How To Tell When Your Bitch Is No Longer In Heat by: Emily
Hi Margaret,
I wasn't sure on the answer to your question, but I looked it up and did find several good sources of information that seem to be saying the same thing...
Basically, as your dog progresses through her heat period, she will stop having a bloody discharge and any changes in her behavior that came with the heat cycle (e.g. being interested in and flirty with male dogs) will go away. Also, male dogs will stop being interested in her.
I will give you some day counts of "average" heat cycles below, but I would still suggest that you take your dog out (when you think she's done with her heat cycle) to a place where there may be other dogs (males) and see if they show an interest in mating with her.
Here is some great info from Dr. Mike Richards, DMV of Vetinfo.com.
1) The average duration of a heat cycle is 3 weeks, but it could be 1 - 4+ weeks long.
2) Usually dogs come into heat every 6-7 months, but it could happen every 4 months, or just once a year.
3) During the first phase of heat, Proestrus, you will notice the signs of swollen and bloody vulva and male dogs hanging around the house. The bitches will not allow males to mate with them during this time. Duration: 5-13 days.
4) The second part of the cycle is called Estrus and this is where the female will mate with males... potentially multiple males, so if you are planning a pregnancy for your dog and she has already been bred by the stud, you should still keep her away from other dogs or she could end up with puppies from multiple fathers. Duration: 4-21 days.
5) Toward the end of her cycle, she will enter Diestrus and will be reluctant to breed. Duration: 4-14 days, Average: 7 days.
So if you add up the "maximum" times for each of these three phases (28 days + 21 days + 14 days) you could make a go of just letting her out again based on timing, but... that's a lot of confinement.
Take a look at the signs she and other male dogs are exhibiting when you go out, and you should have a good sense of when her Estrus cycle is over.
