My 2-year-old golden retriever's heat is late. When will it start?

A dog goes into heat once every six months. A first heat typically occurs after a dog is six months of age, but large breed and giant breed dogs go into heat later, sometimes closer to two years of age. The number of times over a lifetime depends on when the dog first goes into heat, and how long they live.

There first hear cycle can often be missed and be a silent heat since the changes in their body are new. It is common to miss it. At her age a second should be approaching soon. The lager the dog, the later and farther between the cycles can be.

Thank you for submitting your question! Most puppies will start their first heat cycle anywhere from about 6-10 months of age. It can last upwards of 18-21 days. You will notice swelling of her vulva and mammary chain. She will spot and bleed as well. Some dogs keep themselves very clean and you only see small amounts of discharge, others will require diapers. You may observe some behavioral changes as well. These can include a decreased appetite, attraction to male dogs or being more clingy to you. Most dogs will cycle every 6-9 months with small dogs cycling more frequently and giant breeds less. I hope this information helps!

You should check both pedigrees to ensure there are no common ancestors or in-breeding in the previous 4 generations and also have both dogs hip and elbow scored to ensure they have no evidence of dysplasia, consider eye testing also. Retrievers females should be 15mths+ before breeding to ensure there bones are mature enough and will not be stunted or create any problems with future development or labor and delivery

It can take up to 12 months or longer for a large breed dog to go into heat for the first time, so Eos may not be mature enough yet. I am concerned that she bled all over your bed two weeks ago and I am curious as to what could cause it, but if it hasn't happened since, maybe she injured herself causing the bleeding. I would wait a bit longer to see if she goes into heat.

Dogs typically go into heat every 6-8 months. If you feel like you can spot the beginning of a heat cycle right away you might be able to wait since she's showing no signs now, but I would definitely keep her separated from the male whenever they are unsupervised. To be safe you could also send her to your sister's since it has been 6 months, but she may not go into heat for another month or more.

She could still go into heat at any time. Some dogs go into heat later than others, although smaller breed dogs tend to go into heat by a year of age. It could also be that she has gone into heat, but it was a silent heat so you didn't notice any signs of it. I'd have her checked out by a vet to be safe. Best of luck.