Hi everyone! I'm new to these forums so please bare with me! Also this is our first lab puppy. My chocolate lab Kaia is 8 months and a half and i'm not sure if she's close to or in heat? There's no discharge but her vulva seems to be a bit enlarged. I'm kinda worried because my dad was watching her over the weekend and she ran away and returned an hour later by herself. I have no idea what she was doing but she probablly went into the forest. If she was with another dog, possibly mating, wouldn't he follow her home though? I'm not sure if graphic images are allowed but i'm attaching a picture of her vulva in the link below. Does it look normal to you? https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8...4652-7c5b501f-03dc-4206-95f7-ff3d1198a41b.jpg
Welcome to the forum! It's the right age for her to be coming on heat, and that photo looks perfectly normal to me (though I'm no vet!). The running away is a little concerning as if she met a male the chances are their owner wouldn't have let him follow her home, so i'd give your vet a ring and ask for their advice on next steps and what to look out for if she did come into contact with an intact male while in season. You can also find some advice on dogs in heat in this article. Let us know how you get along!
It's kinda important that (heat cycles aside!) we don't let dogs run off for an hour - it just shouldn't be possible for this to happen because they should be contained somehow, whether indoors or outside - OR on a secure leash OR in sight of someone who's entire focus is on them, and the dog having a reliable recall(!). Leaving aside mating and seasons, your dog could have: Found rat poison and ingested it. Gotten run over. Had a fight with another dog. And so on... So basically, for her safety, you need to ensure this can't happen again. Do you trust your dad to be able to look after her and to keep her secure, in future? If not, maybe look into other plans for her care when you're away. In terms of her coming into heat: That photo looks normal and whilst her body might be preparing to come into heat, if you haven't noticed any discharge and there isn't any there when you dab her with a white tissue after she has had a pee, then it is very unlikely she is in heat - personally, I'd do nothing. It is not easy to diagnose pregnancy in the early stages - you can't ultrasound reliably until several weeks in, way beyond where you would want to wait if you wanted to terminate. And the alternative is to give her powerful drugs anyway to trigger an abortion - which is not great for her body and some meds (especially progesterones) can increase the risk of pyometra in the future so you don't really want to give those unless you are pretty certain an unwanted mating has happened. No, a male dog is not necessarily going to want to follow her home especially if he has mated with her - he's done what he wanted... But that doesn't mean you should worry, at this point.
Thank you! For now she seems perfectly fine and her vulva hasn't changed. I have ensured that she won't run away anymore (it was the first and the last time she got out, i promise ). If i notice anything that suggests she's pregnant i'll ring the vet. We're still working on the recall part. Any tips?
Welcome to the forum! Lots of links here in our Recall Training Center - have a browse through and shout if you have any questions.
Pippa has a great book called 'Total Recall', available from Amazon. I also have an online course - email me for more info
Dont want to open a new thread for the sake of it, so ill jump in here where it seems fairly relevant. My 12 month old pup has been in heat, its been 5 weeks now and she seems to be back to normal in terms of her energy levels (she was really clingy and sleepy for afew weeks). She has no discharge now but her vulva and nipples are still a little swollen, my question is how do you know when her cycle has ended and shes safe to be off leash and around intact males again? (shes 100% not pregnant, i was ultra careful)
