Late heat

Question
I understand that each individual dog has a certain length between heat cycles, every 6 mos, 8 mos, 1 year, etc. But can  one individual dog to have irregular cycles and can that be totally healthy and normal? I thought mine was on an 8 month cycle and shes past due. I check her every day and we have the male to be on the look out too. Shes at    8 1/2 months and nothing yet. Also is there a way to encourage her into heat? Thanks

Answer
Hi. A dog can go different lengths between heats and still be healthy. Not every dog is 6 months exactly. If she goes over a year, then I'd have her checked out. The only thing that you can do safely to try to bring her in to heat is to house her with another female in heat. This will usually work. Besides that, there's nothing else you can safely do. Good luck.