Dog in Heat

headbandman3

Hi guys I am a first time dog owner and I'm sure what to do. I believe my dog is in the heat stage around her urinal area I notice what I believe is dried blood. My dog is a chihuahua. My dilema is I have her and her twin brother. Her twin brother is not fixed. I don't want to get them fixed because further down the road I would like to breed them. They are both purebreeds. I can submitt pictures of the females area if needed. I'd like some advice on what I should do to seperate them. If I put the female in the cage would that be ok? Also she has been humping her brother lately.

gingersmom

You need to separate them immediately and keep them separate at all times! It's also important to keep her separated from other dogs when she goes outside for walks and the bathroom. If there are any strays in your neighborhood they may start hanging out around your house.

The heat stage lasts approximately 21 days. There are "doggie underwear" you can get for her to help contain the mess.

Is there a friend who could take her brother for a few weeks?

I really hope it's not too late -- breeding siblings creates a much higher chance of health problems in the puppies. If your female is pregnant, please talk to the vet about your options.

Before you breed, definitely, definitely seek out a mentor -- another breeder who can help you make good decisions about how to select sires and dams that will create puppies even closer to the breed standard than your dogs are. You will also want to understand how to weed out bad puppy buyers and make sure those puppies will go to good homes. You can go to dog shows to meet good breeders, if you don't know any.

Nargle

Ginger's mom made a good point. Make sure you've got your eye on her all the time! It's not just a matter of puppies or no puppies, it could even be life or death. Pregnacy is really hard on dogs, especially the smaller breeds, and there's a chance she could have complications if you're not careful. And a mentor is a really good idea. You need to be able to select the perfect stud to compliment your dog's features, and the best way to learn is through a mentor.

Also, you're not intending on breeding her with her brother, right? If not, you need to probably get at least one of them neutered right away! It's not worth the risk! There's no need to leave the male intact if you want to breed the female, and if you want to use the male as a stud dog, then spay the female!

headbandman3

I appreciate all the responses. I've been debating of whether or not to neuter the male. To answer one of the response, no I am not planning on breeding the brother and sister together. If I left the female dog in a cage would that be ok for the 21 days. We don't really have anyone in mind of taking care of the male dog also we have never seperated them from eachother before so we were worried that if we did let someone else take care of them they would be hard to handle because of the seperation.

Pai

They can breed through a cage. You'd be surprised. If she's already gone into heat, and you havent separated them beforehand, they may have already mated. You need to see your vet.

Puppy & Dog Forums

 

gingersmom

You can't leave a dog in a cage continuously for 21 days... though you could take turns with them. Can you keep them in different rooms?

I strongly recommend calling your vet to find out when you can get a pregnancy test done for your female.

Where did you buy these dogs? Could the breeder not keep the male for you until the female goes out of fertile season?

UrbanBeagles

First wanted to say that if your Chi does not top the scales @ 5-6lbs when full grown, she will not be a candidate for breeding. Breeders sell the smaller pups and keep larger bitches/smaller males for their breeding program. You'll also need to have her patellas checked by a Vet before breeding.

No, crating either of the dogs will not be effective. As has been mentioned, dogs can breed through the crates, fences, etc. I know one genius "breeder" who has an 8yo bitch who has probably been bred almost every heat since she was 18 months old because the "breeder" seperates them by crating the bitch. Well, not only will the male breed through the crate, he's successfully broken it open as well. Where there is a will, there is a way. I would suggest you crate the male in another room in the house behind a closed door or on another floor - gated off so the bitch can't get upstairs & with door closed. If at all possible, neuter the male. You will be hard pressed to get him studded out to reputable breeders with good quality females unless he's a champoined dog. Heat cycles are also tremendously stressful on a male. They whine, howl, scream, moan, stop eating and loose weight. In turn, it's insanely stressful to live with an intact dog and bitch in the same house. One of them really needs to be snipped. Do the male if you have a larger, quality female - or alter the bitch if she may be too small for breeding.

Also, even with dogs seperated in what we may think is foolproof, accidents happen. A brother/sister breeding is the single closest form of inbreeding. I have done mother to son before, but you still have some genetic diversity on the offspring's side. The genes hit a proverbial brick wall in a sibling breeding, and you better believe there is a great chance for pups with severe genetic diseases or deformed/dead pups. You don't want to go through that, especially since Chis are hard to raise anyway. So yeah, one of them really should be neutered.

headbandman3

Let me thank everyone for responding once again. I have came to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to get one of my puppies neutered. I wanted to add some more info to get other insighs. Both of my puppies are about 6 months old. They are twins. The breeder I got the dogs from's mom was only 2 and half lbs and the dad was 4. Right now I weighed both dogs and the female is 3lbs 1 oz and the male is 3lbs 6oz. Please give me more insight thank you everyone.

Patt

Hi and welcome to DF.

Putting your female in a cage for 21 days is not an option. Possibly keeping them in separate rooms might work. Since there is no family or friends to take them, how about boarding the male at a kennel? Or have him neutered and kept at the vets until the heat is over. Pai is correct, since you didn't realize she is in heat they may have already bred. If so, IMO you need to abort the litter. Please check with your vet ASAP.

Possibly your mentor would be able to help, maybe take one temporarily,

Here’s a couple of links on breeding your Chi. I’m sure both articles will be very helpful.

http://members.aol.com/moon449415/Page5.htm

http://chihuahua.meetup.com/498/page..._Purebred_Dog/

Dogstar

If you're a first time owner, please don't breed your dog unless you've got a VERY good mentor. if you can't tell if she's in heat or not? You're not ready to do this. Seriously. Chihuahuas are a SERIOUS risk of whelping complications and you'll be putting your girl's life at a major risk, because you're not at a point yet where you can recognize when it will be an emergency as far as whelping stuff goes.

headbandman3

Thank you for all your responses. I am going to get the male neutered tomorrow and meet with a vet and get his insight if she is in heat or not. I appreciate everyones help. I don't plan on breeding anytime soon until I can recognize the symptoms better. Hopefully I can find a good mentor in my area.

Patt

Thank you for having him neutered. Be sure to ask your vet when your male will be "safe" around your female.

Nargle

Yay! I'm so glad to see people make wise descisions about their dogs like getting them fixed. Most people who jump into breeding without any experience think they can handle it on their own and dismiss all other advice and criticism. They'll say, "Ah phooey, my dogs are healthy, so why CAN'T I breed them? They'll be fine!" Then they end up losing the bitch to complications =(

I'm so glad you're not one of them, and you've made the right descision!! =D

Cheetah

I'll second this. When I got Shippo neutered, the vet told me that he could still get other females pregnant for the next 2-4 weeks, so I would still separate them this time.

Puppy & Dog Forums