I have a dobe pup that has just started her first heat cycle. All she does is sniff the ground and look everywhere but at me. Is this normal for their first cycle?

Sometimes they act like that while they are in season, sometimes they don’t. I have found that the behavior can vary from one heat cycle to the next. I had one female that didn’t act any different during her heats, but it’s really an individual thing. My female Malinois house dog is normally the most attentive and obedient dog you could want, and when she’s in season she is like a completely different dog. She tunes me out and does as you describe, just sniffs the ground and acts like I don’t exist. If I take her to our training club and do agility, she acts normal while working the equipment but in between runs she goes back to tuning me out which is HIGHLY unusual for her.

If I see that my females are acting like you are describing, I just take a break during this time. I don’t feel anything productive can happen in the learning phases of training when they are so hormonal. Depending on your goals for her, at some point she will need to learn to work through it but since she’s just a pup in the learning phases I would just take a break until she goes back to normal.

Cindy