First Heat
 

Hello,
My Olivia will be 7 months old in 3 days and she is now in heat. It may have started at the beginning of the week but I noticed blood this morning. I immediately seperated her and my boy because I had to go to work and couldn't watch them to see if he was even interested. He is 6 months old. I don't want puppies until she is old enough. Well when I got home I thought I would let her play with my other female and my male for a little bit. She is just so unhappy being away from them. Big mistake. She went after my other female and latched onto here and wouldn't let go. I had to seperate them. It was scary. I thought she might really hurt her. Is this something that happens when females go into heat? She is so mean spirited right now I don't dare let her near my other girl. they have played rough now and then in the past but this was very vicious sounding and looking. Olivia is spending the rest of this heat cycle away from the other pups to be safe for all involved. I will have to le ther loose to play alone when I have the other two in a closed off room for now. I am just worried about her being so mean and didn't know if this behavior was normal. Thanks Anne

Breeding dogs are a whole different thing to deal with. The females, when in heat, can and will fight, to the death. Males will fight if there is a female in heat on the property....you have to keep everyone separated from each other when there is a female in heat, or you will have fights that will cost you big bucks at an emergency clinic, or even the death of the female.... I had a female in heat, jump a prissy little girl I had....Prissy was not in heat, although she was known to talk trash to the other girls.....she was jumped and beaten within an inch of her life by the female in heat, and the rest of the females jumped into the frey....LESSON LEARNED! KEEP FEMALES IN HEAT ISOLATED FROM THE REST!!!! And these females are the sweetest little spoiled sissys when no one is in heat, but lordy, gird your loins and take up your weapons when someone is in heat....BITCHES!!!!! It breaks your heart to separate them, but it is just part of the territory when you have intact females and males running around on the same property.

Thank You for replying. I am keeping her in another room. My husband is making a tall half door for our kitchen to keep my other female and my male in there. My little boy can climb any gate, panel, or fence I use but he won't be able to jump over a 40" door.Funny he only climbs over the gates to get to me. I tried getting the gates that you can open and close with the vertical bars but the bars aren't close enought together and he can get through them. He is such a little brat and I just love him to pieces. Thank you for letting me know it isn't just my Olivia that acts like this. I look forward to her being back to normal.

They can get crazy as hell when there is one in the house in heat!! Batton down the hatches!!

My male isn't trying to get to her but he goes over everything to get to me. I have him in his crate at the moment so I can get ready for work and he is crying like crazy. Olivia is safe in my office and as long as I am in my office she is nice and calm but when I leave she is upset. Wish there were two of me lol.

This is the life of a breeder. Not easy. And yes in my experience females in heat can be very touchey indeed. Judy might have a different opinion but I would be interested to hear how she treats the intact male. This is her first so all is brand new to her and probably off putting.

I had a female who went very vicious with my males when she was in heat. It was very nasty. She definitely could not be bred freely. AI would have been my only choice. I elected not to breed her for a whole host of reasons but top of the list was her temperament. I would advise to watch this gal closely and honestly assess her temperament over the next 6 or more months to see if she should even be bred.

Also try to talk with a very experienced 15_+ year breeder of Yorkies and have her evaluate your gal for breed worthiness. It is no fun trying to raise a litter of puppies should the Mom refuse to nurse or worse still begin killing her babies!

In my Black Russian Breed we watch our females very closely indeed. And we separate the in heat females from other females and of course the males. All but one dog fight I have witnessed has been between two females. They are not called Bitches without good reason.

Keep your intact female who is in heat ALWAYS SEPARATED from your male. At six months old this boy could reproduce.

Best of luck.

Moxie is the sweetest little pup ever, but when she is in heat, she will only tolerate me. Fallyn is usually the boss, but when Moxie is in heat, she will NOT tolerate Fallyn at all!

my Bambina will turn 6 months in a few weeks and I am worried about her first heat too...I do not have any other dogs in the house...but will she be mean to me? Will she be moody like us girls? LOL Will she be in pain? I have never had a female before...what is recommended during this time? She has not been spayed....

First of all no pain. Her temperament might change a bit - maybe more clingey or affectionate to her human (you) maybe more aloof - it just depends. I have never experienced female aggression to their humans.

You need to keep her safe from matings. She should always be on lead - even if you have a fenced in backyard. You simply don't know what intact males might be roaming around. You might consider a diaper for her to catch any blood drippings although most females keep themselves very clean.

Olivia is very sweet to me and I bought her some little panties that I can put a folded paper towel or mini pad in and I use these when I am holding and cuddling her. She is in my office away from all other dogs. I let her come in the livingroom with me at night to snuggle while I relax and watch TV. The only other dog in there with us is my old neutered golden retriever who has no interest in the yorkies at all. She sits on my lap and goes to sleep. then she goes back in my office when I go to bed. I am working on one of my smaller bedrooms which we use now for storage. I am cleaning it out and will fix it up for when the girls have pups or when they are heat. I am not going to put any electronics in there so no wires to get into. That's why I like them in my kitchen. There are no wires they can get to. It is also very roomy for them. I guess I wasn't expecting her to go in heat yet. My breeder told she thought she would go into heat at 8 to 12 months. My other female is only 16 weeks so i have a little while before she starts. How long does the heat last for a yorkie. I have only has big breed females before and t seemed the heats lasted forever. Thanks for all you help!!!