My new lab is in heat. Help me. Any advice.

Jody

Active Member
My 5 year old lab Kainda, is in heat right now. ugh. How long does this last? I ran that dog 36 times in about 5 minutes up and down the hallway last night playing fetch and she never even tired. Labrador retrievers, are nothing like Golden retrievers. My goodness. No dog poop in the crate and her bowels have gotten more normal. Shes like a bulldozer going thru the house, seems she has no concept of anythign elses n the house but where she wants to go and be. But oh my is she pretty and she just wants your love, makes you love her even with her antics.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Messy?

toddler boy undies......mini pad..........stick her tail through the hole in the undies (put them on backward). She will not be pleased but she will also not make a mess everywhere.

Never let her out alone, take her on a leash.

Guard the door when going in or out, she will reach a point where instinct kicks in and she will attempt to bolt to find a mate.

Mine.....active bleeding could last 10-14 days some longer some less, depends on the dog just like a woman. Do not consider her "safe" until all the swelling in her vulva disappears, bleeding or not.

Maggie did maybe 10 days active bleeding, was hard to tell......she is one neat freak dog. lol

Good luck.
 

Jody

Active Member
No Mess, shes very clean, i just see the swelling as she almost turned around and put her butt in my face, ugh, then I noticed Broady was smelling her very heavily, and then even though he is neutered he tried humping on her. I must say i was quite shocked. Do you think she'll calm down any when this is over. Wanted to get her fixed next week, and now won't be able to.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
With my vet, they would only do a spay when they're in heat if it were an extreme emergency. And if they do, it would cost a lot more because the surgery would be a lot more complicated.

And like Lisa said, you can't gauge by the bleeding. Dogs can get pregnant both before the bleeding starts and after it ends. And some will stop bleeding for a while and then start up again right in the middle of their heat cycle. If you think she might have accidentally been bred, the vets do have a "morning after" treatment but they don't like to use it because it's very hard on them.
 

Jody

Active Member
I made an appointment and she goes in on Thursday, in heat or not. I am comfortable with either one of the vets doing it. They wouldnt do it if it weren't safe. The vets office says a lab can act like a puppy until they are 7 years old. Shes five, help me. It feels like 100 here today so there will be no outside time till much later this evening, i see some wild fetching play in my immediate future.
 

Jody

Active Member
I had a yellow lab before Ladybug. She didnt act like this, she was a bigger lab though. IC if you are right and she doesnt grow out of this, why in the world are they such popular dogs? Who would want to do this? It's like a kid with severe adhd. I feel like i am running after that dog all night long or cleaning up her messes which she very clearly has no idea shes even making. Its like she's a magnet for my flower pots. ive never seen anything like it, Purely a difficult child or Dennis the Menace type dog. I am taking them out one at a time from now on. After you are mad about whatever catstrophe or mess she is made, she curls up next to you and presser her little dog body into you, like please dont leave me, and I need you and it goes away, mostly. lol. I am off for 4 days this weekend, and we will have some more training time together.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
She's making work for you.
YOU need to make work for HER.
The more you make her BRAIN work, the less trouble she will be.

They are so popular for a range of reasons... we have two lab-crosses, I grew up with one. They DEMAND attention, but can be taught to do that nicely, and to not dust the whole lower half of the house with their tails (including sending coffee cups crashing)... and to really be your FRIEND. But she's an intelligent doggie and needs BRAIN work. Like, 10x brain work compared to exercise. You'll NEVER tire her body out. But you can wear out her brain.
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Labs are popular because they are active. And of course your avarage lab from show/pet lineages is not that active after all. When you walk them hour and half or two hours a day (much of that without leash) and train them regularly or let them play play ball with kids or make up some little nose work, they are happy and relaxed.

I'm planning taking a lab puppy next. And I do +plan to take it from hunting/field trial/working lineage because I'm looking for puppy to train for search and rescue dog and 90 % of pet/show lineage labs are simply too heavy build and too inactive for that. And even those labs are a far cry from activity level of more independently working hunting dogs (my in-laws have and have had few; local rabbit hounds and elk hounds and German pointers. Those dogs and activity level; well let just say that father in law drives about 15 miles with bicycle with them three times a week on top of walking them at least two or three hours a day just to keep them good-enough shape outside of hunting season. The hounds may easily hunt twelve hours a day and ran 50-70 miles during it (they have gps locators on their collars so their exact route can be seen) and they have to still be forced back home from working after that kind of day. They are tireless.)
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
They have toys that make her work for her food. She has to push certain levers to make a piece drop down or push it around like one of those old puzzles that you had as a kid that you pushed little squares to make a picture. She has to push boxes around until she finds the food. That should help. Also they have toys that go off on a timer so she doesnt get bored with one.

See if you can find any episodes of Its Me or the Dog online.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Work for food bored Maggie in zero point 5 seconds. No joke. I don't care how complicated it was.

Petsmart (I believe) has these hard plastic balls in various sizes (you want the large size). You might be able to teach her soccer like Maggie. I start by both rolling it on the ground and carefully bunting it like a soccer ball. Carefully because it WILL hurt both you and her if you do it too hard. Supposed to fill them with water but I never have......omg I could imagine how that would hurt. Uh, no. Maggie plays soccer and it helps to both exercise her and wear her out. She is teaching Rufus. lol

Rufus is a lab and while he can be plenty active, he is a laid back dude much of the time. But then Rufus gets plenty of exercise too between soccer and wrestling matches and chase me and on and on with Maggie. lol

Teach her good manners and just enjoy playing / walking her. I have a feeling she'll calm down in not too long. I think the being in a crate all the time had an effect. It did easy child's Ammo.......enough running with my dogs in the yard has mellowed him out energy wise. :)
 

Jody

Active Member
I ended up throwing the rope toy, 196 times and she never once tired, on 197 she went and got it and laid on the couch with it. omg, then i had to play catch with Broady. I was beat by 9 pm, and I do mean physically exhausted. omg, I do love her though. I live by the woods, and i took hre out like at 10 pm for the last time that night, I saw a shadow out the corner of my eye, but it was very dark. She smelled it, it was a raccoon, big one too, and it was eating my peppers in my container garden. She went after it, i had her on leash thank goodness. Do you know instead of running, the raccoon tried to come after us, right up on the porch. My heart literally fluttered, I will admit I cried instantly. The thought of being touched or attacked by that thing was terrifying. She barked like she was going to kill it right then and there, and it did run off. It was a commotion with my screaming and my dog barking, neighbors lights went on but none came out. lol. glad i wasnt really being attacked.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
"Work for food" gadgets haven't worked for us.
WORK for food, does... as in, most of calories come from training, until they get into a good state.
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Playing fetch is not the best way to tire a dog. They easily turn stressed, overstimulated and hyperactive. Playing fetch is one at times (especially if you throw it to water and they can swim to get it), but best way to make a dog tired is give them some work to do with their nose. Teach them to track and you have an easy and quick way to tire them whenever you want.

First start in you garden. Take small steps and drop a treat to your every step. Just 50 feet in first time. When dog understands what she is supposed to do, leave a treat only now and when and have bigger treat in the end. They learn fast and soon you can make them a trail into the woods and for example leave their food in the end in the closed box. Make longer trails (up quarter or even half miles) and do turns. Few tracking exercises a week keep her much more calm than throwing the rope 1000 times.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Agility and/or rally-o are highly effective too... we use a combo of the two for brain-work...
Biggest thing is to make the BRAIN work harder than the body.

Even with fetch... send the ball or whatever... farther, then shorter, then different directions, sometimes higher, etc. That way they have to THINK about what the item is doing and figure out how to be in the right spot.
 

Jody

Active Member
Update on Kainda my new black lab. Kainda is a beautiful, beautiful sweet dog. I have watched her and she has watched me and she is blossoming into the best dog. I have learned her habits and we are getting along beautifully. She is keeping me more active than I even imagined that I could be. Her most fun thing to do is play fetch and she loves it. She is happy as long as she has a tennis ball in her mouth, even when not playing fetch. i take her out three times a day for play time, 5 am, 430 pm, and again at 930 pm, we play ball for 20 minutes to 1/2 hour each time. My dog Broady is doing fine with her and realizes things havent changed that much, he still is the only one who sleeps with me, and I still play and love on him. I think this might work, and I am committed to continue to try. She was starved for attention and exercise and now tht she is getting an abundance of both she is a joy. She does have an issue that I am going to have to work on, she trudges thru my gardens as if they don't even exist. I think the heat cycle is over. I love having a dog that can play ball and be off leash, she never leaves my side and she is my watch dog where Broady would never be a watch dog. I like this dog. She's got a gorgeous black shiny coat, and a big beautiful smile and shes always looking at me as if I really am just the best thing. So now I have three fur babies.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
My girl lab loves her treadmill. She picked it up the first time she got on it. We got this one on Craigslist for $40. As you can see, Oscar is not thrilled about it.

 
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