I'm new to this forum and have found alot of your information useful. I would appreciate if someone could give me some advice. I have a 17 month old GSD male and recently bought a GSD female puppy she is 5 months old now. I have kept the 17 month old in the back yard and the puppy in a kennel and let them spend time togeather while I supervise. There is alot of roughousing which I think is normal,nothing aggrssive.I also take them on walks togeather.My question is, is it alright for me to leave the puppy loose in the backyard with him while i go to school. If not at what age can i do so.Also another quick question, At what age does a female GSD go into their first heat cycle?

If you hurry up and neuter the male and spay the female you will assure you will not be adding any more unplanned, un-temperment tested, untrained, un-xrayed, puppies to a country that is currently killing millions of the same every year.

And that is just because it seems to me if you are asking about when a female comes into heat, you probably are not an expert at breeding YET. And I feel only experts should be adding dogs to the world at this point. With the goal (and knowledge to back it up) of improving the breed.

Once you have learned all about the genetics of breeding Dog Genetics 1 and Responsible Breeding . Helped experts with breeding. Trained and titled a (some?) dogs. Paid for the health and x-rays needed when the dogs are adults. Well, then..........................

Though I know this wouldn't be you, just found this GSD for stud which shows there are enough 'breeders' out there already.

She will get her first heat pretty soon. Somewhere between 6 months - 9 months. So you should probably spay her in the near future.

If you are going to leave them unsupervised, make sure that they are going to be in a safe place. A fenced yard seems alright. We have two 6 month pups. One GSD male and a female Spitz. We leave them alone all the time. The love to run around, chase each other and rough house. But they never shown any serious agrIf they don't show agression toward each other, then its usually fine. It really depends on the temperment of your dogs.

They leaving them unsupervised for short periods and see what happens. How long are classes? If you're gone for too long, that not good for either dog.

- DHC

Just adding this as food for thought.

I have a lovely, large fenced in yard. And when I am home my dogs go out and play, and have a grand time. I love the play times with them. When I have to leave to go anywhere, my dogs are brought inside. Then I know for sure they will be safe. I do have to manage where I put them, my 8 month old bitch goes in a crate in my bed room, my neutered JRT gets to sleep on the bed in that bed room. Inge my 4 year old bitch, that is spayed and I.C. the 3 year old male have the run of the house. So I think it is something that can be managed.

Oh, yes the reason the JRT is put in the bed room with the door closed is because like Bob said he thinks he is a 70 lb Mal. :rolleyes: and I don't want him picking on my 97 lb GSD <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Joyce

I brought my GSD pup into my home with an adult neutered male dog. I let them have supervised play for short periods. The adult was a bit rough with her, but she kept up with him (hence the supervision!) They were always kept seperate, but together (crated or kenneled). It was not until she was about over a year old that I would leave them alone together (unsupervised), just for the reason of limiting the roughousing on her growing bones.

I also don't leave them together when she is in heat, although he is neutered, he will still try to get a leg up and the possibility of a tie happening isn't worth the headache.

Do understand the heat cycle and the signs to look for. (a good article on this website to read) An unwanted pregnancy when your bitch is still a pup can be life threatening and cause severe health problems. Respected breeders don't breed their bitches until after 2 years of age.

It would be to your advantage to build them their own kennels. It makes life with dogs so much easier! (Especially the unspayed females! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> )

That sounds like a good mix. An older male and a young female pup. They should do just fine and as she grow's bigger the rough play won't be as likely to injure her. I have an older female who won't tolerate other female's but she will play with any and all males. If their is a female it has to submit right away or there will be a challenge if I allow it. In your situation the pup female would naturally submit to an older male so there shouldn't be any rank issues like you get when you introduce 2 adults to each other, especially those of the same sex.

David, I wouldn't leave an unspayed female loose in the yard for ANY reason. Dogs can have what is called a "silent heat" where you don't see any discharge, but they can get pregnant. This is fairly common for the first heat. I wouldn't leave her unsupervised with the male for this reason. Once you have her spayed it won't be an issue and then you can think about leaving them together, but until then it isn't worth the risk. Even if you leave the male in the house, other dogs can dig into the yard. The first heat can happen anywhere from 5 months to 18 months, which is why it is so important to make sure that there aren't any chances for her to get pregnant.

Once she is spayed, you can leave them together for short periods while you are home, and gradually increase the time. You don't want to come home to a dead dog because one got a tooth caught in the other's collar and choked them while trying to get loose. It is best left for when they are both adults and have a better idea of how to play with each other (although adults are big enough to really hurt the other by accident).

Thanks for the Info.