Hello Dog Sitters and Dog Owners,
Does anyone have guidance or experience to share about sitting for a female dog who goes into heat/season when you are sitting with her? We’ve been asked to do a six-week sit for a Golden who is 10 mos and they are planning to spay her after her first heat. That typically happens between 10-14 mos, but maybe as old as 18. Therefore we have no way of knowing if it will happen while they are away so this could be a moot point.
The town has a culture of off lead dogs, who are typically all very well behaved but we know that the urge could overcome the best training so walking her during that time would be too risky. The house has a small garden/yard with a decent fence, but an excited big dog could definitely get over it. I’m just wondering how any of you have handled this. Do you just play games in the yard with the dog for her exercise and keep a close watch for any dogs who might be thinking of jumping the fence into the yard? Keep her on lead even in the yard? We’d never forgive ourselves if she got pregnant on our watch.
Thanks for any advice!
Don’t do it! We have found ourselves in this very unfortunate situation twice, early in our sitting adventures. It was not disclosed to us that dogs were not spayed, and I failed to ask during the video call. Valuable lesson learned and it is now on our list of questions. It was a mess, a headache and a challenge with other dogs.
Dealing with a female dog (couldn’t write the “b” word) in heat isn’t difficult if you are aware and prepared for it. You need to know what to watch for so you know when to keep her indoors.
We raise service dogs and if any of our females go into heat, we are asked to keep them home and indoors during that time. We take them out to toilet on leash in the yard and general do not take them on walks during that time. Instead, we play indoors.
Many people buy “diapers” for their dog in heat to help keep the floors clean so you might want to ask the owners about that.
There are various articles available the most important this is the owner has been honest and advised you of the situation allowing you to make a judgment call as to whether you feel comfortable enough managing the situation.
Thank you Angela!
Strange that the word in the title of this article on medicanimal.com cannot be written on the forum…
Even Vanessa is afraid to use it .
I’ve only just discovered that the two bitches I’m sitting from Wednesday are unneutered. They’re Goldendoodles, one is 4 and the other is her daughter aged 2. I’ve only just found out by asking the owner to complete the Welcome Guide where she mentions that the 4 ye has had her season but the 2 yr old is about to have hers. This was never mentioned in any conversation or text and tbh it didn’t occur to me. All the dogs I’ve sat for so far have had the op. I have no experience of this at all but, as you say, it’s a lesson learned and I’ll make sure to ask in future!
We had this situation only once, we went VERY early for the walks to avoid meeting any other dogs. It was also a surprise to us, we only got notified one day beforehand, so it is good that your host already brought this up him/herself! We would probably have declined the sit, if we had known about that possibility.
@Smiley good luck! Never again for us 