A few questions regarding bitches in heat/season

Sorry for the long story just trying to get the point accross/set the scene!

My bitch has just come into season (her 1st season) today & compared to the amount of blood I was expecting theres hardly anything at all (shes a 12 month old Northern Inuit) & shes not particually making much of an effort to keep herself clean eather.

I dabbed her with a tissue earlier & their was quite a lot of blood & their was quite a bit in her crate where she had been lying, we had to take her to the vets during which she got blood on her back legs, since coming home shes cleaned herself up & has been lying next to me by the computer (on a white towel) so I am able keep an eye on her & shes not cleaned herself much & there is only the smallest speck of blood where she was lying. Shes been up & about for a bit still near me & has gone to lay down again & still not really much blood If I hadn't have seen the blood in the crate earlier on before we went to the vets (& perhaps had not had to take her to the vets) I probably wouldn't have even noticed she'd come in theres that little.

So my first question is will the amount of blood increase as she gets further into the season or is it likely that it will stay a very small amount??

Secondly just a random question but we all know that a dog can smell a bitch in heat from a long way off but does a bitch in heat ever give off any sort of scent that is detectable by a human in close vicinity?

Bitches seasons usually fall into three parts-the first week & last week have the red discharge & a period of clear discharge in the middle when the bitch is fertile

The actually timing isn't exactly seven days can be anywhere between a week to 14 + days at the start & not all seasons are 21 days & some bitches are fertile at different times from the traditional 9 to 13 days A friend had an Old English Sheepdog who was fertile after the season had appeared to end & had puppies to a mating on day 28 of her season !!

There shouldn't be any smell that is detectable to the human nose normally

As this is your bitch's first season she might not clean herself as well as a bitch having a second or subsequent season

They joys of bitch owning-lol one of the reasons I don't"do"bitches

my bitch is in season at the moment, on her 3rd.
when she came in the first time she didnt clean herself at all. now she does a bit.
i have found when it starts theres not much, but we are on day 5 now and shes bleeding alot heavier.

I used to think that I would only have boys, and now that I have a little girl, I would never have a boy again.

Yeah seasons are a pain, but compared to lifting legs on anything (and in the case of my mums adolescent, in MY house) prinz frequently lifts his leg on his sister if she stops long enough. Also boys are always questioning or trying to out do you (same with horses I have been told) whereas you seem to come to some amicable argument with a female.
There shouldn't be a smell, and if there is that's emergency vet time.
The amount of blood Akela had was varying, from a little to alot and then dried up near the end. I am surprised to be honest that your inuit has only had her first season at 12 months. Akela was just over 7 months, and she isn't a little dog by any means. They do have almost the same genes after all (shepherd x husky) I wonder if it is just random? or perhaps Malamutes come into season later?

my 2 utes are nearly 10 months and have not had their first season yet.
I was hoping that their recent bout of hyperactivsm was an indication that their season was due, but no, they have calmed down again (slightly ), these types of dogs are very late maturers.

I was actually quite amazed at how little blood our GSD lost just recently on her 3rd season. I'd never had a bitch before and was maybe expecting the worst but really, it was quite minimal. To her credit, she was very good at cleaning herself up.

The other way round with me started with bitches than got a dog & much prefer the character & temperament of my boys no peeing allowed indoors here & BTW I always found bitches way too easy to train, but the mood swings with the seasons & afterwards-give me a boy dog any day :smt002 :smt002

lol! I haven't really noticed any mood swings, but she has only had one, and i think I will have her spayed soon....

I think I am just so amazed at such a little pup coming in and taking over, setting herself up as the boss, and the bigger males obliging. If we had listened to animals women might have become empowered long ago!

Yes she has come in quite late, I think the average in a Northern Inuit is usually between 8 & 10 months but it is not unknown for them to be as late as 15 months.

I've not noticed any mood swings/changes eather so far maybe they will come with time.

Their is no smell that I am aware of but periodically my partner will say hes sure he can smell something odd when shes been near him a while, I can't smell anything from her & she lies with me (I think hes just imagining it becasue he knows shes in) but just made me wonder if they do give off any mild scent that for some reason hes able to smell that I can't.

I know the feeling of thinking its startin & then not Misty's vulva actually swelled at 7 months & we expected it to be any time, then we went through odd behaviour of her becoming really highly strung for weeks, then my male started marking in the house & was trying to mount her all the time, then suddenly it stopped but the swelling never went down, a couple of months ago a vet nurse looked & said oh yes it will be any time now - never came, then 2 weeks ago at a show various breeders said I was lucky I'd even got to the show & I'd be lucky if she went another 2 days despite her not being anymore swollen than she was at 7 months. 2 weeks on its finally happened, I think shes just doing her best to be arkward!!

The way people have gone on at me about bitches in season I was told they swell tremendously, they bleed heavily & to have my mop & bucket to hand as I'm gonna need it & that my male will be going nuts (hes not that fussed as long as hes allowed to sleep next to her - supervised of course) & that she'll be having mood swings and so far non of that has been the case, I thought when she came in it would be massively obvious but its not.

I was expecting gallons of blood and the fact that theirs so little has really thrown me, shes been pottering about or lay next to me all morning shes not cleaned herself in over an hour & yet theirs barely even a drop of blood.

Anyway thanks for the advice guys.