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I am breeding my bitch for the first time. Today is day 19-20 of this cycle and she still has quite a bit of bright red blood. She started swelling this week and we've had her to see the stud dog on several occasions. He is interested, but not enough to breed. She is not flagging so we've had her progesterone tested 3 times in the last week to make sure we didn't miss anything. Her levels were:

Last Friday  .14
Wednesday .4
Today (Friday) .46

 I guess we want her levels to be around 2

Our vet said her progesterone is slowly rising and that we should continue to spend time with the stud dog this weekend. I'm somewhat worried. In my experience- this is a very LONG cycle. Normally a bitch would have bred by now. Has anybody been in a similiar situation or had a bitch cycle so long before being bred and had a successful pregnancy?

My girl is 4 years old, and I've never noted the  exact time frames of her prior heat cycles because we were not breeding her yet. In hindsight I wish I had. That information could be helpful right now.
Any information or thoughts is greatly appreciated!

You say day 19-20.  Is that from the first day you saw blood or how are you counting?

It sounds to me like it's just too early - she just started swelling, the blood hasn't yet changed color, the progesterone level is quite low, and the stud dog is not all that interested.  If he's an experienced stud dog, that and the other signs taken together make me think that the count is off somewhere.  Be patient and see if she comes around.

If her health is good and your vet sees no problems with her, things may come all right within the next week.  With no baseline (since you haven't observed her heat cycles before), it's too early to be worried.

Good luck!

Thanks Tess. I'm saying cycle day 19-20 counting from the first day I saw blood. It is an experienced stud dog as well so it probably is just too early. I'm just shocked that we're almost 3 weeks in to this cycle and she isn't "ready" yet! 

Hi,
            I don't mean to discourage you but from my experience the only mistake isthat you waited until she was 4 years old.The world we live in today is full of pollutants, radiation etc etc.While a male produces new spermatozoa all the time, a female is born with the pre determined number of ova which are in her all her live there after and are released from time to time.I've found that the sooner you use them assuming the bitch is of  the best breeding you can find the better.Ideally breed the bitch at just over 24 months so that you'll know if she's fertile and her pelvis will be tested so that at a later age you won't have to worry about that factor.
              I had a top female who smoked the males in the ring (not a GSD) and made you feel like the fun would never end.When I finally bred her she had uterine Inertia and her four lovely daughters died inside her.I'm thankful we saved her by cesarean.If I could turn back the clock I would have had bred her at two.
              Furthermore I find maternal age tends(with very very few exceptions) to be inversely related to puppy quality.I hope you will consider these factors with your next female.For the moment I'd say go with the stud dog's nose!

Years ago I bought a Siberian bitch that was 6 years old and had never been bred; I was looking for a specific lineage that was undiluted, and there weren't many dogs that fit that criteria, so I decided to take the chance and see how it went.  To add to the gamble, I was also using a 10 year old male who'd never been bred, either...fortunately there weren't any other variables thrown into the mix.

This bitch started flagging for the male at day 14, and continued to do so through day 27, but she wouldn't stand for the male until days 21 through 24.  Bred her on days 21 and 22, skipped 23 and gave it one last shot when she still stood for him on day 24. 

The result was *12* happy, healthy pups, whelped without any intervention or undue aid from anyone, exactly 63 days from the mating on day 21.

Regardless of what the test results say, I'm a firm believer in trusting both the dog and the bitch.