Dog in Season
Your dog in season: what to expect and how to manage it
A bitch comes into season roughly twice a year from six to twelve months of age. It lasts about three weeks, and the middle week is the one to watch.
The four stages
| Stage | Length | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| Pro-oestrus | About 9 days | Swollen vulva, bloody discharge, male interest but she refuses them |
| Oestrus | About 9 days | Discharge lightens to straw-coloured; she stands for males. This is when she can conceive |
| Dioestrus | About 2 months | Discharge stops; hormones stay high whether or not she is pregnant |
| Anoestrus | 3 to 5 months | Rest |
Managing the three weeks
For the whole season, not just the fertile week. Males can scent her from a long way off, and a determined one will find a gap in a fence.
The first day of bleeding and the day the discharge changes colour. Patterns become predictable, which helps with planning holidays and, if you breed, timing.
Clingy, restless, off her food, or grumpy with other dogs: all normal. Hygiene pants save the furniture.
Appetite may dip in the first week. Keep the same food and amount; do not compensate with treats.
After the season
Hormone levels in dioestrus are the same whether or not she is pregnant, so some bitches show a phantom pregnancy six to eight weeks later: nesting, milk, mothering a toy. It passes, but persistent or distressed cases benefit from the vet. Pyometra, an infection of the womb, is the serious risk in older entire bitches and typically appears a few weeks after a season: drinking more, lethargy, sometimes discharge. It is an emergency.
Neutering
Spaying removes seasons, phantom pregnancies and the pyometra risk. The timing, and whether at all, depends on breed and size and is a conversation with your vet. What neutering changes, including the weight.
- a season lasts longer than four weeks, or seasons are very irregular
- she is drinking more, lethargic or off her food in the weeks after a season
- there is a smelly or pus-like discharge at any time
- she was mated by accident; there are options in the first days
Written for Happy Dog UK from established veterinary guidance. General information, not a substitute for advice from a vet who has examined your dog.
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