So it's official - Liska is having her first rutting season as I write. Well, actually she's not quite there yet, as for now she's only leaving a red trace throughout the apartment.
I'm so proud of her though - already such a big girl!
Unfortunately is she not only bleeding, but also showing all the other signs of a bitch having her period. She is constantly stopping to smell every scent we pass, and she's a nightmare to handle compared to her well behaved normal self. Luckily, me and my little brother are taking her away for some days of mountain hiking at the time when she's most fertile. It's going to be a bit difficult to handle here in Martin, seeing as her best dog friend is all-time-horny little Party-Pax.
I've been reading everything I can find online about a dog's reproductive cycle, and have found out some interesting facts:
- Some bitches come into season as often as 4 times a year, while most common is about every 7 months.
- Bitches actually have a clitoris too - so much for mating instincts...
- Although I knew this from personal experience with my family's last dog; it's actually not very uncommon that a bitch who runs free and has the chance, ends up giving birth to puppies of several fathers in the same litter!
The reproductive cycle of a dog is divided into proestrus, estrus, diestrus and anestrus. Proestrus is the time when the ova matures in the ovaries, and estrogen levels rise. Estrus is the period when the estrogen levels are at the peak, and the mature ova are released from the ovaries. This is the period in which the bitch has the desire to mate, and the chance of getting pregnant. Diestrus is either a period of pregnancy, or just a period between estrus and anestrus for the non-pregnant bitch. Either way, progesteron levels will rise, and some non-pregnant individuals may experience pseudo-pregnancy. The pseudo-pregnant bitch may produce milk, make nests, be super-cuddly and gain quite a lot of weight. The last period, the anestrus, is the reproductive resting period.
It's going to be quite interesting to see the different phases in Liska. It's really such a miracle, how the body works these things out!
