Walking bitch on heat *rant*!

BroadfordQueen

BroadfordQueen

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 January 2006
Messages
11,463
Location
Worcs
Visit site
So my bitch is currently on her first heat, and walking her has been an absolute nightmare! What am I supposed to do?! She is so well behaved, always ALWAYS comes to call, wont go and talk to other dogs unless I tell her she can, shes no trouble at all- infact, shes been better behaved than ever now shes on heat! But what can I do about all the randy male dogs coming up to her and bothering her?
She is a mini jack russell, so very tiny, and I've had huge labs who just do not listen to their owner whatsoever come over to her and try to mount/squash her- I end up having to pick her up while their owner comes running over to put the dogs on a lead. Luckily she is tiny so easy to just whip up into my arms, but its so damn annoying!
Am I at fault? I dont have anywhere private to walk her here, everywhere we can walk her is full of other dogs. I've had Bella on a lead over the past week or 2 even though shes got 100% recall, and I don't know what else I can do- poor Bella hates it, she gets really upset when herds of male dogs 3 times her size come charging at her!
I've tried walking her very early (think 7am, thats early for a student!) to try and avoid dog walkers, but we still met people walking their dogs before work. Don't want to wait and walk her late as she gets bored- very fit, energetic little dog!
*sigh* I wish people who didn't have 100% control over their dogs would just keep them on their lead in public! :( Am I being unreasonable? I know I should get her spayed but right now shes happy as she is, and I've got a list as long as my arm of people who want a Bella puppy (apparently, a jack russell who listens is a rare thing ;) ).
*rant over* sorry!
 
Well I feel your pain from a general people with dogs offlead that they cannot control... It drives me mad!


Millie my tiny JRT is in season at the moment, I have been walking my dogs at hours that avoid other dogs (ie. very early morning - which is normal anyway) and waiting to do their 2nd walk until 8-9pm - all on lead and in well lit streets. Over the weekend I walked them for a couple of hours each day and Millie who is normally offlead for 90% of a walk (ie. all the time not on roads) was kept on lead most of the walk - only offlead if i was 100% certain there were no other dogs around, again Millie has excellent re-call and never buggers off to meet other dogs.

Millie is going to be spayed this year, so shouldnt have to deal with it again, its just one of those things we have to put up with when owning un-neutered bitches!
 
Is she on a lead? If people are letting their dog approach an onlead dog, than you have every right to be cross! Occasionally you may get the odd problem when you meet a dog suddenly round a corner or something (although personally I don't let my dog go round corners without me, he never goes out of my sight), but then the owner should be close by.

If she is off lead, then people may just think it is ok to let their dog approach? Not knowing that there is a reason not to?

I feel your pain though. My boy was on lead for a month with a bad paw that was clearly banadages and I STILL had people make no effort to even recall their dog and let them jump all over him!!!
 
You can't blame the other people or dogs, a lot of people will say you shouldnt BE taking your in season bitch out in public anyway and that it's YOU causing the problem, not them.

She sounds like a super little thing, but I wouldn't be keeping her for breeding, there are enough lovely JRTs out there for now :)
 
Sorry but to be honest walking a bitch in heat in public is asking for trouble. As for her 100% recall, right thats as maybe but she should not be off the lead at all. And while you might have a list as long as your arm for one of her puppies I am 100% sure no one would want an ugly pup with some strange dog as the father. Dogs can mate 365 days of the year, your bitch comes in to season once/ twice a year. You are the irresponsible one not the dog owners, spray her with anti mate, put her in anti mate pants. Or take her out earlier. Of course there are lots of dogs being walked in public places at 7am, thats because most people walk their dog before work.
 
Mine has recall, but there are limits! TBH, I get annoyed when people with bitches on heat have their dogs off lead in popular walking places at busy times. 7am really isn't that early for non-students, people who walk their dogs before work are going to be out at that time I'm afraid. If the dog is on a lead I'll call mine back, but off-lead, how on earth am I supposed to know that my dog is about to become magnetically attracted to a delicious smelling bitch... he's 'fixed' anyway, and I go and get him before any randiness can occur but even so, it's a bit of a pain - for me! And I'm not about to keep mine on a lead permanently on the off-chance we may meet an in-season bitch, given that he can't procreate anyway.

In my opinion, a person who keeps a dog or bitch entire must take the responsibility - sorry. If that means she has to stay on a lead or that you have to deal with an energetic dog, well, it's your choice not to spay her.
 
I think you probably need to think about this from the other side: your bitch is sending out clouds of hormones that are absolutely irresistable to an entire dog. I would think that even a dog with normally 100% reliable recall is going to go suddenly deaf when overcome by his natural hormonal response to a bitch in heat!

I have never had a bitch on heat (spayed both mine before their first season), but in your shoes I would either be avoiding walks (nightmare, I know) or continue as you are with on-lead walks and accept the fact that you are going to have to pick your dog up every time another dog approaches. I don't think that you can blame your fellow dog walkers in this situation, personally...
 
Shes on the lead! I did say that in my post, shes been on a lead for the last couple of weeks since shes been on heat. How else should I be walking her? I live in a housing estate, there are no fields in which I can walk her for miles (I would drive her somewhere to walk her but she doesn't travel).
I probably will spay her, just not yet. I wanted to wait until at least her first season is over, shes only 7 months old and I would rather wait until she is at least 1 year old.
 
And I usually walk her at about 11am and then again at about 5pm, I've cut it down to just one walk a day now and am trying different times to see when is the least busy. It just annoyed me when I walked her today and a dog came over and the owner just laughed and said "oh Rolo, don't be so rude" and made no attempt to retreive her dog, meaning I had to carry her all the way to the road when the other dog finally turned around and gave up.
I was adviced by the vet to wait until shes had her first season before shes spayed. Should I have had her spayed already?!
 
At times in your OP it wasnt very clear whether she was on the lead still...

If you can't drive her anywhere why don't you stick to pavements if you live in a built up area rather than parks (I assume that's where you are walking her). That is what I do. I live in a built up area and I never take Harley to the local parks or places where he could go off lead because I find that is where I find "lazy dog owners" who don't bother to train their dogs and just let them run riot. Obvisously it is far from everybody, but it only takes 1/2 to ruin a walk!!! So Harley only gets walks round the pavements round home, and I take him out to the countryside for his proper walks.

If you stuck to pavements, then at least any other dog you met would almost certainly be on a lead too!
 
Pavement walks - she's too little to need running off a bike, but with a larger and older dog you could do that too, to get some energy burnt. Chuck in some heelwork training for mental stimulation, and further trick training at home, and you should have a sufficiently exercised dog. And you shouldn't then meet other dogs off-lead, which should eliminate the problem.
 
My neatured JR male has perfect recall but even neatuered he would run over to a on heat bitch he still gets randy but cant make babies. So its not nessary there fault.
TBH ive always thought it was best to keep an in heat bitch in, we did when i was younger and the family dog came into heat. Or get up earlier when its really quiet. Im at work at 7 so its not that early!!! I get up earlier than that to take mine out!!! And im a single mum with a full time job. And JR mature alot ealier so you dont need to wait to spay my other pup is been done at 6 months on vets instruction.
 
I used to play games in the house that would have my two JRTs flat out where they were her age :D cat toys with a mouse on a stick worked a treat...round and round the coffee table.... 5 mins and they were completely poleaxed (and I felt sick) but it worked for a lunch time burn-out while I was in work!!
 
Thanks everyone! I am new to the area so I guess some pavement walks will be good to get to know my way round!
Have had unspayed bitches before, but both at my parents house where they have loads of fields to run in so never had this problem. Jack, our neutured male whippet, showed no interest whatsoever in Bella when my parents came down last weekend, but then he is a bit of a girl!
 
BoolavogueDC said:
I used to play games in the house that would have my two JRTs flat out where they were her age :D cat toys with a mouse on a stick worked a treat...round and round the coffee table.... 5 mins and they were completely poleaxed (and I felt sick) but it worked for a lunch time burn-out while I was in work!!
Click to expand...

I do tend to open our patio doors and throw a ball up and down the garden for her, she loves it but it never seems to tire her out! Shes just full of energy, and will run round and round and round the coffee table with her tail tucked between her legs if she isn't walked!
Shes in her final stages now anyway so shouldn't be too much longer until everythings back to normal, but until then I have decided I am going to take her to uni and walk her in the grounds there- very very rarely any dogs, and dogs are allowed on a lead on campus so I don't know why I didn't think of it before! :)
Thanks for all the advice :)
 
Teach her heel and side (heel on the left, side on the right - good to have a dog that does both anyway), get her to stop and sit, stop and down, so she's paying attention, do about turns when she spins on the spot (so if she's on your left, you both spin on the spot and she ends up on your right), ones where she follows you round the turn, ones where she steps back on herself, stop and do a sit and wait while you walk around her - all of this you can do on the lead, and because she will be having to think about what you want, she will get more from the walk than she would from just an amble.
 
BroadfordQueen said:
Shes on the lead! I did say that in my post, shes been on a lead for the last couple of weeks since shes been on heat. How else should I be walking her? I live in a housing estate, there are no fields in which I can walk her for miles (I would drive her somewhere to walk her but she doesn't travel).
I probably will spay her, just not yet. I wanted to wait until at least her first season is over, shes only 7 months old and I would rather wait until she is at least 1 year old.
Click to expand...

you dont - you just keep her in!.....

and they have her spayed after this one... problem solved!

my bitch was spayed at 6 months as we had a dog in the house and i couldnt be bothered with the hastle nor not walking her as i had/have, no intention of breeding.
 
make sure she's on a lead at all times. put her in the car and drive to a place to walk- she will pee more frequently when in heat, and males can and will follow the trail back to your door!

try and walk her early in the morning/late at night when there are less if any others out walking. ;)

xx
 
As stated, keep her on the lead whilst she's in season:). I'll be damned if one of my bitches shouldn't be walked on lead just because she's in season. Get your effing:eek: entire dogs done or keep them on a lead, if they're a nuisance to bitches on heat and on a lead.
 
Bitches in season should be kept at home and in a secure garden......period!;)

I have bitches and have always let them have at least one season to mature at home and then they are spayed. Walking out is a stupid thing to do with a bitch in season. Don't you understand that she's leaving a gigantic come find me boys trail behind her, which will lead them right right up to your front door?

Dogs will climb up, they will chew through, they will run and they will get there, no matter what or how far they have to travel or how difficult the journey. They will even mate with your bitch through fencing!

Get real!
 
Annoying as I know it is, you don't really have an option but to keep her on the lead and to pick her up when another dog approaches. Even an excellently trained dog will find an on heat bitch pretty much irresistible so it's hardly the owners fault if they succumb to instinct. As long as your bitch is on a lead there isn't really a problem as you can easily deal with it as she is so small.
 
Elsbells said:
Bitches in season should be kept at home and in a secure garden......period!;)

I have bitches and have always let them have at least one season to mature at home and then they are spayed. Walking out is a stupid thing to do with a bitch in season. Don't you understand that she's leaving a gigantic come find me boys trail behind her, which will lead them right right up to your front door?

Dogs will climb up, they will chew through, they will run and they will get there, no matter what or how far they have to travel or how difficult the journey. They will even mate with your bitch through fencing!

Get real!
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? An entire dog is not the flamin' Terminator. I think you are the one that needs to get real. My two remaining entire bitches are kept on lead throughout their season when out for exercise. If you have an entire male that creates merry hell the moment he gets a whiff of a bitch in season, then either keep him on lead or have his nuts off.
 
blazingsaddles said:
What are you talking about? An entire dog is not the flamin' Terminator. I think you are the one that needs to get real. My two remaining entire bitches are kept on lead throughout their season when out for exercise. If you have an entire male that creates merry hell the moment he gets a whiff of a bitch in season, then either keep him on lead or have his nuts off.
Click to expand...

Yes they can be like the terminator and I'm sorry, but my entire dog maybe able to create pups but at the end of the day, it's not him that has them is it?
 
Elsbells said:
Yes they can be like the terminator and I'm sorry, but my entire dog maybe able to create pups but at the end of the day, it's not him that has them is it?
Click to expand...

Seriously? I've read nonsense but this takes the ruddy biscuit. "It's not him that has them is it?" No, it' not, but if you can't take preventative measures to ensure your entire dog cannot mate with an in-season bitch, then you are lacking somewhere.
 
Chrissy4221 said:
I've heard of male dogs climbing fences and digging under them too. And saw one break through a screen door. Crazy! That's why I choose to have all my dogs fixed. :-)
Click to expand...

Yeah, the owners of entire dogs need to keep them indoors and not let them breathe fresh air and have a change of scenery for three weeks.;):D
 
blazingsaddles said:
Seriously? I've read nonsense but this takes the ruddy biscuit. "It's not him that has them is it?" No, it' not, but if you can't take preventative measures to ensure your entire dog cannot mate with an in-season bitch, then you are lacking somewhere.
Click to expand...

My dog and I decide, not you. I have never done my dogs, however, all my bitches are spayed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top