Walking in season

[janem_g]

Hello,

Can I ask a question please? What is the accepted etiquette for walking in season bitches. I have an entire dog and we meet any number of in season bitches in all kinds of places. If I had a bitch I would avoid people to take away any potential problems. Is that not the done thing though?

Today we met a lovely chow, couldn't even see the sex under all that floof - my dog was on his lead as was the chow but he showed interest as we passed and the owner said, "Oh yes she is in season". It surprises me but perhaps I'm wrong.

 

[Lots of Gift Bags]

You can't always avoid everyone, especially nowadays as there seem to be a lot more walkers and dog owners.
IMO I think both entire dogs and bitches should be under control. If you have a bitch in season, you can't be expected not to walk her but yiu can take steps to avoid any uncomfortable situations, and I wouldn't be walking mine in popular places at busy times if the day. However if you have an entire dog you should also ensure that he is under control.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I've always walked mine when in season. If we are walking somewhere where we may see others then they stay on the lead.

 

[BallyJ]

We walk ours but she stays on the lead - I’d expect anyone with an entire male to have them fully under control.

 

[PapaverFollis]

We always kept bitches in season in the house and garden. They cause and inconvenience to any male dog owner, not just entire ones. I would expect someone walking a bitch in season to avoid other dogs and keep them on a lead and shout out a warning if they meet others. My entire boys are under control but I need fair warning. Ive been in a situation where they stuck their noses up an off-lead bit he's bottom, I apologised and dragged them off.... THEN got told she was in season!! Don't do that! I would also hope that people avoid taking them out at all at the point in the cycle where they are most likely to stand. An entire bitch is not "on" all the time therefore it is, in my mind, reasonable to expect her owner to help everyone else out when she is at her most distracting. As it's a short time. Whereas it is not reasonable to expect an entire dog to be contained (other than obviously good obedience etc) for his entire life just in case there is a bitch in season passing by.

For me, I always thought keeping them in when in season is just what you did and is part of the reason I got dogs this time!

 

[Goldenstar]

I don’t take bitches out when they are in season .

 

[janem_g]

Thankyou all. Interesting to read a range of thoughts. My boy was under my control, on a lead and the other side of the path but it just took me by surprise. I have also encountered an off lead bitch in season in popular dog walking woods and that was a bit more of a challenge. I would always put my boy straight on the lead and take him away, I just found it surprising that people would willingly walk their bitch in the middle of the day at a busy place with all kinds of dogs and people both on and off lead.

If the worst happened and a bitch was caught by someones dog if they had allowed them to be free what would the general consensus be on fault etc?

 

[BallyJ]

I don’t agree with off lead bitches in season and I should probably add I’m in a rural village, I’d probably act differently in a busier area and try to go later/quieter routes!
If she did get caught I’d pay for the treatment, just for ease and it’s in my best interest. She’s a pedigree and if we were to breed then it would be chosen by various health scores temperament, not by chance at the local park ?

 

[SusieT]

Your dog is entire, so you have the responsibility to stop him harassing other dogs i.e. bitches.
Their dog is entire so they have a responsibility to stop her disappearing off with every male dog.
Both owners are entirely responsible for their own dogs. I personally would not walk an in heat bitch in a busy park as you cant trust other people but the old nonsense about it being the bitches needing to be 'kept home' for three weeks as the responsible thing to do is not appropriate. Nobody would suggest entire male dogs should be kept in if there was a chance they would impregnate a bitch.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

I walk ours at the yard as I know we won’t see anyone. I wouldn’t dream of letting her off lead at a public place whilst in season.

 

[SAujla]

I don't think I could understand why anyone would take a bitch in season to the park. I'm still waiting for my pups first season but when it does arrive my plan is very early and very late walks, not going near any park. I will probably stop walks or just do one long walk during the more fertile period.

I think for the entire dog it partly depends on if they are used for breeding or not, as I've read that once a dog has mated once they are a lot more eager to do it again

 

[GSD Woman]

When my bitches have been in season it has been a major pain in the butt. I have to crate and rotate and the bitches go out first in the back yard(garden) and I go with them. Then my boy goes out. When it is time for walks I give the bitches stuffed Kongs and take the boy by himself.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

All my current bitches is old, and spayed, but when they where not spayed, just as with the bitches I had before these, I took them out for walks as normal while in season. When possible I chose walk routes, and times, where/when we would be less likely to meet others.

Have opened the front door more than once to find different male dogs waiting outside. One medium sized Poodle came several times when my bitches were not even in season, turned out that he was escaping out through a cat flap!
Have also had loose male dogs turn up out of nowhere while out walking my bitches on a leash, have in a few of those occasions had to unleash one of mine to instead be able to use the leash on the male dog, to keep it away from my girl's behinds, and car traffic. Only once have I needed to call the police/dog warden to come and collect the dog, the other times I've either been able to find the dog owner myself, or I knew were he lived.
Even with 3 in season bitches, and a loose strange dog around, I've managed to avoid any accidents from happening.

Otherwise, as long as the male dogs are on a leash, or I could see an owner, I've turned the other way/tried to keep as much distance as possible/definitely not allowed them to say Hello/if necessary shouted "They're in season".

 

[P3LH]

I don’t but I think that’s more down to childhood regression, and the vivid memories of walking our in season russell bitch and within hours of returning home - having all manner of marauding and hopeful canine romeos outside the house pissing everywhere and howling. She must have been on one of then magic days to have caused such excitement.

I also always remember the tale, before my time, of a family peke (different to the type now, probably more like w Tibetan spaniel) being walked and ending up ‘locking’ with an in season golden retriever bitch that was offlead and miles from owner. I never heard of what the progeny were like, clearly it was unfortunate timing as a few decades later they’d have been able to sell them and make enough for a house deposit based on the current trend.

corgi was just in season, she finished a few days ago. I didn’t walk her, just entertained at home. To be honest she really just wanted to sleep and be by herself - whereas usually she’s quite a driven and high mental energy dogs so gets huffy without being kept occupied enough.

 

[meleeka]

I personally wouldn’t take an in season bitch anywhere where we’d likely to meet other dogs. Before mine was spayed she’d have legged it for a bit of action, so definitely on lead too.

It’s all very well saying entire dogs should be fully under control, but people are stupid and I wouldn’t want to risk it personally.

 

[On the Hoof]

I have only walked mine in season at stupid oclock in the morning in a quiet area for a good hour and on a lead, the rest of the day she has to pee in the back yard. I dont think that an owner of an entire male would necessarily have control if the bitch was ready to stand and not fair to assume so either.

 

[Kay Burton]

You can't always avoid everyone, especially nowadays as there seem to be a lot more walkers and dog owners.
IMO I think both entire dogs and bitches should be under control. If you have a bitch in season, you can't be expected not to walk her but yiu can take steps to avoid any uncomfortable situations, and I wouldn't be walking mine in popular places at busy times if the day. However if you have an entire dog you should also ensure that he is under control.

My friend doesn't walk her dog at all during heat. Although, as for me, this is violence against such an active breed. Although she is not involved in raising a dog, the dog is absolutely uncontrollable. It seems to me that such people cannot be trusted at all by animals and dogs in particular. You can and should walk a dog during estrus, but you need to study in advance the places where

 

[conkers]

Before mine was spayed, I used to walk her as normal but we went out before everyone else.

In an ideal world you should be able to walk your in season bitch as normal, just keep them on the lead. However, as we know from the various threads on here, there are a lot of people who have no control over their dogs at the best of times let alone with the added excitement of an in season bitch. I would still walk them but would probably go out even earlier these days to ensure she got exercised.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Keep out of people's way and train last or not at all (as they can go completely dizzy). It's a pain in the arse when a male is 'bitching' at every spot of pee on a walk.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I don’t take bitches out when they are in season .

I’m baffled that anyone would, unless they go out very early/late when it’s very quiet.

There are some entire bitches which still get walked round here. The poor elderly JRT, although firmly on a lead, got very excited by all the lovely smells that they left behind even if he didn’t meet them.

I’m a ‘get the first season done then spay’ person, though, when we have a bitch.

 

[Clodagh]

We only walk ours on our land and are so careful with them, they don't even go out for last thing at night pee in the garden without one of us with them. When I lived in a town I used to walk her very early or late.

 

[skinnydipper]

I was sauntering along with the big lad (entire) off lead one day and we met his lady friend, a labrador, also unleashed.
Owner casually mentioned she was in season

 

[PapaverFollis]

I've had an in season bitch turn up at my house wanting in to see the boys. So it's far from being just entire males that go looking for it. For that reason alone I'd have an in season bitch under close control at all times. One of my dogs is the result of the spaniel bitch going in search of the collie dog when she was left unsupervised in the garden in season. Scaled a 6ft gate to do it.

 

[satinbaze]

When mine are in season its a pavement pound only so they are on lead and under close control.