 1st Heat?
Are there any signs that can signal a dog is nearing the first heat? Bailey is really frustrating me lately. She's been puppy pad trained for months, but recently she's been peeing on the carpet around my bed a lot. And this morning after watching me clean up her mess upstairs from the middle of the night, she came down and peed right in the family room, which she's only done about 2 other times in the last few months. Could it be kind of marking?
Her behavior has also been kind of weird where she's been jumping at my face kind of growling. She's just playing and trying to get me to play with her, but it's very annoying behavior and telling her no and putting her on the ground only riles her up more.
So do you think all of this could be linked to her nearing her first heat? Will getting her spayed fix it? (I'm planning to anyway, just need to schedule that and rabies a bit apart.) Or is it something else? I've also just gone back to work and for the first time she's home alone 8 hours a day Monday through Friday. I would love to find a doggie daycare but there's nothing around here. Maybe she's trying to show me she's annoyed about that? (Might have to break down and get another dog to be her companion, but I DO NOT feel like doing that while this one is still peeing on the carpet.) But it seems weird that most of the accidents are at night while I'm in bed.
Oh yeah she's about 7 1/2 months old and somewhere between 3.5-4 poounds. |