Mating - Page 1

What are the best days of the heat cycle to mate the female.........Thanks for any info......rodd

To get the right day for mating u should really have the bitch blood tested. They test her progesterone levels which indicate when she has ovulated and there fore gives u approx 48 hrs to mate her. I normally start blood testing at 8 days then the vet can tell u when they recommend retesting again hope this helps as every bitch is different they all ovulate differently at different times

Rodd, that is such a loaded question... I'll give you what I have been told, and hope others will post to help you as well. I have been told from 1st day of bleeding that a high % of females on the 14th day will be ready, ready meaning this is a high fertile day. I have also been told this can happen on the 12th day as well. So not sure that was much help. have also been told ONLY way to tell, is have blood pull. have also been told, put two dogs in and let them do they're thing. Now some will advise against it, as the dogs may fight, or injur themselves, and these things are absolute possibilities. I personally however choose to put female in with male and let them do they're thing, so far never a fight never an injury and happy helthy little puppies poppin out between 60 and 65 days later so woohoo have gotten lucky I figure. Hope you get some more responses, I'd like to hear what others come up with. Good Luck to ya, oh and as always Please consult with your Veterinarian !

Rodd, The male will let you know when it is time to breed!! Just try to get a couple of jumps.

RODD -- there is something to what Echo states -- i know amny do testing .. progeserone etc etc. -- but i will tell you something --only from my experiences .. empirically -- i plum watch my males intact and nuetered -- --watch their behaviors .. ..how they scent .. where they scent --how they look for a female -- etc. -- and when one of my females is ovulating --i just watch them get crazed -- the barking .. the howling .. the panting -- seems like they can scent the change in hormones and when the female is ready -- etc.. also .. the female will tell me / the males herself.. watch the flirting , the flaging etc ---- -- just like tracking -- first lesson i learned --- TRUST your dog -- but for the record that is only my experience .. so do give credence to other advice about testing etc.

The books say... Uh oh. Bitches (the canine variety) CAN'T READ!!! When your stud dog drives you nuts day and night, she's ready. Be careful throwing your boy in with the "ready" bitch. Take all the pix of him, particularly head studies you'll ever want first... Better to muzzle a less-receptive female and hold her tightly than risk having her tear him apart from ears to toes. (Ears never heal once torn) So she gets raped... You can get her counselling LATER. SS

Alphapup,VH Bingo!! The males know when to breed. They have been doing this for a while! The morning my female was ready to breed I can come out to the kennel to let my male out and he is jumping out of his skin. He knows it's party time!

If you wait until the 14th day, you will miss many females. Often when the female is most receptive is after her most fertile time has passed. Haven't you folks ever heard the old saying? "a week of bleeding, a week of breeding" The 14th it to late, to begin. More puppies are conceived on the 9th day as an average. If you breed on the 9th and every other day until the female is out of season and then count 63 days from the 9th day of season, first day of breeding, your pups are born then or a day before or after. Showing somewhere around the 9th day or so conception took place. I have paired the male and the female dogs for breeding on the 8th, 9th or 10th at the latest as the first day since the late 70s. The litters produced have an average of 10 puppies. The largest litter was 16 puppies. This is compiled of 4 breeds. (American Pit Bull Terriers, Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd dogs and Weimaraners) By breeding every other day you have fresh seamen to cover any new eggs. If you wait till the 14th you miss the eggs from 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th day, if eggs are only able to become fertilized for 48 hours. Others have mentioned the progesterone testing already. A man had once called to breed to one of my Champion dogs. He had paid a "Big Dollar" stud fee to a prominent kennel to breed to a top stud. The female to be bred was tested and the "most fertile date" was selected. She did not conceive a litter even thou bred on the "most fertile date". She was given a "return stud fee" being "she" missed. This time the "most fertile date" was selected by progesterone testing again. She conceived and had only one puppy. He then wanted to go to the same prominent kennel again and breed to one of the top studs. He was steered away, being that his breeding female was "not very fertile". He called me, and only lived 30 minutes away from me. We bred her to one of my Champion studs on the 8th, 10th, and 12th. She continued bleeding till the 20th day. We did not breed her any more after the 3rd breeding.

He also bred another female from his kennel to the same Champion stud dog on the other females 14th, 16th, and 18th day, which was her 8th, 10th and 12. The second female bled for 22 days. We did not breed her any more after her 3rd breeding too. So for sake of argument the male was pretty well used and should have a low count by what some people have wrote on here before. Well litter one was 14 puppies born 62 days from the 8th day, first day of breeding. Litter two was 15 puppies born 63 days from the 8th day, first day of breeding. Both litters were 3/4 males, 1/4 females on average. Pretty good sized litter on a female who wasn't very fertile? Another female dog, a Champion that I had. She had to be bred on the 2nd or 3rd day of bleeding or no puppies. Soon as she come into season she was kenneled with her breeding partner and they bred all the time for 2 weeks, when puppies were born it was 63 days from the first few days of her cycle. She was receptive in the 1st week to breeding advances. She averaged 9 puppies in her litters. So in this new age of science, progesterone testing, the one shot breeding on "the best day". It seems anywhere in the second week, a breeding will produce a litter. Size and quality seem to suffer on the one shot breedings. With the multiple breedings in the second week, you "hedge" your bets and have a "large" healthy litter. Fresh eggs and seamen every couple of days to increase the liter size. By the 14th the female should of have already been bred and probably finished with breeding for the current anticipated litter. If you wait until the 14th day, you will miss many females. Progesterone testing, while it is "science" it is not an exacting science. I prefer and have great success with the old fashioned way of doing things. "a week of bleeding, a week of breeding" some even add "the third week off" because some females are still bleeding and receptive, but not fertile. Brian DeBow

Psygod, excellent explanation for a normal female. By the time that most of us notice the bleeding, this has been happening for a day or two already. Your note of the low sperm count. Even if it drops a large amount, there are still millions of sperm for fertilization, and they may live two (2) or three (3) days. Excellent post. Bob-O