We were walking off lead at our local woods and a couple were coming towards us. Bob immediately ran up to the dog and completely ignored my recall. The lady called and said that her bitch was on heat so I went and got him and apologised to the lady. I took Bob further down the track and let him off after they were out of sight and he just bolted back up the track to the lady. I was so embarrassed and went to get Bob again. This time I kept him on the lead for ages afterwards and only let him off when we were much further in the woods. I did loads of sticks and hid from him and tried to keep him as focussed as possible, but I was so scared he'd just put his head down and bolt again. It really shook me up that he completely ignored me like that. I know it's an instinct thing and male in tact dogs will do anything to get to a bitch on heat. I've just been reading up on it. We always thought we'd keep Bob in tact. But this has worried me. What if we see other bitches in heat when we are out? Our neighbours are getting a choc bitch in the next few months - what will it be like when she is in heat just next door to us?! I'm seriously thinking about getting him neutered. We aren't planning to breed from him so I guess maybe we should. Just wondered what the general consensus was? Was I in the wrong at all today having Bob off lead and not being able to recall him? The whole thing has freaked me out. I had a demon dog!
I do think it depends on the dog - Charlie has only once been disturbed by a bitch in season around, right after his op (but he was acting strangely anyway....). I've never had a problem with him and bitches on heat, otherwise. But if you are having problems, then yes, consider neutering. That said, nothing dreadful happened, did it? You had to go get your dog. I had to do that today when Charlie met a super exciting young cocker spaniel. Male cocker spaniel....
At agility last week he was whining the whole time at a male dog called Rudy (neutered male). Every time I let him off the lead to do our exercise, he ran around peeing on all the jumps and then ran up to Rudy to play. It was highly embarrassing. He nearly pulled my arm out of it's socket as well a few times lunging towards Rudy. He was infatuated with him. I wonder if Bob's hormones are starting to kick in a bit, he's just over 1 year old. Maybe it's totally unrelated. But he wasn't like that on the previous weeks we went. And Rudy is a boy too. Who knows.
Ah, well - I'd say all of that is just a training thing. Neutered dogs can get distracted by other dogs, whine, pee on things, lunge and pull just like intact ones. As can bitches.
Ah good that makes me feel a bit better.. I don't want him to be all hormonal and a stress monkey. I'd rather it was something I could fix But the neutering over the longer term may be worth considering I think. I just can't imagine what it will be like when next door get their new girl. If it's anything like today, it's going to be tough for him I think when she's in season etc..
Well, I wouldn't rush into neutering him on the "what ifs". Do you know if the people next door are planning on keeping their bitch entire? If so, OK, maybe there will be more of a compelling reason from that point of view, but if not, you're just considering chopping his nads off for something that will never be a problem Shadow and Bob are about the same age, and Shadow has been through a difficult time recently with other male dogs. It's definitely a hormonal thing. He's just started to get back to the point where he's not starting agro with other males and I can trust him again, but it was a few of weeks of stressing every time an unknown dog was in view, putting him on the lead and walking on by if it was a boy. Even one dog that he knows and has played with he had a barney with. All just noise, but it's not nice to hear your sweet little boy having handbags at dawn with a neighbour's dog, especially when he started it! On the other hand, when his testosterone was around its highest, he met a bitch in season and wasn't the slightest bit interested - OK, he had a couple more seconds of sniffing than normal, but that was it. My opinion is, read up on it as much as you can and then wait as long as you can. His hormones are all over the place at the moment and you might find that he settles down over the next few months to the point he's not really bothered. Training will certainly help, and I'd encourage you to do as much proofing of the recall in high distraction environments as possible, but I also don't think any amount of training that a regular person can achieve will work for the dog that is so obsessed with the "call of the wild". I always said that I would have Shadow done if he couldn't be controlled when a bitch was in season - but I would also try to wait a few more months until I was sure it was the way that he was going to react in adulthood, rather than adolescence. If he was distressed by a bitch living nearby being in season, though, I would also think about bringing it forward. As an aside, I do also think it's the responsibility of the bitch's owners to keep her safe from unwanted male attention. I'm sure it's terribly frustrating to have to keep her on lead for several weeks at a time, or not go out at all with her, but that's the choice you make if you have a bitch and keep her entire. Good luck with your decisions
Sorry you had this worry with Bob but luckily you got him on lead quite quickly. Always the girls problem I remember when Hattie had her first season and the problem with off lead intact male dogs was a nightmare. I kept Hattie on lead for her entire season and we still had 2 Border Collies circling around her which was quite worrying for a very young girl and me, luckly I managed to chase them away much to the anger of the owner who wasn't best pleased when I told him "to get his dogs on lead".
I think owners of bitches in season have the primary responsibility to keep them away from entire males.....but they don't always. I'd see how things go, but keep an open mind about neutering. I don't think you did anything wrong - don't feel bad. Dogs will be dogs
The thing is (unless you hold the position all entire males dogs should spend their whole lives on lead), the owner of a bitch in season knows they have a bitch in season, but no-one else does. So that kinda makes it their responsibility to stay in areas where they won't be troubled.
Oh No I don't think all entire males should spend their lives on lead, but when I was walking in a field and two Collies ran up to us off lead and started harassing Hattie when she was on lead that's when it's not on at all but the owner didn't seem to see that even though I explained. I would expect the owner of an entire dog hassling a bitch in season on lead to be respectful enough to also put their dog on lead without question as it's the right thing for all concerned.
In my area it is pretty much accepted, except by visiting Brits, that you clip your dog on a lead. This prevents dogs jumping on or hassling other dogs irrespective of whether they are male or female, in season or entire. If Juno is off less and we see another dog her less is clipped on until the dog has passed and I expect the same courtesy from other dog walkers.
Well, I think it's tough luck, to be honest. If you walk a bitch in season in an area where there are off lead dogs, you are going to get bothered - regardless of what you expect. It's just a nutty thing to do.
I think it irresponsible to walk a bitch in season among other dogs. I have had five bitches, all eventually spayed, but before that, when they were in season, I wouldn't have dreamt of taking them out where other dogs where. Also, the bitch will leave a scent and this can lure male dogs for long distances.
I agree. If I had a bitch in season she would basically not leave my property for the duration. I wouldn't expect owners of entire male dogs to be able to control their dogs around such a temptation.
When Millie was in season , I walked her at 7 in the morning and 7 in the evening, when there was almost zero chance of meeting any other dogs . I also think its the responsibility of the in season bitch owners to ensure that they don't cause temptation by walking them around others . Sam is generally an obedient lad but I recall the horror of him legging it after a bitch on heat who was being walked in a popular dog walking area , the owner was furious with me
No nuttiness here Julie, I was in a field miles from anywhere late in the evening with Hattie on lead when the Collies appeared off lead from nowhere. I think I had every right to be cross.
Shadow met a bitch on heat this morning. When I say, "met", she was off lead (as was he), and came belting towards us at mach 10. She ran around him twice and then legged it off again, with him in hot pursuit. What the actual....?! I figured there was no point trying to call him back because he was in full pursuit, but then I saw him pause for a fraction of a second as he was about to go over a rise about 30m away - this is a place we always stop and go over together. I blew my whistle then and he came straight back. Awesome! We caught up with her again when we got to a plateau. She's two years old and a lovely dog, full of exuberance .... but he doesn't even own a lead for her!!!! Shadow was clearly very interested and gave her lots and lots of sniffs, but that was it. When I walked off, he came quite happily with me. I carried on up the hill and stopped in a bit we do lots of training, which is directly above the plateau she was still on. I thought I'd try and see how responsive he was by doing some easy bits, and he acted as if she wasn't there. I obviously have a massively undersexed dog - good job I have no plans to breed from him! When we walked back, across that plateau again, he was very interested in the smells and licked the floor where she had weed, but other than that, nothing. Shadow gets to keep his nadgers another day
That's pretty much my experience with Charlie - he is interested, but not worse than anything else he finds fascinating. A football seems waaaay more of a challenge...and the good thing about that, is I know where to buy footballs....
