed eventually but I will ideally want her to have at least one season.

I suppose my question is, how do you cope? And is it awful? In an ideal world I would send my boy off to my dog sitter for a few weeks to save him the stress, but as I obviously won't know the dates in advance, that isn't going to be a reliable option.

I am loath to do an early spay.

So for those who keep both entire bitches and dogs, how do you cope? Do your boys find living in the same home as an in season bitch that they cannot get to very stressful?

 

[CorvusCorax]

Mine are all kept separately in runs during the day and sometimes sky boxes or a car box at night, depending on the weather. Both my males have been used at stud. There was bit of howling and bitching (sniffing where she had pee'd) at the beginning when the female first started having seasons but it has all settled down now, they used to be the ones who alerted me that she was in season but this last one, I barely noticed, it's not really a big deal for me.

 

[blackcob]

Like so

It's not a situation I ever wanted to be in and honestly I was dreading it but rather like your scenario, it was the only way to get the combination of dogs I wanted long term and something to be endured until the bitch could be spayed.

Having just come to the end of season #1, it's been absolutely fine. He got very squeaky and puffed-up for three days around the time I expect she was ovulating, the rest of the time you wouldn't have known anything was amiss except that the humans were juggling stair gates, crates/pens and one-in-one-out. Mildly inconvenient in a small house but not impossible. He's been training and competing throughout with no issues.

 

[L&M]

We had an chemical castration type implant put into our entire dog whilst our bitch had her first couple of seasons - we then had her spayed and the implant was not renewed (think they last approx 1 yr?).

Cost around £80 but saved us, and the dogs, any stress when she came in season.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

We have kept entire dogs and bitches together but the house/garden was adaptable to the set-up. It all depends on your own possibilities

 

[PapaverFollis]

I have a dog who was the result of a (small) spaniel bitch scaling a 6ft brick wall and going to find the (innocent obviously) chained up collie dog... so yeah, they can be pretty determined. I do reckon, having seen blackcob's post, that if someone had written a "no shagging" sign where the dog was chained up though my Sprollie and his brothers and sisters wouldn't exist!

No experience or useful advice to offer. Just...full enclosure with a roof or a locked door if you have to leave unsupervised and it's not just the boy you need to restrain!

 

[Moobli]

My GSD male had the Suprelorin chemical castration implant twice (two 1 year implants but they tend to last longer) until my GSD female reached 3 years of age and was then spayed.
We have entire male and female sheepdogs but all have individual kennels/runs so easier to manage.

 

[Clodagh]

We always had entire dogs and bitches together. No problem as long as everybody is on the ball.
We didn’t have cages or kennels, or even a garden fence in those days but it’s quite doable. It’s boring for a few days when the dogs can sing the ‘Song of Lost Love’.

 

[druid]

Two closed door rule here between the sexes, and the stud dogs only ever cover in ther own kennel or the clinic room so there's no confusion as to what is acceptable behaviour.

We essentially rotate the sexes between the kennels and the house so everyone gets downtime and is kept away from temptation

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Does it live any unspayed bitches nearby you, @Jenko109 , if so, how did your dog react when they where in season?

I know/have known dog owners in real life which owns intact dogs, and bitches together, and manages to make it work, but e.g. one had a caravan in their garden, where he and the dog slept for a few days if the dog's love serenades became too many, and annoying.

But, if you don't plan to buy another dog/bitch for a few years, who knows, maybe your current dog develops prostate problems, you decide to neuter him, and the whole question becomes resolved that way.

 

[Bellasophia]

My intact male poodle is nearing eleven years in November.
He has lived with three different females..
the first was intact middle age female ( st poodle) who we spayed soon after he arrived.he was still a pup and indifferent to her season.
The next was a small schnauzer who came into season at six months..we used chemical castration on my boy as he was really intent/agitated by her season….by now he was a young but mature male.Worked well.

Finally last year,my boy was now ten,we brought in my current schnauzer ,ex breeding girl,who had just had pups.Unexpectedly she came into season just two months after her pups…and my old boy was in meltdown.
We had booked the new girl for a spay for three months post pups…but this was unexpected…my boy was separated in the house but panted continuously…this caused him to bloat.
ER surgery on a Sunday night and 1000 euros later..we managed to save my male.
For me I prefer same sex households…Ive always had females and after my male passes,plan to add a female again.It’s not easy keeping mixed entire households …and I won’t do it again.