Dogs in heat

Question
Hello,

    I have a question. We have all heard and read that a male dog can detect a female dog in heat within a three mile radius (or more,) and will try, using heroic measures, to escape to get to her, but how do we know this is true? Has actual research been done? Or is this speculation?
    The reason I ask is because I don't believe it. Let me tell you why. I have an intact, male, 2 1/2 year old Rough Collie. There is an unspayed female boxer in my neighborhood (she lives less than a quarter mile away) and she has been in heat more than a couple of times. My male has never, in the over two years that I have had him, tried to escape; he has also never become restless, or acted in a strange, out of the ordinary way. And, I take him for leash walks all throughout the neighborhood every, single day - rain, snow, sleet or shine! He also has a fenced yard that we sit out together in. Why didn't he smell it all the times she has had a heat cycle? (There is nothing wrong with his sense of smell, either - he once tracked his golden retriever buddy from the bus stop to the golden's home - about 1/4 mile.)
    Also, on another occasion, when we were out for a walk, a neighbor in his car, who lives only about 800 feet from my house, stopped us as we were walking to ask if we saw his pug - she had just run out his front door and he told me she was in heat! My dog didn't act crazed. He just acted normally. (My neighbor's dog was found, by the way, thank God.)
    A friend of mine, who passed away earlier this year, had a smallish female dog that came into heat before she had a chance to spay her. She and her dog were attending obedience classes once a week at the time, so my friend called the trainer and told him that her dog was in heat. The trainer said to bring her to class anyway. I used to go as a spectator to these classes and I was there that day. The class wasn't disrupted at all.  Why?
    Finally, the late Dr. Leon F. Whitney, DVM, who was a dog trainer, research scientist, breeder of champion Bloodhounds, and ran the largest (or one of the largest) veterinary clinics on the East Coast (in Connecticut) said in one of his numerous books, when talking about a male dog in the presence of a female in heat, that it was evident he didn't know she was in heat even though he was three feet away! I remember reading that, but I'm not sure in which one of his books.
    So, what do you think? How far away can a male dog detect a female in heat and how do we know?
    I have a theory. I believe that if the female in heat is taken for walks in the neighborhood and urinates (which she will!) any male that comes across that urine will know that she is in heat and can then track her to her doorstep in the same manner that my dog tracked his friend from bus stop to doorstep. But, I believe, that if the female is kept strictly in her home and backyard, then the scent will not be apparent to the male miles and miles away.  What is your opinion?
    Thank you for reading such a long-winded question. Cathy


Answer
When a bitch is in estrus, intact males within a five mile radius can scent it.  Not every male responds in the same manner; response is not only a factor of temperament but also a factor of the dog's self perceived status in his environment.  A dog that is psychologically less confident or who resides with a very confident or controlling human (or in a pack where there is a clearly dominant dog) will not react in the same manner as a dog that is psychologically confident, a high ranking member of its household dog pack, a rank opportunist in its human environment, etc.  Anyone living in a very rural area with an intact bitch can inform you that the male coyotes do make an appearance.  Fencing a bitch in estrus into a 'safe' environment doesn't work either; dogs can (and do) get over and through fences.  Your dog may be responding to your leadership.  In the show ring (having been there myself hundreds of times), presenting a bitch in estrus is enormously frowned upon because it DOES affect the behavior of the dogs.  An old show trick is to use an odor exchanger (such as Vicks) on fur around the vulva of the bitch but I have no idea whether or not this works, since my ring manners were such that I never (NEVER) took a bitch in estrus into any class in the breed ring.