HEAT!!!

So, this may be TMI for some people but hey, it's part of life! Ellie is just over seven months old and we had been talking about getting her spayed soon. (removing the ovaries and uterus so she can no longer have puppies) We knew that we should probably be getting this operation done before she is one year old but we had kind of been putting it off. Usually, you would want to get them spayed otherwise they will go into "heat" and if male dogs are attracted the female dog will get pregnant during heat.

Two weeks ago or so, is when Shelby (SIL) informed me that when dog's go into heat they will bleed. (similar to that of a woman) I have never been a dog owner before and had no idea that they did. This morning Ellie was just walking around our place and she started dry heaving. She has been known to have a sensitive stomach so I thought nothing of it. She threw up a little bit on the kitchen floor and Taylor cleaned it up, no big deal. Then he was like... "um, is she bleeding somewhere?" Well, just a while ago she had a toenail ripped off when she was playing with the other dogs so I figured she had just irritated that again. Taylor picked her up for me to see her nail and nothing was on it. Hmm... that was weird we thought to ourselves. Taylor was holding her on her back and he looked down. "Am... I think I know where it came from. She's in HEAT." WHHHHAAAT?! Oh my goodness, yeah right... this CANNOT be happening! Sure enough there was blood. Taylor and I had no idea what to do. We were passing her around like she was a toxic puppy or something. Which I feel bad about now! He called his mom and told us the vet's number and we called. They said she couldn't be spayed for two to three weeks because that is how long dog's can stay in heat for. Two to three weeks? Are you serious? I feel so bad for her. Now she can't sleep with us, she has to be in her kennel! Ugh, we're bad parents for not getting this done sooner!

I did some frantic searching on the internet to catch up on my doggie knowledge. It was confirmed... dogs are usually in heat for 21 days and have three different cycles, each being seven days. The first seven days is called the Proestrus stage. During this time is similar to a women's cycle where she will be secreting blood. (Now don't get too grossed out... it isn't like spilling out of her it just comes out every once in awhile.) This is way worse in larger breed dogs. They actually make doggie diaper pad thingys. haha The dog also has a decreased appetite. The second seven days is called the Estrus stage. During this time a female dog is more receptive to allow a mate to mate with her. This is usually shown by flirting with other dogs. The secretions are now a light color/clear. (THANK GOODNESS) The third seven days is called diestrus and the dog will end her flirting with male dogs and the secretions will STOP! I hope this 21 days goes by quickly so we can have her spayed at the end of February and never have to deal with this again.

As far as our place is concerned. I have towels on our couches and floor just in case it were to get on anything. We are being very proactive and she has been in her kennel with a bunch of towels cuddling up.



Ellie actually walked into her kennel with a rawhide and sat in her kennel without us even telling her to go in there! What a good puppy... I just hope she knows her life will soon be revolving around that kennel for at least the next 21 days! Poor girl!