Confused About Heat Cycle

Question
QUESTION: My female's first heat was in Aug '07. She is a havanese.

She went into heat again in Dec. '07. We did progesterone testing and went all the way to 4.9. We bred her a day later. She had four 20-minute ties. The result = NO PUPPIES.

She now is in heat again March '08. (Our other female is now in heat and is in the process of being bred) I have not done progesterone testing on her.
Male seems interested but has not tried to mount her. Just a lot of sniffing. She is flagging like crazy and has also tried mounting the other female that is in heat.

Please make me understand what is going on....???

Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Pam. You didn't say how old your girl is. Sometimes, when a dog is young, it may take them a while to get their cycles on track. There were 4 months inbetween the first two heats, and three between the last two. Something's not right. I'd take her in to the vet and have some tests run on her to figure out what's going on. That may be why she didn't take when you bred her, and that may be why the male isn't very interested in her. That would be my best suggestion for you, to rule out any problems that she may be having. You may also want to try to seperate the two females, and only allow the male to have access to one at a time. Two girls in heat at the same time may be confusing to him. Good luck!

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QUESTION: Thank you...

Can you tell me if it is possible that she can release eggs on both heat cycles even though it is so close together?

Thank you,
Pam

Answer
She may have experienced what's called a split heat. A dog can start her cycle, then stop. She then waits a while, can be a week or months, then start back up again. Usually though, only one part of the cycle is actually fertile. I'd still take her in to have it checked out.