It appears that Harley may have skipped her latest heat or never really went far enough into heat for what was needed. While it is still possible she will go into heat in the next two weeks it is increasingly unlikely. We’ve been running tests on her saliva under the microscope every few days and we saw evidence of progesterone increasing until around a week ago when it started decreasing and today’s test was very light. The test used is referred to as a “Canine Fern” test that can be done with a dried saliva sample on a glass slide examined with a children’s microscope. This test basically gives indications of the amount of free progesterone in the dog’s system. It is not as accurate as a $200 blood test but it is free and when used over time it can clearly show trends and the current trend is saying her cycle is going away.
We know that Harley‘s family has zero history of problems with heats and she is completely healthy with a stellar diet and well cared for with tons of love and play time so we can only assume the issue is environmental. We even took Harley into our vet and they agree she’s fine. Historically her heats have been very noticeable and regular and we watched her closely starting the last week of October. We believe any combination of the following reasons are suspects:
- We traveled with the dogs to Houston for a week in early October for Terri’s school work – the dogs love travel but the change is still stressful to them.
- We received Emma in late October which included a drive to Houston and back to pick her up resulting in a new and excited 4 old puppy crawling all over Harley and River on the 4 hour trip home and often since. This happened a few weeks before Harley should have started her heat. Although Emma is now part of the family and they all get along really well, the new addition and the trip added stress for a while
- We received Dexter in mid-November, just a week before Harley should have gone into heat – that added stress for a while
- We had a ton of family over for Thanksgiving – that added stress for a day or two
- It’s winter and the days are shorter – Heat cycles are affected by the amount of daylight
- Mother Nature was just in a bad mood – it happens
We know this is bad news; we are unhappy about it as well. We have no reason to believe Harley will not go into proper heat in another 4 or 5 months with puppies ready to go home in late 2019 but for now, we just watch, wait, reduce stress on her and pray Mother Nature cooperates this time and hope for beautiful puppies in late 2019. We will certainly let you know if anything changes.
We also look forward to when Emma is ready to be a momma but that’s still 18 months out at least. For now she gets to just be a happy-go-lucky puppy.