I'm just wondering whether anyone can offer any reassurance regarding my bitch's first season and the behaviour of the neutered male staffy who lives here. She's a rescue staffy (I found her in a bin) and she's just turned 1 (the vet said he'd put her down as Jan 1st when I first took her when I found her), and she started bleeding on 15 December and still hasn't stopped. I know it's not trauma because the male hasn't been near her (more on that later), and apart from being sick twice around Xmas which I reckon was due to rich food, she still seems herself. There just seems a lot - 30 spots in the space of 15ft and that was just her going out the room - and I'm worried there may be something serious.

No onto the male. He's been neutered and never been used for breeding, but he's just not willing to leave her alone. I mean literally from the second he's let in the room with her, to the moment he gets dragged out, he's constantly trying to mount her. I did wonder about just letting them get it on and then maybe it would calm down, but she seems pretty small for her age and he's 4 times the size of her. I'm not happy about him having to spend half the day in the kitchen before he swaps places with her (although she goes in a large cage), because I feel like I'm punishing them both for nature taking it's course.

He's also refusing to go outside for a toilet and this afternoon I had to literally pick him up and throw him down the garden so he'd go out and had to use the distance to get back in before he did. I daren't try and get him by the collar because he's gone for me several times - and come off the worse for it - and it seems like now he's not willing to do anything I say. His temper has always been pretty placid and a friend's small children have fraggled him something rotten in the past and he's just taken it without even flinching. I'm now worried if the kids come around and grab hold of him then there'll be some serious damage done.

Can anyone offer me any advice whatsoever because I'm at my wits end? My housemate is away for the next week and they're her dogs, so I'm going to have to deal with both of them. I'm already wary around dogs due to being attacked when I was 7, and although I'm fine with dogs I know, I'm starting to lose the confidence with the male because of him going for me. I can't be dealing with this because I'll go mad.

I'm no expert. Our bitch is the first dog we've had for 30 years. She has not long finished her first season and seemed to bleed a lot more than the first. I had to clean up after her and clean her very hairy nether regions with baby wipes and it was going on for 3 weeks. Then the final fertile week had a neighbour's spaniel make a break for freedom to our back door. Now other dog walkers have told us that even though their dogs are neutered they still seem up for it. My friend's bitch has been neutered and she is still humping! I would imagine both dogs are unsettled with raging hormones and I'd keep kids at a distance till they settle. But why not check at vets. The nurses at ours offer good advice,

A bitch's season can vary from dog to dog( just like human females). Generally, they bleed for 6-12 days (3 weeks roughly), but some can do so for up to 28 days. If yours started on 15 December, then it should be almost at and end now, which should certainly make life more bearable. And some bleed a lot, some barely at all, some keep themselves clean so you hardly notice anything, whereas others are quite messy, it all depends on the individual dog, so for now, it wouldn't be giving me cause for concern.

Now, your male dog. The reason your male dog won't leave your female alone is because, quite simply, he can smell her! And it will be driving him crazy! Dogs can scent a bitch in heat from up to FOUR miles away - no wonder he's going stark raving mad living with one! Just because he's had the snip, his sense of smell hasn't been altered, he knows full well what is up with her and its driving him to distraction, just like if someone sewed your mouth up and placed some food in front of you - you can't eat a bit of it but you know its there as you can smell it. Dogs don't know what's happened when they've been castrated, it removes the ability to produce puppies, and the testosterone fuelled hormones zapping around that make him want to run off to find a mate or mount everything in sight, but it doesn't remove his ingrained natural knowledge of what that certain scent a bitch gives off means, nor does it stop his brain from reacting to it the way nature intended it to. The reason he is going for you is because he is seeing you as the one that is preventing him from getting to her by trying to hold him back, and yes, I would be vary careful near him, because it will wind him up and he just might snap or even bite out of sheer frustration. Certainly don't let any children near him.

What I would do, before somebody gets accidentally hurt, (even the most mild mannered, docile dog can change dramatically if there's an in- season bitch around), is book him into a boarding kennels until her cycle is finished, that way, you won t have to watch over them both. And it would be the dog I would send, not her, otherwise she'll likely drive the other boarders crazy, plus if your nervous around him it makes more sense as well. Then, as soon as your sure this season is over, I would get her booked in to be spayed ASAP, to prevent having to do this again. Not only will it be better for her health wise, they will both benefit from it, because she'll no longer give out such an enticing scent to the dog, and you'll benefit from it due to not having to deal with such issues. Besides, it is much much kinder on both dogs, it is really not fair to keep an intact female with a doctored male, it's the equivalent of telling two people who fancy the pants off each other that they must share a bed completely naked but not go near each other. Wholly unfair for both parties.

The boarding kennels was an idea I had, but they're not up-to-date on their jabs (yes, I know and I've told her to get them jabbed when she gets back) and a kennel we spoke to said no boarding kennel would take a dog without it's jabs.

Thankfully, she seems to be bleeding a lot less today and he's calmed down a bit. I think it possibly may be coming to an end because when they were fed this morning she didn't even 'present herself' to him and apart from a cursory sniff which he's always done he didn't seem too interested, at least until he'd had food. My housemate has said she'll come back if it gets out of hand, but if it stays like today I should be able to handle it.

And people wonder why I prefer cats lol.

Betty's first and only season was a nightmare went on for nearly 6 weeks. And Mollie's although shorter was nightmare because she became so distressed and depressed she would not go out. For both of them being spayed was the utmost importance.

When we had a boy who was neutered he never lost the desire when a girl was in season to seek her out and mount her. Some just don't.