My GS female in on her third week of her heat cycle (first one)
and started chasing her tail, she is 1 year old and this is
something she has never done. Is this normal? Since I can't
take her out for walks I try to keep her busy playing in the
fenced in yard and creating different things to do, this seems
to occur at night, she will cry, wine, and start attacking or
trying to grab her tail. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Betty Reavis

When my GSD is in heat, she will turn and turn until she sits and reaches her vagina(no other term comes to mind). She will whine a bit, but not cry and try to bite her tail. I have never heard of that.

My girl is 3 yr old and has been through heat cycles since she was about 8 months old and every 6 months after that. We plan to have her spayed in a couple of months.

Do you plan on having her spayed?

I like to call it her girly parts LOL...

Nico does the same thing, turning round and round until she finally makes contact and then she will clean herself or chew on her tail
sometimes the base of her tail gets swollen during her heat cycles as well.

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

I like to call it her girly parts LOL....

her mysterious lady parts...

LOL! I thought about saying her va jay jay or her no-no place. hehe just didn't know how P.C. to be.

Thanks for the input, I thought it was just a female
swollen thing ( or what ever any one wants to call it)!!!!. I
have not decided on having her spayed yet, she is going to
have an OFA prelim done in a month. I just love this
site. Great people and a lot of good advise and fun. I am hopeing
the tail chasing will stop in a week or two.
Thanks everyone
Betty Reavis

Do you plan to breed her, or is there another reason for waiting to spay hert? I'm just curious if aybe your waiting till she's 2yr before you spay her or if you do want to breed her. There is a ton of legwork you'll have to do to find the right breeding(stud, lines, etc.). You may already know this, I apologize.

I know all too well.

I had wanted to breed my GSD girl, but found out that I shouldn't breed her because of issues with her lineage stopped me. She's a great dog, just doesn't have strong enough structure in her family(half am. show, half working lines, kind of sketchy). She has good structure, good pigment, good drives, (I could go on all day) but her nerves aren't great-they are good, but not what you'd want for a breeding female.

The only reason we haven't gotten her spayed yet is because we just moved back to ND, found out we were having a baby, got married, and bought a house one month before the baby was born. Shaed was almost 2 when I got preggo. There was just too much stuff going on to focus on getting her spayed, but she will be spayed within the next 2 months.

Edited by Keleah Stull (02/27/2009 10:01 AM)
Edit reason: added more

Keleah: I have not made up my mind to breed her or not, but if
I do it will not be until she is old enough. Not to open another
(Can of Worms)but my female GSD is White. She will also have
to be OFA'd and yes I have a stud dog in mind. I know there is
a lot of hoopla regarding the white german shepherd, I have
owned 6 GSD's in the past and she is my first white. No need
to apologize we all have a diffenence of opinion thats what
makes us great. Thanks for the post.
Betty Reavis

I know everyone has their opinions on white GSD's. I tend to stay in the middle-since original GSD's were dark, rich pigmentation, but on the other hand a good dog is a good dog.