Keeping bitches and dogs together

Hormonal Filly

Hormonal Filly

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Does anyone keep entire bitches and dogs together, are the seasons hard work?

Our dogs live inside, we have a spayed Labrador bitch and entire dog Cocker spaniel. Hes not a randy dog, and more focused on working. I've put my name down on a litter, not even born yet but am torn between dog or bitch.

My other half would love a bitch next, but the seasons are a concern...
 
You have to separate them when the bitches are in season and the dogs can get into an epic state .
I have all my bitches spayed quite young so I don’t have to go through it often .
 
When they are in season they have to be kept apart if you do have an in season bitch she can wear pants but thats not fair on the dog. However some people manage that way and it depends on the dog I had one hat you would never know was entire so you had to be on the ball when the bitches came into season. He got my golden retriever in pup while in boarding kennels when we moved house
 
Yep grew up with entire dogs and bitches in the same house, and the dogs were usually active stud dogs.

You learn to shut doors! And keep ‘holding spaces’ between the rooms the dog and the bitch are in!

It really depends on the dog, some go mad when there is a bitch in season and whine, stress, won’t eat etc..... others are relatively chilled and don’t let it bother them. It’s impossible to say until you actually have the experience unfortunately!
 
CorvusCorax said:
There's an injection which makes females miss seasons.
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Yes there is, delvosterone if I remember rightly. I have used it once on a bitch as she was due at an inconvenient time. We spayed her as soon as we could.
Have also used it on cats on a 6 monthly basis. All three eventually developed mammary tumours. We used it instead of spaying because we were on a farm and had tomcats visiting (uninvited). Spayed females are treated as males by entires and get beaten up. After losing a spayed girl to infection after a severe beating by a feral tom we used to inject instead, that way they still kept their female hormones so weren't targetted.
Now I would only ever use it if no other choice.
 
We kept entires together. The dogs carry on a bit at the fertile stage, whingeing and off their food, but it’s only a few days ( we always kept them apart for two weeks). It’s worth it if you don’t want to neuter, it’s only twice a year.
I’ve gone off spaying recently, mainly because it ruins their coat (pure vanity I know).
I wouldn’t use synthetic hormones.
 
Thank you all! Don't like the thought of synthetic hormones.

Clodagh said:
I’ve gone off spaying recently, mainly because it ruins their coat (pure vanity I know).
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We had our lab bitch spayed at 2, didn't change her in anyway although have to go careful as she puts weight on easier but wouldn't ever get my cocker done. He has such a gorgeous coat, and if we got a bitch I'd like to keep them entire even if we eventually got them spayed when they were say 5/6.

Would you stick to getting another dog or go for a bitch? Twice a year yes, but I'm worried it will be for 2 months every year..
 
Always have. Currently have two intact dogs and a bitch who has just had a season. Was no trouble at all really, and didn’t separate them unless I wasn’t around (which seems quite obvious!). Had a bit of whining and slobbering around the height of things, other than that..not an issue.

Like most things, I teach my boys that humping won’t be tolerated here. Whether that makes life easier I don’t know, but they learn from young to leave the girls alone.
 
We only have bitches now but when I was growing up parents had entire Labs, dogs and bitches, as above, you learn to close doors, use air locks and separate them as necessary. Aunt and uncle also used to breed Scotties, kept them crated either in pairs or singly and had no problems.

We also once successfully barrier nursed a Lab dog through Parvo, none of the others were infected. You just need to be aware of each dog and their surroundings.
 
We've had bitch and entire dogs together for 10 years, it's do-able , learn9ng to shut doors and bitch was crated and kept as far away as possible when in season, BUT, as someone else said it's an absolute pain in the ass,, dog whingeing all night for at least five days, pacing constantly, panting getting himself totally worked up twice a year.
They did mate , at arranged times, we had five litters over that time which probably didn't help.
As we were no longer using them for breeding the bitch was spayed last year
 
ForbiddenHorse said:
Thank you all! Don't like the thought of synthetic hormones.

We had our lab bitch spayed at 2, didn't change her in anyway although have to go careful as she puts weight on easier but wouldn't ever get my cocker done. He has such a gorgeous coat, and if we got a bitch I'd like to keep them entire even if we eventually got them spayed when they were say 5/6.

Would you stick to getting another dog or go for a bitch? Twice a year yes, but I'm worried it will be for 2 months every year..
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I prefer bitches. Ffee is entire and will stay that way for now, I think spaying at 5/6 is a good idea. Her seasons though are March and September, if they were in the shooting season that would be a PITA as it isn't very long anyway, and losing 3/4 weeks would be a real pain.
It's just some people prefer working with dogs and some people with bitches. Dogs are meant to be more loyal and 'with you' but slower maturing. They are more consistent I think. Like men really!
 
I’d go for another dog. I would hate the hassle and the risk. A mate was just telling me how his Newfie x nearly got caught in the park. I didn’t want to be rude, but I was like wtf, you had her loose in the park knowing she was in season?! All of my animals are male, I doubt I’d ever have a mare or bitches.
 
It’s weird I had bitches for years and never considered a dog really.... although I had one or two rescues on the way.... then I had my Hoover greyhound. I couldn’t have asked for a more devoted loving boy.

So now I have 3 dogs and one bitch, and I’m not in any hurry to get another bitch! But I do know that every breed is different in personality ?
 
A friend has a bitch pup that was sired by her dog and endured one season's worth of crates, airlock rooms and pining before spaying her. Even that much sounded like an enormous pain in the bum, frankly! I too would hate the hassle and the risk, the mismate jab is expensive and not without its health risks as others have mentioned.

I'd resent losing competition entry fees on an in-season bitch. One of my breeds also has quite a marked difference between the sexes and I much prefer the look of males. Boys all the way!
 
We currently have one speyed bitch in the house (a rescue and done before I got her)
Four entire males and five entire bitches. They are kennelled, usually mixed sees sharing except when in season. All walked together even when in season, depending on the bitch she may be on a lead for the days she is receptive and will stand but to be honest our bitches are usually more interested in us and the walk than the dogs.
The dogs are easily kept in check and stay off the bitches when told to leave them.
One dog howls a couple of times a night if a bitch is in season the rest are fine.
 
If you are getting a bitch spay her when she is mature i.e 1-2 years old. Don't risk a womb infection - the health benefits are clear for spaying
 
Squee said:
It’s weird I had bitches for years and never considered a dog really.... although I had one or two rescues on the way.... then I had my Hoover greyhound. I couldn’t have asked for a more devoted loving boy.
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I've always had bitches growing up.. but when i went to view my spaniels litter, he just chose me! I still have the videos, i'll dig them out.

I'd go for another dog, but I really do think bitches are easier when it comes to gundog work..
 
Personally I do feel the ease/difference/contrast of dog versus bitch is also greatly impacted on by breed.

Growing up our terriers were always bitches, as parents felt they were fiery enough...and although they got hot under the collar several times a day and would squabble with their own shadow, they weren’t as argumentative with others as all the terrier boys we knew and loved.

We’ve always had a mixed household and they’ve generally always been fine. We had two bitches where one tried to murder the other, so went back to the friend who’d bred her. There was no mediating the situation there, but the offending bitch was from a very hard line of Earth terriers; and her temperament was different to your average dog.
And my current rough collie chaps fall out on the regular, and although it looks scary and is noisy—it’s handbags at dawn because my sable is and always has been, a grumpy swine. Interestingly, less squabbling since introducing a bitch back into the house after six years. She simply doesn’t take their nonsense.

There are certain breeds you couldn’t pay me to have a dog in, simply because I feel I’d find them too much with the breed character combined with boyishness and hormones. There are certain breeds where you couldn’t pay me to have a bitch in, as from a vanity point of view they do nothing for me—with my beloved rough collies it had to be dogs. I’ve only once seen a bitch in the breed I thought wow, and she was very big and I initially thought she was a dog!

It’s all fine and dandy anyway until you go for a bitch, who is naturally the bossier in this breed, of an already very bossy breed, in a colour known as having a marked character difference to its other counterparts.

As then you get an email from the four horseman of the apocalypse asking have you seen their dog, as she was last seen in a litter in Windsor before being collected by a pair of unsuspecting midlanders who hadn’t seen her credentials, nor 666 birthmark. Equally I don’t know if I had another Pembroke whether I’d have a dog, although easier in character I think a lot of kennels breed them too big and clunky for my taste—though I was once told as a breed their character is like a German shepherd sawn off at the knee (which it is!) I don’t think they’re supposed to look like one sawn off at the knee!
 

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We have entire dogs and bitches and find it a bit of a pain in the bum. The sheepdogs are all kennelled but when a bitch is in season, they will howl, whine, bark and not eat and are much more likely to have scraps with each other when let loose (usually when one dog decides to park himself outside the bitch's run and the other dogs are clamouring to get near).

My GSDs are an entire dog and entire bitch. Dog has had the 12 month Suprelorin implant to give my bitch a chance to mature. I will likely get my bitch spayed but want her to be a good bit older before making that decision, so will probably have the dog implanted again when this one runs out. It hasn't changed his character or temperament at all, so if I decide to keep my bitch entire then I know I can neuter the dog without a change in temperament which can be a worry.
 
I have entires. No problems, easy enough managed if you've got common sense but you need to trust everyone who handles the dogs 100% to keep the separation policy in place.
 
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