Actually, Star is right.
THE CANINE REPRODUCTION
The Female
The female can have the menstrual flow two times a year, especially in spring and autumn.
The menses last approximately 20 days, a period that has 3 important phases for the breeder:
1. In the first 4-5 days, the female suddenly changes her behavior, becoming either melancholic or restless, with a low appetite, even with diarrhea, urinating quite often. From the first day on, the vulva is swollen, loosing some blooded mucus, and then, few days later, plain blood.
Molecules of pheromones are spread – volatile hormones that alert all the males around (1-2.5 miles), announcing that she is now fertile. In this period she will not accept the male. She will lick herself continuously.
2. The second period of the menses begins after the first 5 days from the début; the vulva is not so swollen as it was before. The menstrual flow looks dark-red.
She changes her behavior towards the males; she now accepts their ”wooing”, which are now very persistent, by taking the typical position for the sexual intercourse, keeping the tail aside and standing on all her four legs, waiting for the male’s “jump”.
The best time for mating is between the 9-th and 15-th day of that period, especially the 10-13-th day.
They should mate at least 2-3 times during this fertile period.
3. The third period, between the days 15-20, is characterized by a decrease of all these signs: the flows become insignificant, the vulva decreases in size, the mating desire decreases significantly, sometimes the female is becoming quite aggressive when the male is trying to mate.
It is good to know that female dog enters the menses period for the first time at 6-7 months of age (some races even later, at 8-10 months), at the same time as the male dog reaches his own sexual maturity.
However, the sexual maturity develops sooner than the physical maturity (which appears at the age of 18–24 months), therefore it is not recommended to allow mating before 18 months of age.
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Spay and Neuter your pets
