Female in Heat

[Crockett]

My 1st female is in heat and I don't want her to get pregant until her 2nd heat. From experience how long do I need to keep her separate from our male dog? Will putting a diaper on both them prevent accidents? They are our babies and have never stayed in a crate.

[Cheryl]

I do not have an answer to your question, but I would not trust diapers. Ask Jester about heats and accidents!!:)

[ama0722]

Is there someone your male dog could stay with? Diapers are VERY easy to remove so I definitely wouldn't trust that!

Welcome to the forum,
Amanda

[Havtahava]

They need to be physically separated to prevent pregnancy. (An ex-pen will NOT do justice in this case; dogs have bred through wire fencing, ex-pens and crates.)

From the time she first came into season until it is safe to allow them together is approximately 3 weeks, but you probably want to take her to a repro vet to verify that.

If you put her in a pair of bitch britches/diaper and put a belly band on him, you will help slow things down a bit, but you will NOT prevent pregnancy. Dogs are as bad as rabbits when it comes to procreating. The drive is very strong.

Keep in mind that if you allow your bitch into the yard to eliminate, you may even get strange dogs jumping the fence to get to her. Yes, it can get that bad.