WHAT do I do? I've always had female dogs, but always had them fixed before their first heat. This one came fast, we were told and research said it'd happen AFTER a year. She's ALMOST 10 months now. I did a little research on what to expect, but I was just coming here for TIPS!

She's 10 months, as I said. She's a American Staffordshire Terrier. Hey, for the fun of it, I'll post a pic.

http://i27.tinypic.com/6ru0c3.jpg

I really tried to resize the photo, but I don't know how... I'ze stoopid.

**EDIT** I've just included the link to her photo.

Mmmmmm stick... haha cute photo!

Basically you will need to keep her in the house or if she is outside she will have to be supervised just to make sure no males can get to her.
I have heard many stories about males jumping fences to get to females, and we even had a female Dane jump through a glass window to get out to a male that was hanging around out house.

She will probably be a little mopey and unhappy for a few weeks, and expect her to clean herself a lot as the bleeding does annoy them, same as people :rolleyes:

If she is allowed on couches or beds put an old sheet or blanket on them to stop them getting stained.

Bleeding usually happens for around 14 days give or take, and their actual heat lasts for about 3 weeks.

Once her cycle is over she can be spayed (if that is what you intend to do)
It can be done now but there is more risk during the surgery as it is harder to stop the bleeding during the operation.

I highly recommend bathing her is a scented shampoo once her heat is over to get rid of any scent she still has on her, especially if you usually take her out walking.

If you have any more questions just post away :)

Thank you Shazzy. I love the new Avy. Thanks for the advice, we always keep an eye on her when's she outside anyway, cause there are holes under the fence that we've yet to fix, so that's no issue. She really has been doing good cleaning herself.

And to be honest, we don't know if we want to breed her or not, obviously not ourselves. But this came so fast that we didn't really have time to make a real decision.

She gets a bath every other day, so that's already set in stone. We just came back from camping, so she REALLY needed a bath yesterday!

Again, thank you for all the advice!

Be careful to make sure she is truly completely done before you give her any chance to get pregnant! I will admit with my first dog in heat I was clueless and I thought once the bleeding stopped she was done. Nope. That's when they are ready to mate! A mismate shot and uterus infection later in vet bills I learned the lesson. Thank goodness she is spayed now! That was no fun.

I will, thank you. We are definitely waiting until her second heat for that though. If not, third

No problem, and thank you, I found that avi a while back and thought it was too cute :D

Sorry to preach but if you do decide to breed her please make sure you get all the proper health testing done (genetic and hereditary faults)
And make sure you have at least half a dozen homes lined up before you even do the mating.

I know you would do everything responsibly, I just like to double check.

Oh of course. We already have ten people begging us to breed her, and we plan to write contracts and collect adoption fees soon after she becomes pregnant ((IF we decide to go that route)).

Do you still need to do all that sort of testing if we know who her mother and father are? We also know ALL of her brothers and sisters. They all get to see each other fairly frequently. They all are pets of our friends.

It is best to get it done.

Sometimes the parents can both be absolutely fine but can both carry a certain gene.

I'll use poodles an an example because I know them best... :D
Poodles can get an eye problem called PRA, there are 3 gradings..

A is the best, they do not carry the gene
B is they do not have the problem but they carry the gene for it.
C has the problem and also carries it.

So essentially you can breed 2 B's together they can actually produce C's.

The problem arises when even though you know/are pretty sure her line is perfectly healthy, when you introduce the male to her you can't be sure of any problems he may be carrying.
Put two carriers together and it can produce problems.

I will have to have a look into the problems with Staffies, I'm not too familiar with the breed.
There may not be many things you would have to test for :)

Thank you for the advice. Do you know where we can get this sort of testing done?

Any vet will be able to do it.
For some tests at smaller vet clinics they will have to take x-rays or bloods and send them away for testing.

I will enquire about rough prices of the tests for you tomorrow.

It's really only for your own peace of mind, I personally would feel awful if I bred my dogs and they turned out to have a problem that could have been prevented.

Like my mom, she bred one of her poodles and I now have her daughter here with me.
She had problems with incontinence as a puppy, we never did any tests as the vet just told us that it was a "puppy thing" and that she would grow out of it.
By 10 months old she had not had an accident again so we thought that the vet was right and she really did grow out of it.

She bred a litter from her and my baby Prada came to live with me...
She is now 2 years old and 3-4 times a week she will be asleep in a puddle of urine...

Turns out that no, it wasn't a puppy thing, it was hereditary.
My girl as well as her mother are now both spayed.

I'm not saying this to scare you at all, I just want to make sure you are fully informed before you make your decision :)

Is that something that is common in Chihuahuas as well? My baby, Susan ((I miss her so much)) couldn't seem to be trained and was piddling on the carpet at two years old. Her mother died giving birth to her...

It is possible.
Prada has problems when she is very relaxed, when she is fully awake she never has an accident.

Unfortunately for me, she is usually fully relaxed when sitting on my lap... need to wash my pants pretty often :rolleyes:

Oh no!

Yeah, she's a pain in the butt but I couldn't live without her.

Want to hear something funny? I had to bathe my doggie today cause she poo-ed in her heat diaper... That was fun!!

Oooh nasty!
That would have been fun with a white dog too! At least you can tell if you cleaned her properly haha