Hi All

I am trying to mate my maiden bitch.I had the colour test done at the vets on day ten.He then told me to mate day twelve and fourteen.went to stud dog day 12 and clearly the bitch was not ready,still darkish blood and no sweeling.So i then got a blood sample taken and tested result came back at 16.2.Tried mating again day 14 and fifteen lighter coloured blood no sweeling still no mating.I am going to have another blood test day 16.Has anyone else had any problems like this before?What am i doing wrong ?I do hope there is a solution to this,as i have been waiting for this for years.Any advice would be great.

Cheers

hi Gilly68 ..ive never had any problems like this ,but i just wanted to say that when my girl has been mated ..1st time she was just starting to run clear ...the 2nd she still had a darkish heavy blood flow so now i dont go by how she is bleeding or what it looks like ...i dont think your doing anything wrong at all ..it will be down to your girl if she mates or not ..Good luck i do hope your girl soon mates :) xx

forgot to say !!my girls swell before they come into season and stay that way x

Is it a maiden dog too?

Are you using an experienced stud AND and experienced stud handler/owner?

Yes the dog is experienced stud and also are the helpers and handlers.Trying again tommorow so fingers crossed.

> the 2nd she still had a darkish heavy blood flow

My girl was still losing quite dark blood yesterday, so I thought it would be a few days yet.  She tied first thing this morning.  So, I agree you really can't tell.

I know sometimes it's not possible due to distance of the stud dog, but an experienced stud dog is much more reliable than any blood test,   I don't trust them at all, one of my girls was being tested from day 8, every 2 days, on day 12 the test came back to re-test in two days, but I was certain she was ready that day, so we took our chances drove to stud dog who was very pleased to see her and her him, they had one mating, 1 hour tie which resulted in 8 pups.  Also sometimes the colour of discharge isn't reliable either

I always have the blood tests done now - after my best bitch missed twice in a row (and she cycles on 9 months so I lost 2 years - grrr - not that she cared lol!).  I'm not aware of it being called a colour test though, it's for progesterone (or is it oestrogen?).  The level in the blood falls significantly just before they ovulate.  I have a test done almost as soon as they are in season, for a base line, then five days later, then every two days until they phone me and tell me to mate her.  Never had a miss since - turns out my bitch was ovulating at 8 days!  The test isn't offered at my regular vets, I have to travel to another one for them.  I've never come across a bitch that didn't want to mate when the test said go - mind you, I only have 3 bitches so I wouldn't say my experience was all that comprehensive...

we have always blood tested and found them very reliable, when the test has said mate the stud dogs have always been more than keen to mate, the only mating that failed was one we did in Germany to a world famous dog but we dont know how many females he had mated that day, and we were only allowed the 1 mating though as this is the norm with many top dogs, hope you mating goes well and you get a lovely healthy litter.

> Trying again tommorow so fingers crossed.

Good luck and let us know how it went!!

Tried again today had blood test this morning.Results said today would be the last day to mate.Stud dog tried his best but still no tie.I will have to try again in six months.Ive waited four years for my first litter another six months will not kill me.Gutted !!!!

Just to say if your stud boy doesn't live to far away keep trying, dont give up until the boy is no longer interested.  One of my girls was throwing herself at the dog from day 10  but he would not mate her properly till day 18, she had a litter of 7 63 days from that mating.  Stud boy is your best science. Blood tests can be very hit and miss, and a lot depends on the experience of the vet.  Chin up

> Just to say if your stud boy doesn't live to far away keep trying, dont give up until the boy is no longer interested.  One of my girls was throwing herself at the dog from day 10  but he would not mate her properly till day 18, she had a litter of 7 63 days from that mating.  Stud boy is your best science. Blood tests can be very hit and miss, and a lot depends on the experience of the vet.  Chin up

Have to say I agree with this. I had a bitch come to me after having blood tests saying she was ready. I knew by my dogs reaction that she wasn't so they came back 2 days later and nothing then 2 days after that he mated her and the result was a litter of 6.

It depends on which blood test you have used.The majority of vets use a colour change test known as the pre mate test .This relies on the bitches sample being a paler shade than the control sample.This test is very subjective and relies on the experience and opinion of the person performing the test.If this test is left to stand longer than the prescribed time then the results can very inaccurate,also if you look again at the test results in the vials an hour later then the results will be totally different.The other blood test used by ourselves and idexx labs is the immulite progesterone test.This test gives a quantitative result which is not subject to opinion.The results are either given in ng/ml or mn/l .The results give a numerical value.

The test i had was was the idexx progesterone test the first result was 16.2 taken last wednesday.Todays result was 60 it was idexx that said  today and a outside chance tommorow.I have taken here to the dog 5 times since wednesday.

That is a large jump from wed to today,did the test result you got on wednesday use the blood your vet took on tuesday and when was the blood taken for the result you got today
I am sorry but I do not know the conversion factor from ng/ml to nm/l but I will look it up
I have my machine set to read in ng/ml.A bitch will ovulate anywhere from 4 to 10 ng/ml.The eggs take a minimum of 48 hours from ovulation to become ripe and fit for fertilisation.I would normally advise a fresh semen or natural mating at 14 to 15 mg/ml with a possible repeat 24 or 48 hours later.However,it is not all based on numerical values it is important to check the bitch ie vaginal blood discharge etc on a regular basis.Once the vaginal blood discharge has changed to a dark/dirty brown you are usually too late to mate.

Hi Gilly,

I would agree and if stud is not too far, keep trying all the while there is interest.

One of my girls missed on 2 consecutive seasons, she was mated between days 12 - 15 very co-operative little floosie, our third and final attempt was a long shot when our stud boy went mental for her suddenly on day 19!  We tried it and one successful mating led to 7 healthy puppies which came on day 66 from that mating so she may of concieved day 21-22 or she was just overdue of course...but either way she clearly missed on the previous attempts as she is a late ovulator....she flags from day 9 too!

Some of them just dont read the books!!!

Good luck :)

The blood was taken 8.30 wednesday morning i then delivered it direct to idexx by 10.00 results at 11.30.Todays blood was taken at 9.00 delivered at 10.00 results at 12.00.