Dogs, as we all are aware of, have been staying with us for tens of thousands of years.
In fact, no one actually knows when the first process began.
We do know that it was at least 20000 years and at most 40000 years ago, though.
When you put that into perspective, it really has been quite some time.
After all, the oldest known civilization formed sometime during the Early Bronze Age, which is roughly 3000 years before Century.
This means that dogs have been our friends for at least 4 times the time we have spent since our first civilization.
Thus, with that kind of time, it is only natural that we, humans, with our curiosity nature will try to breed them to have different attributes.
That is why at the moment, the dog breeds in the world have the most varying sizes, shapes, and even behaviors.
For this reason, there have been quite a lot of people getting dogs as their pets. After all, you can always get a breed that fits your situation.
However, the sharp increase in dog owners means that there are quite a bunch of owners who do not know that much about their dogs. Thus, this article is for them so that they can find something useful for their issues.
Page Contents
Some Common Questions about Domestic Dogs
What is heating in a dog?
Heat, or more professionally known as Estrus, is a stage that any female dog will eventually experience. In this stage, the reproductive cycle of the female dog will become receptive enough for her to start mating with male dogs.
At first, the estrogen level will increase sharply and then decrease just as sharply. Then, the dog’s ovaries will start to release the mature eggs.
In the very first heating or Estrus, the cycle will occur in a female that has not been spayed in the timeframe between 6 and 24 months old.
More often than not, this cycle occurs earlier for the smaller breeds of dogs and later for the breeds that are larger.
From then on, if the female pup is not spayed, then she usually gets this cycle about two times each year, averaging one every six months.
However, this can vary between each breed of dog as well as each individual dog.
During the heating process, the pup may start to appear nervous, more alert yet easier to distract than she usually is.
There is a high chance that the pup will start to urinate much more often than the usual amount.
There are also other changes in behavior brought by the shift in the pup’s balance of hormones.
You can consider some high fiber dog food from here to fortify your pup for its first heat!
What to do when your dog goes into heat?
When the dog goes into heat, it just means that she is about to become receptive to males. In other words, the pup is advertising to male dogs in the vicinity that she can now conceive.
Normally, dogs can be in heat for about two weeks. However, there are actual cases where it ranges up to four weeks.
The sign to know when the heat stops is seeing if she discharges red blood or clear fluid, the latter means that she is not in heat anymore. So, what can we actually do for the pup while she is in the heat cycle?
First of all, you should try to keep all the boys as far away from her as possible. After all, there is nothing more crucial than keeping the male dogs away from a dog in the heat cycle if preventing pregnancy is what you are aiming for. So, when you walk your in-heat dog around, please keep her leashed properly and make sure that she is close to you all the time.
Next, you would like to get the pup some undies. After all, in the heating process, that pup is going to bleed everywhere she can. So, we recommend getting some doggie diapers and then tuck some regular maxi pad for humans inside it.
These things can be washed by machines and will do a great job keeping the place clean.
You can also increase the quality of her food with options from here!
What is the right time to mate pit bull?
Before consider breeding, you should always remember to first check-in with the vet and have them run some tests. This is to ensure that the pit is not having any potential disease hiding.
Now, as you may know, male pups can be in the breeding process for as young as six or seven months old.
However, I still recommend that the owner wait a little more for them to mature out both in body and mind. So, the minimum should be somewhere between 18 and 24 months old.
At what age do pits get the first heat?
More often than not, female dogs reach their sexual maturity point at about six months old. Of course, pit bulls are no exception to the rule. During the stage, the pup will have sharp fluctuations in her estrogen level.
Of course, due to their incredible verifying nature, the first time of being in heat is never the same for any single individual dogs.
However, the degree of variance is not that big, so six months is still a safe guess. As we all know, the smaller the pup is, the earlier she goes into heat.
It is only natural that the reverse is true. So, due to the big size of the pit bulls, we can expect them to go into heat at about 8 months old.
Nonetheless, if you are thinking about breeding her right away, then don’t. Remember that it is never wise to breed in the first or even the second heat of a pup.
The best choice is waiting for her third heat, which means she will be at about 24 months old.
Conclusion
Of all the health issues of dogs, we do believe that reproductive problems like those above will be the hardest to deal with.
However, you should always remember that it is the love that you shower her with will help her get through.
If there is any other issue, you can check out here for some additional information!