Help Please.....

[Alison Neale]

I have a 15 month old Irish setter bitch. My problem is she had her first season in June and when that finished she had a phantom pregnancy producing milk and looking as though she had had a litter.

Luckily her mood didn't change and she was always happy and we went for long walks.

The problem is now the phantom pregnancy is over she keeps trying to mount people cushions, bean bags etc.

Is this normal and if so how long does it last. What can i do to stop her she has plenty of exercise sometimes up to for hours but as soon as we come home the problem starts.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[Susan Stone]

Hi Alison
I wonder... is she really mounting or is she possibly digging around on those cushions and gathering them under her... as if she had puppies and were pushing them to the milk bar. Bitches tend to scratch and dig up their beds and nurse soft objects if they have a flase pregnancy. Maybe check again if she is producing milk? IF she is restless due to female hormones then she should settle down after about 2 weeks. Some bitches need veterinary treatment.

[Susan Stone]

Sorry, I've just re-read your post and see you say she was in season in June. It can no longer be a false pregnancy...

[Dee Rance]

Hi there Alison
It sound like her hormones are still up the creek, I have recommended this before.....Sepia...1M strength, it just seems to knock the hormones back in line. My oldest bitch has just been spayed and she is mounting my middle girl, I just tell her to get off, and she does, but again it is her adapting to the change in hormones, or lack of. Bitches mount each other it isn't a problem, sometimes it is dominance, just push her down.
Do try the Sepia (even if it doesn't work it wont hurt her) I have found it very advantageous with a lot of different Setters.

[Margaret Sierakowski]

My alpha bitch gets on top of other bitches, often tries to get them to lie down, then she sits on top of them and washes them all over. Its all about dominance. The others seem to just accept it
She was spayed last year, but still mounts other bitches, so I think it is more to do with dominance than hormones
She was an excellent brood bitch, produced large litters of healthy puppies, plenty of milk, and cared for her puppies beautifully, so I wouldnt have wanted to use any kind of hormone treatment from a vet to change her behaviour

[Dee Rance]

Margaret, as you know, you don't get the Sepia from the vet, you would only get Galastop from them, and this has side affects, as do all chemicals, but personally I thought that this may well be connected to her phantom...but if it isn't then it is probably just a display of dominance from her, and yes this doesn't need a hormone change, it seems to be on the cusp of both, so I thought that maybe three powders of Sepia may well help, as I said before it wouldn't actually do any harm.....so well worth a try....as they say can't hurt....

[Ossian]

Hi Dee Sepia would be my way to go too!.

My Gordon bitch was particularly bad. 3 weeks of season and then a full nine weeks of hell and then another two or three weeks til everything settled down. She used to carry a little beanie dog around through the whole sorry process. Lovingly at first and then a bit more casually, then by the leg hanging from her mouth and finally she would toss it disdainfully at my old collie and that was her back on track!

As she was a Gordon I tracked three weeks before the season and then alternated Sepia and Pulsatilla (for the dark head as opposed to the blonde) and only once (the first time) did I have to administer Galastop. Sometimes the best way to ease the whole bbusiness is to take a litter (if that is the plan) or to neuter.

[Deborah Christopher]

Hi Alison
Barley used to mount the other dogs and it was a dominance issue, she's stopped now we have the male Great Dane!! But as you don't have any other dogs I wonder who she wants to dominate! Have you thought about training disks or something similar, it just interupts the unwanted behaviour until she realises its a no-no.
Deborah