First off, if your female dog is an indoor dog, you'll probably want to purchase a dog diaper, whether that be the dog diapers with the disposable liners or the washable dog diapers. Otherwise, you'll have blood spots all over your carpet, tiles, or wood floors. You can find the diap diapers in sizes from extra small to large, and sometimes extra large.
Next, you want to make sure that you keep your female away from male dogs, which means that if your female dog is an outdoor dog, you want to make sure that she is properly pinned and no dog can get in or out of your yard. I would actually recommend bringing the dog in the house or in an enclosed outdoor patio until her heat cycle is complete.
For indoor dogs, you want to make sure that all doors and windows are shut all the time and you keep any unneutered male dogs that you may have away from the female.
You can consider applying a little dab of menthol rub under the female's tail to disguise the heat just a little and to stop potential suitors. You can also use the menthol rub on your male dogs by putting a dab on the male's nose to make the female's scent.
Sometimes you can mask the smell by giving your female chlorophyll tablets. Just remember to ask your vet for the exact dosage before you give your dog any medicines.
Try to keep her as calm as you can, which means avoid overly strenuous play, but make sure that you still dote attention on her in a more calming manner such as brushes and massages.
And, of course consider spaying your female dog. Check out my hub Spaying Your Female Dog so that you know and understand when you should spay your dog, why you should spay your dog, the process of spaying your dog, and the risks of spaying your dog. Remember that by spaying your dog will reduce the risk of breast cancer in the future. You want to aim at before her first heat, but since you're reading this, I'm assuming your dog is already experiencing her heat cycle, so you want to shoot for after her first heat and before her second, otherwise the risks of breast cancer are the same as a dog who was never spayed at all.If the dog is older than 2, you can still reduce severe health risks, as long as he dog is less than 5 years old. After 5, an unspayed dog has greatly increased odds of developing a uterine infection, which can be fatal if not caught early. The treatment is surgery to remove the uterus.
