My 3 yo bitch just had a normal season starting Sept 20. It's only been 4 mos and 10 days and apparently her 5 yo half sister (who has been bred and is now on her way out) has pulled her in already as I noticed she was swollen and discharging today! Same girl gets terribly excited when her half sis is in season, to the point of whining and mounting her starting a few days before (ie, acts as bad as an adolescent male!).

Normally this girl cycles regularly every 7-8 mos. Is this cause for concern? Could this even be a normal cycle (w/ ovulation)? I was planning to breed her in the lt fall 2010, but am now trying to figure out what her cycles may be and wonder how common this may be w/ multiple bitch households? It's a first here. She cycled w/ her mom and aunt last Sept.

I have a bitch that came in every 5 months and once did come in sooner (like 4 1/2) and I bred her on that heat - only got 2 puppies. She always cycles about every 5 months and on the times that her cycle was "normal for her" she had a litter of 7 and a litter of 5. I would not worry about it at this point.

Dr Hutch says a bitch needs 150 days minimum between cycles to replenish her uterus

Thankfully I'm not planning to breed her until fall at the earliest, but I was more curious than anything how often this happens to others w/ multiple bitches.

I have had one get pulled in a month & a half early once, but I wasn't expecting this girl in until May! If it's a full/otherwise normal season, it'll actually work out to my benefit as I'll have less conflict w/ local obed trials this spring.

I had a bitch come into heat, skipped. 4 months 11 days later she was in heat again. We bred her, Hutch said it was fine perfect whelp and nice puppies.

Bitches that live together often synchronize their cycles. That could involve one or more coming in early or late. If they are in heat they are fertile even if it's early! I like when they are synchronized because it's a shorter amount of time I have to keep the dogs in two groups. Normally the whole gang goes out together.

Thanks, I'm sure she is synchronizing w/ her half sis. She WAS cycling w/ her mom and aunt but since they are spayed/soon to be spayed, I guess this is fine if she wants to jump ship now! Now I'm wondering when the 14 mo and 9 mo will jump on board... not that I'm terribly anxious about that!

Another friend told me a story today about a bitch they had that cycled constantly, only a month "off". Vet finally said breed her (she was still young, under 2) and indeed she had 6 pups and her cycles straightened out. So Hutch would have missed on that one.