I’ve been tracking Whiskey and Bourbon’s weight as they’ve been growing up and it’s a frequent question I get. Whiskey’s adult weight is about 52lbs, which she reached over 2 years old for reference. Whiskey was weaned from kibble to homecooked food, to raw as a puppy. Bourbon was switched straight to raw within 2 days (raw-fed reportedly slower to reach full weight). Whiskey had numerous digestive issues (Giardia, picky eating) as a puppy, and Bourbon has had none (outside of eating questionable rotten carcasses outside).
Whiskey when she was a tiny pup with gigantic ears
We’re finished! I was so worried about having a female dog in heat, downtown, in the summer, in an apartment. I’ve heard that the first heat isn’t very representative of the future ones, that it can be lighter, shorter, and apparently sometimes people don’t even notice it. I’d be super surprised to not notice my dog in heat, but it honestly wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Neither Whiskey nor any male dogs we met in these weeks went “crazy” and it really was only about 5-7 days in total where her drive to mate was strong enough to overtake her normally great recall.
off to quiet trails
a waterfall is welcome during a dry summer
The first week she bled, I noticed a decrease in energy and lots of small pees, but male dogs were not showing interested in her. I started feeding more buffalo/beef which has lots of iron as I notice that I become anemic and tired when I’m also bleeding. After that her energy popped right back up.
working on our modelling skills
By the second week, her appetite was back to normal (for 2-3 weeks before it was up and down) but the bleeding had shifted from bloody to a more pinkish color. The smell also go much stronger, which my partner hated, but for some reason it didn’t bother me. Whiskey became MUCH more interested in flirting with particular males (not every male) and males because quite interested in her. As, we live downtown, most males are neutered and haven’t encountered a female in heat before. I kept her on leash around other dogs and did many quieter hikes. I’m so lucky that there’s so much real estate for dogs to run that I never had a day I couldn’t let Whiskey run off leash for at least 45mins. Our normal dog park is normally empty at 7am for fetch, and there is such a selection of trail networks that you don’t have to go far for some beautiful walks on weekends.
the smoke from wildfires drifts into Vancouver
The dog diapers worked great for the most part but there were a couple leaks. I ended up going with gigantic “night time” pads and hand washing the diapers every night as something would always leak. Our sheets also got stained as Whiskey loves to roll over for belly rubs (rolling around in diapers is bad).
pointing the way
At the 2.5 week mark point, the bleeding had stopped and males had stopped showing interest. Whiskey is still swollen and peeing lots but I’m really happy not having to worry about diapers. It gets annoying walking to the car with a diaper in your hands and don’t forget it to it off IMMEDIATELY when they get out of the car (2x she peed in her diaper).
my mountain goat in the North Shore
Overall it wasn’t the disaster I had expected in a busy downtown area with lots of dogs. I imagine this would have been much easier with a house and yard but it’s nice to know it’s manageable in an apartment. I’m still tossing up how much longer to wait to get Whiskey spayed, and what kind of spay, but at the moment, I’m just happy to have gone through this with her. She’s grown up now but she’ll always be my little Whiskey girl.
Whiskey has impeccable timing. The day that my partner left for Belgium, she started her heat. We’ve been noticing that she’s been slowly swelling for about 1.5 months before she started bleeding. The last 2 weeks her nipples had swollen up as well and she had been losing appetite for 2 weeks prior. Other changes were that she’s been getting more protective (barking at “strange” people and sounds) and there’s been more “discussions” about rules in the house. For instance, Whiskey “talks” to me to try to convince me to give her my dinner. Or she’ll “argue” with me that she doesn’t think it’s time to go into her crate. The latter could be just part of her growing up and nothing to do with her heat.
I bought dog diapers on amazon when Whiskey was 6 months old. Her mother had her first heat at 6 months so I count myself lucky that she held on for 1.2 years. I bought a size medium, which is too large so I just ordered another size small. You really do need 2 so you can wash one while she wears the other. Currently, with the diaper and a load of sanitary pads, the bleeding is fully contained and not a huge issue. I’ve lined her crate with light coloured towels and change them daily so she doesn’t have to wear diapers in her crate. Thankfully Whiskey is tolerating the diaper because I know not all dogs will. The reason we are not spaying Whiskey yet is to let her full develop and also to avoid health issues later in life.
A meet and greet in the woods
As soon as her heat started, she became more interested in other dogs, especially males but they are not yet going “crazy”. Her training is pretty poor (recall down to 50%) even without other dogs around but I haven’t felt an increase in velcro tendencies or much more overall moodiness. She much more often though, and is very very interested in smells around town.
Still hiking! Still smiling
Meeting few hikers on the trails
We take walks in quieter areas now with only female dog friends. She’s still ok with a couple dogs around, but to avoid problems I’m trying to go on less populated hikes so I can let her off leash. Once she starts “flagging” or lifting her tail, I’ll have to be much more cautious and keep her mainly on leash. I’m pretty happy a know quite a few “secret” hikes to do during this time.
Just girls these days. Hana already had her heat.
Shorter hikes in the summer heat on Whiskey’s heat
It seems like we had a 1 week break between Whiskey getting all her baby teeth in, and then losing them for adult teeth. She’s been consistently chewing since we got her which isn’t a surprise since “they chew till two” is a Vizsla saying. She isn’t a fan of Nylabones but that could be because we’ve given her a choice of more natural chews.
Here are not chew toys, that are now chew toys:
-stuffed toys
-empty plastic bottles
-any and all sticks she finds, even logs and stumps
-offending bushes and leaves
-human arms/hair/clothes
We can’t wait until all her adult teeth are all in. We’ve been working on getting her bite “softer” but it’s been a painful process as her needle baby teeth draw blood.
Thankfully her sharkies only lasted for a month and after the baby teeth were in, she’s been much better with my hands. It’s been fun watching the adult teeth coming in now. We try to brush her teeth every other night and she’s been getting better about us always inspecting her mouth for wiggly ones. The other day I was playing with her and a molar fell out!
Her front teeth come in first. One of the doubled front ones is wiggly
