She may very well be cramping, by the way she just stands, and seldom lays down to relax and take a nap, which was more normal for her 3 months back.
Zastava's first heat has arrived.
- Thread starter Katyusharocket
- Start date
I still appreciate this input. It makes me lean more into my guess that she's just stress pooping because i am confining her (if you can call having a four bedroom upstairs confinement), which doesn't usually happen. It should all be close to over, soon, I hope.
Never having an intact girl I have to say it went on longer than I thought.
But then again I also thought that they go in heat every month like humans. So what do I know!? LOL it's a new experience for both of us!
I had an intact female Sheltie growing up, but that was 40 years ago so this one might as well be my first. I just remember that heat happens and wasn't paying attention to the care details like I do now because my parents took care of it all. It's really a value to have this group and go through stuff with other people and thier dogs to answer questions, and share experiences.Never having an intact girl I have to say it went on longer than I thought.
I have notes on dates for all of Olive's heats so I could share that for an average timeline, if anyone is interested. In that respect, and ONLY in that respect 
it was helpful to have an intact male to help gauge where she was in the cycle by the way they acted toward one another.
it was helpful to have an intact male to help gauge where she was in the cycle by the way they acted toward one another.
I'm appreciating Toby for this, even though he's neutered, he still knows what's up, and her behavior has changed towards him as well. Hard to describe it but i will say their dance has changed, peaking over the last 3 days and it's really obvious.
Pretty sold on the change in available interactions being the cause of her loose stools from stress. There is no change in availability to each other while I am home in the evenings, and her morning poops have been just fine. It's only the noon and 5 o'clock ones that are loose, after the occurrences of being isolated, that I see loose stools, and now 3 days in, they were separated for a while today but her stool was normal this evening. I'm guessing the more days we do this, the less stress she perceives.
I am thinking that while Katyusha never mounts my other dogs, or any dog, she really gets angry over Toby trying to mount Zastava, because it's threatening her Matriarchy. She doesn't normally need to mount to dominate, but now that she sees it happening, it's a big NOPE for her, because while she doesn't do it, another dog doing it is a shift in perceived leadership. She can be 20 feet away and if Toby tries anything, she gives some pretty violent vocalizations, and i see a bunch of teeth.
just observing this all, i think I am learning a lot about underlying assumptions they all had, that i never thought about.
I would be happy to see what you've noted, and i can share too, what i have recorded. This might be worthy of a new thread similar to track your puppies weight gain one. Nothing written in stone but just what we each have seen, a comparing of notes, perhaps. The puppy weight gain one helped me realize that while Z pup was and still is on the small side, some other little ladies are out and about, too, and it made me worry less.
Dogs do have their own language for dominance and mounting is one of them. You didn't say if you interfere or are just letting them work it out. So if you are being proactive while you are home that's great. I'm going to say my advice in case others read this thread in the future and has a similar situation.
Toby being neutered doesn't matter. You should relieve K of worries by not allowing Toby to "dominate" Z. The pack dynamics are incredibly important to dogs and even if it's just for a few days, it's upsetting the apple cart in K's eyes. You are the caretaker and they depend on you as the leader to make sure they are safe. If K sees you take command of Toby, not letting him harass Z (whether Z is bothered by it or not does not matter), then K will not stress so much thinking SHE needs to put Toby in his place. And you really don't want it to come like to that, even if it's just snapping at him. It is totally natural for dogs to work things out, but nature works pretty ugly at times and in split seconds with no recourse. Protect Toby by not letting him disrupt things. A bitch in heat with other dogs in the house must be managed with ALL the members of the household being protected, not just Z.
I do tell Toby, verbally (and loudly, because I think his hearing now suffers, too) TOBY, KNOCK IT OFF! When I say that, he stops the mounting behavior. But sometimes K sees it before I do, (old house, and large, but pretty far from an open floor plan) and when I hear her, I check it out and verbally correct Toby, and he backs off immediately. So I do interfere, it just depends on whether I see it first, or whether K alerts me. I would say I see and correct it before K says anything about 80% of the occurrences. K has never actually gotten up to correct anything she doesn't like, she's just loud about it happening and visibly upset. Then I go respond to what I'm hearing from her. I hope this helps explain the situation?
I completely agree here, so I work as hard as I can to make sure nothing happens, because I know that if it does, some outcomes can't be changed.
Sounds like you're doing things like they should be and to the best of your abilities. 
Like I said, as it gets more popular to keep dogs intact through two years, more people may read this thread for learning and I had to state my thoughts. Nothing personal at all, your care and management shines through.
Like I said, as it gets more popular to keep dogs intact through two years, more people may read this thread for learning and I had to state my thoughts. Nothing personal at all, your care and management shines through.
Thanks, and I appreciate your kind words, but you were right, I didn't say if I was intervening, so I thought I should explain that.Sounds like you're doing things like they should be and to the best of your abilities.
She is much better, thanks for asking! She is either getting used to confinement away from the others, or she knows that the end to it is closing fast. Either way, things have begun to gel for her.
I can definitely observe a change back to pre-heat behaviors throughout the day today, especially between Toby and Zastava. This went on long enough that I was wondering if they (mostly Toby) would try to continue it because of a newly learned self-rewarding behavior that worked for a while, but based on today, I don't think that will continue to happen. So I feel like a sigh of relief might be in store tomorrow, and a few days later they might all be able to share common space in the house without any shenanigans or without Katyusha's Matriarchy being destabilized.
I feel like she is over that stage. Thank God.
By yesterday morning everything seemed back to normal between all the dogs, so I didn't segregate anyone. It went well and they were all relaxing as they did pre-heat. I was happy with the day, and that day arrived a couple days before I thought it would the day before.
Oh I definitely breathe a sigh of relief when that day comes.
So she started on February 20th, correct? It hasn't been quite a month yet. Has she stopped bleeding? I thought that last week out of the month that Annie started I was told was the most receptive?
I was a little surprised at that actually. It was when she had slowed down and was barely bleeding. I didn't write anything down but I know she started right after Thanksgiving and ended before Christmas because I was very happy it wasn't during the holidays! 
I guess that makes her 26 days. 
