My foster girlie, Gracie, broke her leg at the track and was never spayed. Of course she came into heat 3 days before she was scheduled for the spay. She bled for two weeks so we had to keep girl panties with a pad on her at all times during that 'period'. For the next two weeks, she had some very minimal discharge and her vulva was very swollen.
With three young neutered males in my house, I kept a constant eye out for any unwanted activities. I didn't want her to get hurt (especially the broken leg) with any of the males trying to mount her Kept her crated at night. Only once did one of my males try mounting her.
Outside, we did very short walks right into the fenced in yard to make sure no other dogs appeared, which they didn't.
Other than the inconvenience of the panties, it was not a big deal. I felt bad for Gracie, because she was in a leg cast and panties at the same time.