Heat cycle

[Kebasmom]

I would greatly appreciate it if one of the experienced breeders on this forum would spell out the basenji heat cycle. For example, approximately how many days of which part and the signs for that part. I don't plan on breeding at the moment and that will be up to my girl's breeder anyway. Plus I'm not finished showing her yet and she's not quite one year old but very obviously in season. I first noticed blood on the 6th but there was extra cleaning for a few days before that. I just would like to be able to estimate where she is right now and approximately how much longer this is going to last. Thanks.

[tanza]

Also consider 30 days from when you first see blood. And because they are all so different, hard to say what part of the cycle she might be in on what day... "typically" they are ready to be bred someplace betweend the 2 and
3rd week... the males are usually frantic by the 4th week because they figured out that they "missed" it....

[lvoss]

Each girl's cycle is going to be a little different. Plan on 30 days of separation and that the week after "prime time" is going to be the most miserable. For my girls they all seem to ovulate around day 10 which puts their fertile days between days 11-14. So the start of the third week is "Hell Week" as that is when the boy becomes frantic since he knows he is missing it. The last week isn't usually too bad around here.

[Kebasmom]

OK, I'm still seeing a tiny bit of red and my boy isn't freaking out yet. When I take my girl outside he just sits inside and howls. He has also tried to mate with the cat and the cat was NOT very understanding. No real freaking out yet. He certainly wants to be outside when she is though, but of course that is not allowed. My girl is living in a very controlled environment and does a lot of sleeping. I can tell that she misses playing with her buddy and he misses playing with his buddy too. I do make sure that she gets quite a bit of time outside playing with the tennis balls running around the back yard and he gets his time too, but they both seem very subdued except when I am taking my girl past my boy to go outside.

[tanza]

Since this is her first season, you might not see a lot of bleeding... and some are very good at keeping themselves clean that you can totally miss the discharge..... I know with mine, unless I had the males and the bitches in crates next to each other... the males were totally not happy... the howling is pretty normal from your boy.... and it will only get worse... most likely directed to the cat (sorry to laugh, but I can just picture it)....

In the end, just figure on 30 days from when you see discharge...

And while I am sure you are doing this... just be careful when she is out doors... if there are any in-tact males in the area... they will know she is in season... and come to visit... I remember years ago when my girls came in season, a 12yr old intact Lab lived more then 1/2 mile away... as soon as they came in season, I would find him every day, sleeping in my driveway or walking the sidewalk in front of the house. Good thing that we have 12ft privacy fences with no way to dig under....but I still didn't trust them out there alone.....

[Kebasmom]

I have a 6 foot privacy fence and she is seldom out there alone since this started. The gate is padlocked. There is an intact male australian shepherd next door and come to think of it I did see him laying down at the end of his yard. My neighbors are BYBs and they usually have him in a kennel with the female but she has puppies right now. I will make sure my girl is never out there alone. When she is out there I am making sure she gets lots of exercise because she is kind of cooped up in the kitchen whe I am home and in a securely covered x-pen behind a four foot x-pen when I am gone.

[tanza]

I have a 6 foot privacy fence and she is seldom out there alone since this started. The gate is padlocked. There is an intact male australian shepherd next door and come to think of it I did see him laying down at the end of his yard. My neighbors are BYBs and they usually have him in a kennel with the female but she has puppies right now. I will make sure my girl is never out there alone. When she is out there I am making sure she gets lots of exercise because she is kind of cooped up in the kitchen whe I am home and in a securely covered x-pen behind a four foot x-pen when I am gone.

Sounds like a good plan... just beware of him.... you would be surprised what a male can do to get to a bitch in season....

She is not outdoors when you are not at home, is she?... but safely in the house? I would not trust her being out doors under any conditions if I was not at home.....

[Kebasmom]

None of my dogs are allowed outside when I am not home. I guess I figure if a kid shouldn't be left out there while I'm not home then the dogs shouldn't either they could both get in a lot of trouble if left unattended. Even though we have a privacy fence I still have to worry about things like hawks and even eagles. I heard a hawk and then heard it get one of the neighbors chickens that hang out in my yard. One lady in the area had to shoot a hawk to keep if from getting her Jack Russell puppy. So I guess even though I'm retired military I still have guard duty.......that's ok I love these dogs!!