German Shepard

Question
I have a 3 year old German Shepard Male dog, and bought a Female puppy about 8 months ago. When the female was 3-4 months old I put her with the male for compaionship, and now being of breeding age do I need to seperate her from the male when she isen't in heat?....Someone told me the female won't accept the male when she's in season, is that true??

Answer
Hi Kyle - Sorry to respond to your question so late but I was out of town & have only just returned. And I forgot to set vacation dates on the site - der me!

OK, on to your question. The female dog generally has two heat cycles per year, about every 6 months & she will usually experience the first one between 5 months of age to as old as a year plus. If you don't plan to breed her yet, which I wouldn't advise until she's a minimum of 18 months & preferably 2 years old, you will need to separate her from the male whenever she's in a cycle. The heat cycle can be a tricky thing. The initial onset of the cycle, which is when you'll see swelling of the vulva & a vaginal discharge usually rather a bright blood red, generally lasts anywhere from 7 to 10 days but varies from dog to dog. At this point, your male will be very interested & may even attempt to mount her but she will not be receptive & it's extremely unusual for an actual tie to be achieved while she's in this stage of her cycle. The next stage is the biggie - estrus - this is the fertile portion of the cycle. At this point the vaginal discharge will have lessened in both flow & color, becoming more of a pale pink to straw color. She will not only be receptive to actual mating but will also encourage it by "flagging" with a slow, consistent wagging of her tail from one extreme side to the other & standing still so as to make it easier for him to mount & mate. On average estrus lasts about 5 to 7 days but can last longer. I've known of many people, even professional breeders, who were certain as can be that the female was out of estrus by a significant margin only to find her contentedly tied to a willing male, so be VERY careful.