My youngest female Koolie, Harley, has just turned 15 months old and as yet has not come in season. Is this normal? The other two came in at 8 months and again just recently with no problems.

Hi JackieH

I wouldn't worry too much, koolies are a long lived breed so I think sometimes are slow maturing. Our Min didn't have her first heat until about 18months old but has been as regular as clockwork since. Also some don't show obvious signs of heat even though they have cycled - this is sometimes refered to as a silent heat. You are less likely to know if you don't have a male about. I think silent heats happen more than we realise and the cry "I just found them together and had no idea" can be explained this way often.

Ok won't panic yet. I also have another question, my blue cattle came in season in early July and was mated with a red cattle but was not pregnant, she did have a phantom complete with milk and dug a burrow under my bed.

The pups would have been due this week, now she has come back in season (so it has only been about 2 months since her last season) she has never been regular with her heat cycle and quite often there is only four or five months inbetween cycles.

With the four girls they all tend to come in around the same time, one seems to instigate the other.

some believe that climate change may have an impact of the breeding cycles, I know I have recorded a rise in phantom pregnancies this year and unusal cycles, shorter more frequent, this might be what is happening with your girls.
Just give them time, they will sort themselves out

Same here Tjukurpa, we too have had lots of phantoms and shorter cycles. Maybe mother nature knows something that we don't.

Jackie H, I wouldn't worry about Harley either before you know it you'll have all of them cycling together.

We experienced a funny thing in the drought of 2002 - 2003 with the horses. The spring before we had lots of mares that didn't cycle properly for months. Other mares that did cycle wouldn't ovulate despite lots of veterinary intervention and others that we got in foal losts pregnancies. We do see these things in other years but there were so many mares affected.

The following spring (which was the drought), of the mares that we did get in foal, the majority of foals born were female! I couldn't help but think that mother nature knows best sometimes.

Don't know what the phantoms and shorter cycles mean yet, maybe there is another drought on the way and the girls are all meant to be having pups. If they were wild dogs there could be lots of carcasses for pups to eat?

Has anyone else seen anything like this in their bitches lately?

Sheringa

Thanks Tj I will have to have some patience. It seems this year I have been constantly surrounded by emotional canine females!! either nesting or looking for a boy. They usually all come in season at once and then it is over and done with for another six months. But this time they are scattered all over the place and I have had three really good phantoms complete with big bellies and milk and building of burrows.

The blue cattle "Mikki" (one of the ones with the phantom) has just come in again (3 months) and looks like the red cattle won't be far behind.

It is very interesting and good that we record these changes, you never know we may in time come to recognise a pattern, I have also seen a number of larger litters upto ten.
I am glad that I am not expecting babies, hopefuly by 2008 things will have settled and I can look forward to my nice comfortable litter of six, though her mother did produce ten in her last litter 4 years ago.