Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

[jedi1]

Probably the reason you guys haven't seen much of me is that I have a dog now. Took her off my daughters hand after her dog had a litter. My dog's name is Bliss and she is sheer joy or was till she turned 7 mos....no well she is still a joy to us but the poor thing is in agony.

Seems she is now in that period of life known as estroes or what is commonly referred to as menstruating. Needless to say she is just as confused as the rest of us with this new thing. She appears to be miserable and keeps coming to us to stroke her belly meanwhile she is dripping. I planned to have her spayed in the future but I was waiting till she turns 1 year before getting it done. The literature says having her spayed during her period of fertility won't alleviate the symptoms. Meanwhile any advise from other female dog owners as to how to relieve her of some of her discomfort without interfering with her hormonal balance.

Thanks....no wise crackers please I love this dog.

[Nanook]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Auntie Nanook to the rescue!

Congrats on your new dog Jedi! What kind is she? Just curious, the answers are the same!

A femaile dog's "season" will last approximatly 3 weeks. During that time the messiest part is the beginning, as you're finding out! After 7 to 10 days (this can vary, I have dogs that are small and have varying times) , the flow will dramatically slow down, at ths time for the next week or so, your girl is ripe for breeding. Be aware that male dogs for a LONG LONG ways will be able to smell your girl and come sneaking around your yard. To avoid an unwanted breeding, stay outside with her at all times.

BETTER YET...

Call your vet and get some clorophyll tablets, they are extremely cheap, maybe you can even get them at the drug store, not sure. The cloryphill will eliminate the odor and neighboring dogs will not be able to smell her. Dogs in immeadiate vicinity, same house etc, will still be able to detect the odor but not the ones from the neighborhood! STILL, never let her out of your sight. I've seen dogs EAT kennel panels, the chain link ones are nothing to a amourous feeling male dog!

If you can get your dog to wear "Santi- Panties, it's worth a try, it's a little under panty with pads you can put in place and change.

Otherwise, you can always take an old towel or old blanket and put where she likes to lay and protect your carpet etc. I lock my dog in a crate for this time, they are nt happy about it but the other choice is unplanned litter.

The third week, the "going out of season" faze, last about another week. Make no mistake about it, she can still be bred on the 20th day! This stage is not so messy, but like you say, she is miserable, just like some people can get so can dogs. This is where the B word term origionated I bet!

She will come into season in another 5 to 6 months, and you get to do it all over again, unless you make that appointment!

Good luck with Bliss, I LOVE HER NAME!!!!

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Solid! thank you so much Auntie Nanook, you have no idea how worried I have been for my pwecious baby.

Errr--mm she is a Pitbull but the most beautiful and loving animal in the world. I've had her since she was 31/2 months. I have a crate for her but it is more like her crib. I allow her to go out into the yard to play which is fenced in. In the summer I'll most likely tether her outside near to my tool shed.

Thanks for you advice. I will go looking for the chlorophyll tablets and the sani-pants this weekend. I had made a makeshift underpants with a pad in it but I suspect that the area is very irritating to her so she didn't tolerate it very well. At any rate thanks for your very timely advice about the breeding thing because although I have never seen any other dogs in the hood, her family is only a few homes away but locked up.

My kids are anti-spaying but as soon as this period is over she shall be spayed or someone will have to give up their room for the new litter. I say this to say that it is concievable that they may try to mate her... [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek2.gif[/img]

Anyways you will be hearing more from me. So glad to find a dog lover in the house. Thanks your reply is really reassuring.

BTW...any of your dogs ever experienced false pregnancy when they didn't breed during the fertility period? Just curious.

[QK13]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Without all the aggressive training and/or abuse, pits can be very very sweet. My cousin has 4 dogs, the pit is the sweetest most loving of them all, Thinks she's a lap dog. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Congrats Jedi! [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

I think I'd be nervous, not so much about breeding a pit-bull, but what happens to the puppies after they leave their Momma...
Lots of idiots out there. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70361-embarassed.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Oh Jedi, you really don't want to breed. I can tell horror stories if you'd like. One thing from the get go, is Pitts have BIG heads, the likelyhood of an expensive C Section is very high. All the big headed dogs like Pit Bulls, Boxers, most breeders i kow just plan C Sections ahead of time, that way they're not running to the vet on a Sunday night for a $1,000 emergency C Section.
Then you have to be ready to had feed the babies every 2 hours for 4 week or more and thee could be 8 or 10 or even a dozen babies. First tiem mothers having a C Section delivery it dosen't always sink in where the babeis came from since it didn't happen naturally. OK, that's just a start from the get go.

And like Q.K said, the people out there wanting puppies of any breed need to be screened to the max, and breeds such as Pitt's even more so. Enjoy Bliss to the MAX! If you have any more questions, I've bred dogs for over 30 years so I know a little and I'll be happy to help!

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Q.K</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Without all the aggressive training and/or abuse, pits can be very very sweet. My cousin has 4 dogs, the pit is the sweetest most loving of them all, Thinks she's a lap dog. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Congrats Jedi! [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

I think I'd be nervous, not so much about breeding a pit-bull, but what happens to the puppies after they leave their Momma...
Lots of idiots out there. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70361-embarassed.gif[/img] </div></div>

Hey QK girl happy new year! [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img] Same to you too (((nan))) pardon mi mannahs everybaddi, I'm so taken up with my dogchile... kikiki love the new forum format, bigups to Mr. X.

Well QK to respond to you, let me say that I am truly a mother at heart. I am really concerned myself about what would happen to my grandpups. Besides my dogchile is only 8mos roughly and I wouldn't want her getting pregnant even before she is mature enough. She is still only good for romping constantly but very smart and obeys commands when she feels like it...still a baby as far as I am concerned. My daughter certainly has mastery over her behavior, much better than I. But I do plan to have her properly trained and schooled next year, I don't think I like some of her techniques. Matter of fact I warned her that if she hits my dog I will call Animal Prevention on her...(just joking...[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70402-thinking.gif[/img]) No I really don't like the rough stuff and besides I want her as my pet not my protector. All of these plans I have for her precludes breeding.

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Oh nan thanks again so much my dear. I really don't want to breed her at all. Just as you said there are some wicked people out there which is why I beleive Pitbulls have gotten such a bad rep.

My girl is just too lovable and sensible to be real. I must post a pic of her soon. Just to give you an idea - the other night my youngest girl Ari came back from visiting her cousins with a bowel virus. I was fast asleep and didn't hear her wretching in the bathroom. Well Bliss kicked up such a fuss that I woke up. The first thing I did was run to her cage to see what was wrong at 3a.m in the morning. As soon as I pulled the cover off her cage she looked away at the bathroom where my daughter laid on the floor. I was impressed. The following day she stayed in bed with her the entire day. True she gets her butt into trouble with belts, shoes, stuffed animals and anything she can chew on but this dog swept me off my feet from the first day my daughter brought her to the door to beg me to keep her. They (she and her boyfriend) were overwhelmed with the responsibility of her sibblings, the mother and father and another dog. Her name was Kiss then, (because I guess she just loves to kiss so much). She had the most beautiful, big soulful hazel eyes and a cute way of wrinkling up her forehead,that she just took my heart away. Plus right away she started licking my hands and my feet, she was just too cute to refuse a home. Mind you up till now I've been a cat not a dog lover.

It took me awhile to adjust to her but with time I just decided to let go of somethings and to deal with her. My backyard is one of them . You should see what a mess she made of my beautiful yard, but love outweighed everything. As she is getting older she is far less frisky, but digging is still her favorite past-time. BTW. my ex is the only person she has ever really growled at. This past fall he came to visit from Ja., and even though he came by several times to help me with repairs on the house, she just couldn't seem to adjust to him. She takes to all my friends in a short space of time.

She is too lovable and that's another thing I worry about, concerning tethering her in the backyard. I fear that someone may succeed in luring her away. But I will worry about the summer when it comes, especially about my gardening. Also, now that she is house broken I don't know how she'll adjust to being tied up in the backyard. As she is growing larger her appearance can be quite frightening to those who don't know her so I hope that will deter anyone from stealing her. I keep my backyard doors shut but I am thinking about changing to steel wire fences cus she is pretty strong as well and still tries to go back to her first home on the couple of times someone left the back gate open.

I was kinda scared in the beginning because I have heard so much about Pitbulls turning but this girl is turning to pure honey day by day. Just have to add though that she has tested my strength on a few occasions so she really is not for the weak hearted because the more footage she can get she seems take...honestly speaking. But again Ranya takes a very firm hand with her, especially when she walks her, because otherwise she would end up walking me. Apart from that she is just pure BLISS!

[Nanook]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Hey jedi, it's great to hear about your love for Bliss. You are right to be afraid of theft. Someone just called me today for a puppy and they've recently had their dog stolen. I hear about it happening all of the time, and breeds such as Pit Bulls are prime targets, as the aforementioned degenerates that the breed can attract also includes theives.

Protect Bliss from ore than just a thief, but also from death due to accidental hanging and put up a kennel enclosure in your yard. This also protects your gardens, it's what I have to do, that, and put up little fences around my flower beds, which dosen't look wonderful but it looks better than torn up flower beds! The kennels are simple to set up and relatively inexpensive at places like Home depot/Menards.
They come in 6 foot lenghts, if you can make your run at least 6 X 12 feet long. If you put it up against a building you can same the price of one of the panels.

Then you can plant a nice vine or something for shade and to give that area some appeal, kind of hide the kennel if you will. If you have a nice run that's at least 12 feet long, you can even put a swimming pool in there for her!

I put a few landscaping logs around the outside and fill in the area with dirt and walla, new garden and kennel beautification!
OH, and if you have a kennel you can throw a lock on the door to help thwart thieves. Other things such as not letting anyone hear you call her name and things will help too.

[MrsBlue]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

<span style="color: #000099"> <span style='font-family: Arial'>Congrats on your dog, jedi. I have developed a fondness for pits, I'm on my second. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70371-jump.gif[/img] The first was a 7 month dog-sitting assignment for a friend and when I went looking for my own I wanted a male for the exact reason you have outlined. If you change your mind and consider breeding her, I'd like a pup. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/bannana_purple.gif[/img]

My first pit was very aggressively friendly, he'd jump on people and lick them. He was fairly young, about 18 months. My current pit is older and better trained, he listens very well.

Both of my dogs love my boys, the first used to go in their room at night and lick them while they were sleeping and my current likes to sleep in their room sometimes. Both of them slept on the floor at the foot of my bed.

And even though they are friendly, they're still protective and bark or growl when someone comes to the door.

ETA: Nanook, great information. My first pit used to be on a tie outside but my current is so well trained that we just open the door and he goes where he needs to go. I'll be looing for an outdoor enclosure for my next house, though, since the yard area will be bigger and I plan to have a large garden. </span> </span>

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Hi Nanook so sorry I couldn't respond earlier. Once again thanks for all your great advice. I am mentally checking out my yard to see where would be ideal for her. I think by my tool shed which is right under a smoke tree would be ideal then I would bring the fence right up to the corner of my deck, that should be ideal. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif[/img]

Now one last question. About food. My dog is a constant beggar. I've given her ham bones, and also I've bought bones from the pet store for her. Her previous owners say it will tear up her stomach. True or false? I used to let her chew on raw hide but the pet store people say she is too young for that.
She doesn't seem to be having any ontoward reactions to these. So for now I have been giving her rubber or rope toys to chew on, though leather belts, and boot heels seem to be her specialty (I have to hide my boots out of her sight) [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif[/img]

Anyway my cousins in Ja. feed their dogs cooked food, is there any reason I can't cook up some food for my dog? What is the danger? She follows me around the kitchen every move I make and she seems to love the aroma. Please share your wisdom on how she may or may not benifit from home cooked food and what could I cook for her if I could. I give her carrots and apples and she just goes crazy for those.

Btw. the bleeding has subsided but the swelling is still apparent.

Oh and let me get this straight, when I took her for her shots, she was 6 months. I thought she should at least have had them already. The vet says not before 6mos. Then the groomer swears that she should have had the 6in1 at 8wks. and the rabi's already. Then she (the groomer) told me not to allow her out of the yard till she has her rabis. HELP!

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

So glad you have Pits too. I too notice that they are only loving to their family, very aloof to strangers and can even get testy is any one tries to touch her on the street. Although she is very polite to strangers she doesn't care for being petted by unknowns. She is truly a great dog.

[Nanook]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Hey jedi, here I am, sorry I'm not around so much these days, working my fingers to the bones..

OK, there is new vaccine protocol currently. I've been using it for the past 10 years. Many of todays pets have started to come down with so many diseases. Some of them such as auto immune deficinecies and cancers led to a lot of research on the common practice of vaccinating our dogs over the years. The findings that we kill them with this kindness by over-vaccinating was not a surprise. Two universities currently heavy into the study are in Madison Wi. and Colorado state university. I foudn the Colorado website, so to save onmy ailing paws, I'll enclose a link for you to check out. Read it and beleive it. I used to be heavy into the dog show world and have freinds that still are. The breed club members have been following the new protocal for about the last 10 or so years and the findings are starting to now show that thee are less of these lukemia and auto immune diseases. I'll leave the link at the bottom of my post.

Now as far as to what to vaccinate for, well now that is another discrepency. Even my vet still gives a combo shot that includes LEPTOSPIROSIS. This is one of the things the new protocal is leaving out of the vaccines. I haven't used a vaccine that contains Lepto agents in at least 10 years. Read the article and you'll see why. If anything in the vaccine will make your dog sick in the vaccine is the Lepto part of it. Sadly, most combo vaccines contain the lepto vaccine and so for that reason i special order my combo shots that they do not contain the lepto part. And I never vaccinate a dog over 8 anymore. I never give a rabies vaccination within 30 days of any other vaccination.

I live in a lyme disease prone area, have pulled the deer ticks off my dogs and I still won't give them that shot. I'd rather deal with the antibiotics. Why? The horrible things I've seen happen to horses that have been given the vaccine and babies born to mothers that have had the shot. Same with west nile. The vaccine would prolly kill my 30 year old horse. He hasn't had a vaccine since I used to show him 15 years ago! And the same kind of things are happening to dogs. Last december my mothers 6 year old dog came down with an auto immune disease and lasted 2 months. I never did tell her it's more than likely she killed her with kindless by giving her yearly vaccinations for every disease known to man.

I'm not sure if the Colorado site touches on the legality issue of the rabies vaccine, but another unnecessary yearly or every two years vaccine. one or two should be good for a life time. the way around minucipal regulations is to have a TITER test taken which will indicate the serum in the dogs blood and that should earn you a certificate valid for a dog license in your city. The test cost a little bit of money but later down the road you might not be having to make a decision on whether to treat your dogs cancer or not. I think only around $50.00, but then you won't be spending money on the vaccination so figure you spend an extra $25.

Good thing to touch on is cooking for your dog. I do it every day! Eggs are cheap and not much else is better for coat condition! I scramble eggs and put them in dry food and then I add a little canned food, in your case even just a few tbsp of a can and mix it all up until it makes a nice gravy. Apples carrots, even better! My kids love them too! Nnothing goes to waste here. Meat drippings here don't turn into gravy for the people, it goes in the dog food, and ohhh an extra treat on their piping hot eggs and food mixture! Need I say they go crazy when I'm cooking their breakfast? lol understatement!

I just don't dole out meals of goodies, I mix them in with the food at a nice ratio &amp; I don't have a fat dog on my place and they're living well into their mid teens. Heck, I've got one almost 15, 2 almost 14, and 3 that are 13 and a couple 10 &amp; 12 year olds. I guess one look at the bellies tells you if you're giving too much goodies.

I feed a good premium dry food with a high protien content. Currently it's Eagle brand, you won't find it in grocery stores but specialty pet stores and some feed stores. You probably don't need to be feeding her puppy food anymore, one way to tell that is by watching the weight. If they start to look at all pudgy, they don't need the baby food anymore. There really isn't a set age, it's dog individual. One thing about yard dogs is they're generations of scavengers who's stomachs have been able to adapt to eat most anything. Even dogs here, say a mixed breed dog vs a purebred is less likely to have a problem with digesting things such as bones, and even farther away from the Pitts is the huskies and malamutes who are more closely related to the wolf and can digest anything.

I never try anything new and leave the kids with it and go somewhere. Watch Bliss with a rawhide. The bigger the better because choking would be a concern, but if she end up just playing with it and loving it, then heck, give them to her. If she sits and gorges herself with it like there's no tomrrow for a long time after she gets it, well, maybe nt the right toy for her. Most of the time after the initial excitement, they settle down and just sit with it and enjoy it without acting desperate over it. Of curse she would need the bigger rolled up bone kind and not the little chips. Cow hooves, sold at pet stores, ohhh they love those, and pigs ears too! Great reats!

In summer I'll go tot he butcher shop and ask for a bag of leg and knuckle bones, bring them home and cook them up and toss them out in the kennels for the dogs. Once the grease is off them and they've had a good chance to dry, I have them laying around the house. Ha, I've got dogs knawing on soem that are about a year old right now! They last a long time but when they start to ship apart, time to make new ones. The ham bone will prolly be Ok for awhile, just watch for any splinters coming off, then it's time to throw it.

whew, hope that helped, sorry bout the typos my paws is getting sore...Hug Blissie for me!!!

Vaccination Protocol

[jedi1]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Gee I thought I'd responded to you on Friday [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif[/img]

Well here goes again. First thanks for all your wonderful tips. I am still a little confused about the vaccines though so I guess I'll just go along with the vet on the shots. Although I must say I do agree with you on the efficacy of some shots, even in humans.

I am really excited about cooking the food, or at least adding some to her dog food. I added about a cup of leftover split peas and ham soup to her food yesterday and I've never seen her eat with such relish. I was shocked [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek2.gif[/img] Of course I'll be careful to watch out for fat and sugars in these additions, same as I would for humans. Let's see...oh yes I'd asked about meat scraps or chopped meat when I thought I had responded to your post above. What is your take on feeding them that? Also now that she is 8 months and a nice size how often should she be fed? My cousins in Ja. swears by once a day only. In the beginning I was feeding her 3-4 times a day, but these days she just picks on her food. I feed her Natures Way which I get from the pet store for large breed puppies. So what would you recommend.
[img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70392-silly.gif[/img]
BTW. if I haven't already said so, let me tell you that I am very grateful for your helpful hints and advice. It's so great to have someone here that raises animals. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70459-hugs.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70458-applaud.gif[/img] I almost want to get another dog? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/bannana_purple.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70374-lipsrsealed.gif[/img] Well we'll see. Maybe not I have to think on that more deeeeply. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70392-silly.gif[/img] Well maybe a small breed? Well what do you think? [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]

[23JAM00]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Jedi
I just read these posts and wanted to let you know that I've had pits for the last 14 years. I'm down to one now as the others have passed because of illness and age.

My female, whom I bred when she was 5, had 2 puppies (TG) it was like giving away my children.
Before you think of getting another dog, make sure she is dog friendly. Some pits are very good with other animals around but others don't get along with other dogs. That's important because I had that problem with one of my dogs.
There are numerous websites that can help alot with understanding pits and the bad raps they get, one is http://www.nsalamerica.org/feature/pitbull/ another

http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.cfm

I hope this helps. If I can help in any way re: the raising of your dog, let me know.

[23JAM00]

Re: Seeking Help from Female Dog Owner

Also check out the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan @

http://www.dogchannel.com/experts/cesar/default.aspx?WT.srch=1

He also has a show on PBS. He's great and has a BIG BIG way with dogs. Behavioral problems are no problem for him. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]