# First heat cycle & constant accidents!



## BarkerFamily

Hi! I am new to the forum, so I would like to start out with saying, "hi!"

Our little girl is almost 10 months old and recently (2 weeks ago) started her first heat cycle. I've had a female dog (Great Dane) in the past, but I had gotten her spayed before she ever went into heat, so never having dealt with this before, let me just say... "ew!" I thought we could get through this, no problem, people deal with this all the time, etc. Well I wasn't quite expecting all that we've been dealing with... I heard they clean themselves (and their "drips") pretty well, so I really shouldn't even notice it -- wrooong! She seems to be more grosed out at the blood than I am and doesn't bother going near it, let alone licking it up. I haven't gotten the diapers for her for the simple fact that I am pretty confident that she would eat them off... Is that common? She's pretty high strung (as are most at this age, I'm sure!), and very strong willed, and I can't imagine putting one on her going well at all. However, I will try it if it really does make a world of difference! Issue number two... the sudden peeing and pooping in the house... We never had an issue with her having accidents in the house when she was younger, potty trained by 9 weeks, stays in the kitchen (with baby gates) while we're gone, never a problem. All of a sudden, EVERY time I come home from my 8-5 day at work as usual, there are multiple piles of pee and 1-3 piles of poop on the floor! (Talk about walking into the nastiest looking floor ever! Pee, poo and blood, oh my!). So I feel very overwhelmed. (Did I mention that I have an 18 month old and a bun in the oven?!) So I'm stressed, naturally! Is the pooing normal too? I can completely understand the pee issue after doing some research and seeing that I'm not alone, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the poo issue (or find anyone else having this problem). Any advise/insight would be so greatly appreciated! I've considered putting her in her crate (which she doesn't completely hate) while we're at work during her cycle, but all I can imagine is coming home to the same mess as usual, but this time, in her crate - all over her! I think that would be much, much worse, especially for poor little Rowan!
And please hang in there with me, as I'm sure I'll have some more silly questions as she gets older!


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## middleofnowhere

I don't understand being grossed out by a bitch's heat cycle. (Especially for someone who has recently done diapers and anticipates another round soon...) I don't look forward to it but I am not grossed out by it. That aside -- Now I was happy that mine waited until 15 months for round 1. She was diapered (modified women's cotton bikini underwear with a woman's pad) and did not rip up the diaper. Ever. She's 4+ now. She bleeds the full three months and this cycle threatens to run longer. My issue? False pregnancy that = crabby. 

Can you have someone come in mid day to let her out? (Someone very responsible who will take her out on leash and bring her back in). I'd also consider putting down piddle pad or two for her. I cannot tell you if the urination and defecation thing is normal or not. We've skipped that so far. I wonder if maybe she's feeling uncomfortable in her abdomon(SP) & interprets that as a need to defecate?


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## mego

Mine didn't mind her diaper at all after like 10 minutes of telling her not to chew on it. I made a huge deal telling her how pretty she looked every time I put her panties on, so she actually kind of liked it after a few days. I would just crate her personally or have someone come over and let her outside. Unless she's got a habit of messing in her crate, I'm pretty sure my girl would rather die than poop in her crate lol  She did have 1 poo accident on the floor during the first few days of her cycle after being potty trained like yours. They are really confused during their first cycle I hear.


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## BarkerFamily

I might just have to try diapering then! That would be amazing if she took to it like your gal did! 
The blood wouldn't bother me so much as having all 3 mixed together on the kitchen floor... Really the mixture of smells is what gets to me most at this stage of my pregnancy (plus getting light headed leaning over has always been a problem for me while preggo, so it's just never an exciting experience 
Having yours start at 15 months would have been great, I'd imagine! I had my mind set on her starting somewhere around a year, so it caught me just a couple months ahead of time by suprise! It actually sort of timed out great since our fence has an escape spot after a storm we recently had, so we've been taking her out on a leash anyway recently so that we don't risk her running off, so I really can't complain about the timing!
I'll have to see if I can recruit a kind neighbor to come over and let her out. On the off days that we don't have some crazy snow storm, I can sometimes make it home on my lunch break, so I'm just waiting on having clear roads that don't take me 40 minutes one way! Come on summer! 
Thank you both very much for your input! I'll post back after trying out these diapers (any recommendations on types/brands/fabric's? I haven't researched these at all just yet) and if she believes me about how pretty she looks in them


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## Lori G

BarkerFamily said:


> I might just have to try diapering then! That would be amazing if she took to it like your gal did!
> The blood wouldn't bother me so much as having all 3 mixed together on the kitchen floor... Really the mixture of smells is what gets to me most at this stage of my pregnancy (plus getting light headed leaning over has always been a problem for me while preggo, so it's just never an exciting experience
> Having yours start at 15 months would have been great, I'd imagine! I had my mind set on her starting somewhere around a year, so it caught me just a couple months ahead of time by suprise! It actually sort of timed out great since our fence has an escape spot after a storm we recently had, so we've been taking her out on a leash anyway recently so that we don't risk her running off, so I really can't complain about the timing!
> I'll have to see if I can recruit a kind neighbor to come over and let her out. On the off days that we don't have some crazy snow storm, I can sometimes make it home on my lunch break, so I'm just waiting on having clear roads that don't take me 40 minutes one way! Come on summer!
> Thank you both very much for your input! I'll post back after trying out these diapers (any recommendations on types/brands/fabric's? I haven't researched these at all just yet) and if she believes me about how pretty she looks in them


I like the idea of using little boy undies, on backwards, and putting the tail through through the opening. Granted, they would not be disposable, but using panty liners or pads would make cleaning them much easier and 1 pkg is alot cheaper than multiple pkgs of disposable diapers, as you know.


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## Janty

Hi, I'm new to this forum too. I'm having the exact same problems with my nala (20 month british bulldog) she was using wee pads before she went into heat. Now, she's peeing & pooping anywhere but! I don't like to keep her in diapers all day/night when she's in season so take them off in the mornings. It's so frustrating! Never seen so much wee, poo & blood. I've been told that once she's out of season, she'll go back to using her wee pads again so fingers crossed. If I was you, I'd try the diapers. My nala bleeds heavily as well, don't know what I'd do without them! I can imagine what you're going through. I've tried all the pants etc & they don't stay on the dog, only baby diapers work. Hopefully yours (& my dog) will go back to toileting normally once they're out of season


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## Sunsilver

BarkerFamily said:


> haven't gotten the diapers for her for the simple fact that I am pretty confident that she would eat them off... Is that common?


Unfortunately, yes.
BTW, just realized this thread is from 2014!


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