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my dog just went into heat, and I have a client booked with an intact male. Advice?

My puppy just went into heat for the first time. I have a client who booked several weeks ago coming tomorrow. One of his 2 dogs is an intact male. I could really use some advice as to if there is any possible way to make this work? Can I keep the two apart somehow, and if so, how do I tell the client about my dog?

7 Answers

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Donna, you may want to consider cancelling the stay as you are asking for trouble and a potential pregnancy. You can also contact Rover support to see if they can find a replacement sitter for your client. And get your pup spayed, there are far too many pets ending up in shelters.

If you don't cancel the stay you should crate your dog and the clients dog, keep them in separate spaces in your home, let them out independent of each other and pray a lot.

If it were me I would cancel

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Thank you Walt. Calling rover is good advice. I am going to get her fixed. I have not had the money. This stay would make it possible. I'm going to talk with the owners about it when I talk with them today.

Glad to hear that you're going to talk asap w/ the owners and contact Rover.That's what I would suggest. (I've not faced your predicament)The owner may have exp. to know how his dogs would react. If needed, Rover can help find& transfer the booking to another sitter, rather than canceling w/o backup

Rover support will always help get a replacement sitter! I had to call once to cancel for a funeral out of state and they arranged someone for my client no problem.

You have the option to put on your profile "No intact males; no females in heat."

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I agree with Walt. You should cancel the stay. Also, if you are not going to spay both your female dogs, then you need to make that fact known in your profile. At a minimum, you should not be accepting intact male dogs. There is a preference you should select in your profile about only accepting neutered dogs. However, there are still behavioral dangers if you take in male dogs and your females have not been spayed and go into heat.

If you do proceed with this stay, you need to explain to the owners what you plan to do to keep the dogs apart. I'm not sure an owner would be too happy to find his/her dog spent a great deal of his time crated when they thought the dog would have an open and free home environment.

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I'm going to get them fixed. I just have not had the money. M a single mom of three and this is my main source of income. I was praying that she would not have her first one until after this stay.

That's good to hear. I had my dog neutered at the local anti-cruelty society clinic, much less expensive than the vet. Excellent work. You should look into agencies & shelters that promote such measures. I just found that the ASPCA has a database of low cost spaying/neutering services.

There appear to be a few in your area that you may want to contact. http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/low-cost-spayneuter-programs

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She is coming out of it. Her swelling is down. when the boy came over, he barely even sniffed her. I'm no longer worried about it

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I know this is after the fact, and in case you havent spayed your female yet... trying to separate them will drive the male crazy.... crazy out of his mind. and YOU crazy trying to keep him from breaking down gates, doors, fence jumping... basically going insane. NOT a safe environment. :)

Precaution can prevent pregancy, but not without some MAJOR insanity created!

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If you book another while she is still having heats, they make "panties" for girl doggies that you put little pads in to catch any discharge and it keeps the male from being able to breed with her.

I have had female stays whose parent told me that she was fixed yet she went into heat while here. It is aggravating but I would suggest not keeping intact males. That is your choice, of course, but intact males tend to mark more (which I hate) and they have more of a territorial nature which means that they could snap at other pups. I do not keep intact males because of the marking...I really, really despise marking so we keep altered males only.

I would get the little panties(they sell them at pet smart/petco and are not that expensive.

I wish you the best on this. It can be quite aggravating!

Angela

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I do this all the time. I have two girls and they are not spayed. I keep boys whether spayed or not. My dogs wear diapers when in heat and panties. You can get disposable or cloth. You can also buy baby diapers and cut a hole. The panties are closed with either velcro, buttons or zipper. Your choice.

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No need to worry! You can find a way to make this work! Make sure you have a crate for each dog. You will most likely need to keep your own dog crated and in a separate room (like your bedroom, with the door closed) during the stay, and only let her out when you have crated the other two. You can survive this, but only by taking EVERY precaution.

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Only if they tiny dogs lol.....Dogs can break down doors, chew and break teeth on kennel to get to female. It's not safe especially with multiple male dogs. The one may attack the other etc. Sex drive is strong in animals.