Pugs in Heat

Question
I am trying to find information on when a pug goes into heat. Does the female knawl on the male pug if they are together? My female has chewed a raw spot on the back of my male, and broke the hide. Why is she doing this?

Answer
Amanda,

First, we need to take care of your male. If you haven't already, you need to be rinsing his wound out with warm water. Make sure it stays clean of dirt. Wounds caused by biting from other animals are especially succeptible to infection and may need to be treated with antibiotics. Since I'm not there to see it, I'm going to recommend you at least give your veterinary clinic a call and see what their recommendation is. They may also ask you to keep it bandaged for a while.

As for the female - when females go into heat, they can be aggressive and display odd and anxious behavior... like chewing a raw spot on one of their siblings I suppose. You'll need to keep them apart while she is in heat, for several reasons - mostly for their own safety. Females will act unpredictably while in heat, and if the male is intact, her being in heat will drive him crazy. If you don't plan on breeding them, I highly suggest you consider having them spayed and neutered.  It's an affordable, commonplace, outpatient procedure that has numerous benefits for your dog's health and temperament. Spaying her will prevent a spectrum of reproductive deseases like ovarian cancer, problems like pyometra, and will greatly reduce the risk of cancer of the mammary glands (breast cancer). I've added a few links for you below. The first link takes you to an article discussing the signs and stages of heat in female dogs. The second takes you to an article discussing the undesirable behavior seen in intact dogs, as well as the benefits of spaying and neutering.

http://www.petcaretips.net/dogs_in_heat.html
http://www.foxvalleypets.org/dogs/?details=19&page=123

If you can not spay her because you plan on breeding her, there are medications you can speak to your veterinarian about that can help keep her heat cycles under control until you are ready to breed. They are sort of like the equivalent of human contraceptives.

Good luck!

Ashley