Hi!

I've never had 2 dogs before and now have a un-neutered GR male with a young GR bitch. I am just wondering how do you guys manage and what are your experiences and tips to get over the period when your girl is in season? My boy has never been too over-excited by females in season before and behaved normally unless they were in direct contact. He has never mated. I don't want to castrate him, he is a gorgeous boy and I still show him occasionally. My plan was to send him all the way to my brother's when my girl comes in season. But  I'm curious to know how other people cope with it.
My girl is 6 months old now... What age does it usually start?
Thank you!

Your plan of sending the boy to your brothers is the best.  Many of us who decide to keep our bitches entire choose not to keep males at all.  Keping them apart during seasons can be very stressful for both you, the dog and the neighbours.

I have a male in the house, and I also have an in-season bitch in hte house at the moment. I can honestly say that I have coped really well until this season where he has been used. The whining is awful. He won't sit still for a second, so I will be sending him to my son's next time.

Before this season though, I managed without having too many problems. I had 2 cages set up. One for him and one for her. They were never let out together and the family were warned not to open a cage unless they were both in cages. The noise wasn't too bad, but he did whine on the optimum days (usually 3 to 4 days) It can be managed, but you have to be aware of the consequences if someone doesn't close doors. It's far easier to send one away, either to kennels or a member of a family that you can trust.

One other thing that you should take into consideration. Not all bitches will have regular seasons. She could be every 6 months on the dot, or she could be 5 months, or 7 months, or even a year, or a variation of all of these every time. In other words do be aware that she could come into season at the wrong time for you and your family. The boarding kennels could be fully booked, your brother could be on holiday abroad. As to when could she come in first time. I'm afraid no-one can predict that for you. Every bitch is different. 6 months is the earliest I would expect her to come in, but she could wait until almost 2 years old. Though most bitches that I know have come in by the time they are a year old.

I've never considered keeping a male with my bitches having heard of the dreadful difficulties that other exhibitors have had.  I think that your plan to send him away when she starts her season is a very good one.

My house is divided in two so to speak, with lots of VERY secure gates.(Ceiling height for the one to the kitchen.) The kitchen and utility room that opens out to the back garden is one part, and the living room, bedroom etc that opens out into the front garden.(My front garden is as big as my back garden.) Hence when I have a bitch in season I bring her into the living room area and she goes out to the front. I also have an outside kennel to use though, especially for those occasions when I have more than one bitch in season at once. (A pain to have TWO bitches dripping blood everywhere.) Whichever method is used though it's a total pain! And I only have one entire male dog. But the bitches needs to be separated from the neutered dogs as well as they all mate and tie so can't be left unsupervised with an in season bitch anyway, in case of injury.

My family have always kept an entire male and several females together until very recently.  In more recent times, we sent one or another away to the other elkhound household - the sex of the holidaying animal depended on the sex of the other dogs currently in residence at the other house.  So when my parents had an entire dog and bitches at their house, and I only had the one entire bitch, their in season bitch would come to me - when I had an entire bitch and dog, my dog went on holiday with them.  As my bitch was a late ovulator and was attractive to other dogs for a while after her season should have finished, I had to wait a bit longer than the three weeks and then reunite them under supervised conditions for the first few days until I was sure she was right out.
In the early days, we kept them together under the same roof, but it's easier to send them away if you can.  It's kinder to the males, and there's always the danger that someone will leave a door open.  It's happened before to other people I know.

Hi
I think a lot depends on the temperament of the male and the exposure that he has had to in-season bitches.  I have been very lucky with my boy as he is very laid back and also that he socialised a lot with a number of entire bitches very early on that wouldn't tolerate any interest being shown when pre-season from a young upstart!  Consequently todate....fingers crossed!) I have had no problems.  I have crates set up so that the male can see the female and if one is out and one is crated, they are still supervised!  I also up the exercise (both physical and mental) for the male - call me cruel, but it works! 

I would advise you to have a number of fall-back plans in place as for the first season you never know quite what to expect............get your brother lined up by all means, but find someone else just in case your brother has to go away for work (or whatever), a kennel that you trust, or if push comes to shove think through how you would handle things at home.  (I had a 'friend' who was adamant she would have my male, but disappeared like a rat down the proverbial drainpipe as soon as the bitch came into season............didn't even hang around to find out if I, and he, were coping or not!)

I intended to have my boy go to a friend last time after the whining and yelping of the previous couple of seasons, but she was on holiday. Hopefully it will work out this time. Luckily my husband can take him to work during the day, so he sleeps all day, eats his dinner at lunchtime, then spends the evening whining for her! :rolleyes:

> I have crates set up so that the male can see the female and if one is out and one is crated, they are still supervised! 

This works for me too.  Except, having a couple of toy breed studs, they get crated together, and the dominant, experienced boy ends up cleaning the younger boy.  Any in season bitch isn't usually crated alone, as one girl or other will ask to go in too.  Seems that toys, goodies and treats are worth being crated for.

well thank you all guys!
I think i have been dreading this so much that I'm just going to send my Sam away to save me some worry (got enough already). It might also be a good opportunity for me to spend a bit more one-on-one time with my girl. I will desperately miss him as I've never been apart from him longer than a week in 6 years, but on the other hand, i know he won't mind too much, he loves my brother and his partner is out of work so he'll get plenty of attention! Thing is they're miles away from me down in London so I can't really just pop round to see him when I want to. Ah well, always knew it was going to be tricky if I wanted to keep them both entire! So now deal with it woman!