Day 3 of Hulda's Heat Cycle

Hulda sleeps on the bed with us. This is only a problem when she comes in season. On the morning of the 12th I noticed a few small drops of blood on the bed sheets. Yucky! So this means she probably started on the 11th. Timing is everything if I want to breed her. We are going to be cutting it awfully close to Christmas. I'm not driving up to Dallas for the transcervical insemination on the 23rd. Just not happening. We'll just have to wait and see what the progesterone test tells us.

Hulda was a bit cold this morning. She was curled up in an extra tight ball when I wasn't on the couch and on top of me when I was. So like any good mom I put a sweater on her. She and Monkey played 'On The Couch, Off The Couch', a favorite of Hulda's but not so much for Monkey. Monkey loves a quiet curl up on the couch, Hulda likes to play pummel Monkey into the couch. My Hulda is bossy alpha when she's not in season, in season she almost forgets I'm alpha. Poor Monkey.

I tend to keep Monkey and Hulda separate because Hulda plays so roughly with her. Hulda is an extrovert who likes to be running around and playing all the time. Just how I like my doggies! Monkey is more introverted and would rather just snuggle. Without Monkey to distract her Hulda starts to really feel her heat. Heat cycles are very hard on bitches, the uterus is literally hammered with progesterone. Progesterone is actually inflammatory to the uterine lining, so much so that at the end of each and every cycle the uterus sustains some permanent damage. If a bitch has some difficulty conceiving and invitro fertilization is opted for the vet will massage the uterine horns to break up any cysts that may have formed. If you have no plans to breed your bitch you are saving her from 60 days of discomfort every 6-9 months. I plan on breeding Hulda at least once, possibly twice and she will be spayed immediatey after.

Here's Hulda feeling a bit better! I caught her waiting for me when I went out to the garage to start a load of laundry. Poor thing, she just hates her fancy pants!