My girl is on day 10 today (of her season). I used a pad for the first time this morning, and was pretty sure it didn't show anything. She has been very quiet all season (normal for her) except I've noticed she's been sniffing much more intently when out and about (I'm assuming she's smelling other dog's urine?).

We're trying the ovulation sticks this time, as my (castrated) boy is usually really good at telling me when the time is right:). I'm really hoping we get it right because we've got a fab dog lined up for her. I used the progesterone blood testing at the vets for the last litter. Not only did we end up going back 4x but at almost £30 a go, not a cheap option, and certainly not the most stress-free option for my girl (although she didn't bat an eyelid).

Now this evening, there's been a definite shift in her behaviour. She has just in the last half hour or so been trying to mount my boy, has been standing over him, tail up, panting, looking a bit starry eyed. They were just playing out in the garden and he had his nose firmly rammed up her rear end (not happened at all this season) and her flagging her tail. I'm thinking she might be just coming into ovulation?

I guess I'm watching everything with a more eager eye than normal, as we've got to get the timing right for the mating. I'll of course try testing with the pad again in the morning, but just wondered what you experienced people think?

Oh, and does the pad give a definite positive... the literature says so, I just wondered if anyone here has used them and how they rate them. Should I trust what my boy is telling me. She will be day 11 tomorrow, so sounds about right.

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

No, I don't trust them, and would never use them again.  I think you will find several members that found them useless. 

And you do have to be careful not to scratch the bitch with them.

Oh no Jean, how disappointing! I guess I'm lucky to have a male in the house (canine variety...lol) who has got a good nose.

Well, she's wondering around the house whining this morning, and is cleaning herself and then doing that teeth chattering, which again she hasn't done the whole season. When I let them out for a wee I made sure they both had their collars on because in the past it's the only time he'll even attempt to mount her, although he has a funny five minutes and fling around the garden most mornings...lol!

I normally do separate them for a couple of days at this stage because for a couple of days he does seem to lose the plot! This time, he's going on a mini break to my daughter's, where there's my girl's pup from last time (not such a pup now!), so he'll be fine.

OK, am going to try the pads again this morning. Fingers crossed........

I used them in December after a year of trying to get my bitch pregnant. The colour changed, but not by much. If I hadn't been testing her several times a day I would have missed it. She did get pregnant (confirmed by scan) but reabsorbed the litter. :-( I would be tempted to try again, but not with this bitch.

Agree with JeanSW, totally hopeless, wouldn't use them again, I'll stick to the tried and trusted methods.  Extremely sharp edges.  Waste of money in my opinion, friends tried them at the same time as us when they were first advertised, same opinion as us.

Bought them, 'tried' to use them once and didn't bother again the corners are way too sharp.

I used them and got a very strong colour change to purple. I had a succesful litter. The only thing was the edges were a bit sharp so I used a nail file to round the corners off.

Hi,

I tried them this time round and wasn't impressed. I tried them on day 11 and there was nothing obvious on the immediately. I left them half an hour and there were the tiniest specks of black on them. Tried the next day and got exactly the same again. I mated my girl on days 12 and 14 and got 8 pups. I doubt i would bother with them again as i felt it was guesswork as to wether they were even telling me she had ovulated judging by the amount of change i could see on them.

Mel.x

Well I've tested her twice today and to be honest I'm totally confused!! Her loss is still quite red which is normal for her, and nothing obvious is showing up on the pads as they're pink and her fluid is blood coloured too. I'll be so upset if we miss the boat, with a 2 1/2 hour drive to get to the stud and back (x2), will Monday morning at the vets for a Progesterone test be too little too late, or will they be able to tell by one test if she's ready?

...am feeling a bit fed up now, but it could be she isn't ready yet, although we're on day 12 tomorrow.

Feel like the pressure's on, as much as I'm trying not to let it, had another query today, that will make 6 very interested potential owners, and she hasn't even been mated yet! Haven't done any advertising at all either.

As the saying goes "Keep Calm and Carry on".......

I used them for the first time this year. Didn't help us at all - no colour changes whatsoever. Like you I wanted to avoid expensive vet testing ... it would have cost a fortune as she had a very looooooooong season (I reckon we'd have been in line for 6 tests)! She also bled all the way through, so that may have influenced the pads not proving useful. I will try them on my other bitch, just out of curiosity and 'cause I've got some left over.

Having said they were useless for us, I do have a friend who swears by them. She has a bitch who apparently ovulates very early, and they missed 5 times ... she was standing but no pups were ever produced. Turns out she stands quite a long time after she's actually ovulated. She used the pads with her, mated her on the colour change and got a litter of pups!

I will now be sticking with the flagging tail as the sign she's ready for mating :-)

did you find them pads easy to use? as i just bought some few weeks ago and now waiting for my bitch to come into season. 3 times we'v missed . she seems to stand from day 5 we mate her 24 /48/72 but nothing . we saw the pads on here & its seem that 50% 50% chance. can anyone give me anymore tips on the pads ie like those who test the bitch 1st thing am & those who test pm anything that perhaps you forgot or should have tried  !! again any adivse no matter how small !! been told that edges  can be sharp so i read on here someone used nail file the corners in which i done . ps i have  those done those expensive test at vets ! still nothing even tho vets saying she ok. someone said should try and use a tester dog but she stand anyway as early as 5 days never tried to see if she stand any earlier???? .

Did you mate her on day five, and did progesterone tests twll you she had ovualted.

Frankly if such a thing worked why would the vets bother with blood tests?

Hi itsadogs life, we've used the ovulation pads on the last 4 occasions of mating bitches and our experience has been positive.

We have used them alongside a little ferning microscope (made for women to predict their ovulation) and without fail they have given a VERY clear colour change precisely 24-36 hours before strong ferning on the microscope.  The colour change is very distinctly purple, or it has been with ours and ours are all small/medium breeds.  The instructions say that colour change indicates ovulation therefore matings are recommended after 48 hours then another 48 hours after that I think.

We now have a very pregnant maiden bitch!  And we had the used the same testing for the previous 2 successful matings.  With our current bitch we mated her on her 13th day when we first got good ferning which was 24 hours after the purple ovulation pad and then we got even stronger ferning the day after that and mated her again on her 15th day.  Incidentally our resident male was keenest on her strongest ferning day (day 14) onwards.  We too were getting concerned when at 11 days she wasn't showing and were then glad when we got positive pad one day then positive ferning the next.  The instructions with the pads appear to be right.... (well they were for us!)

Good luck xx

> I will now be sticking with the flagging tail as the sign she's ready for mating :-)

:-)  LOL  Good job you don't have one of my girls!  :-)  Utter tart flags from day 3!!

Well going on the reactions of my (castrated) dog we made the journey yesterday to the stud. After being stuck for an hour on the motorway due to an overturned caravan, the journey was 3 1/2 hours! I had to make a joke with my hubby about hoping she was ready!!!!

Anyway, thankfully the stud dog was extremely experienced, and according to the owner wouldn't even try to mate her unless she was ready. Outcome was a successful tie & satisfactory mating. I didn't test with the pads yesterday, but wouldn't have been able to get to the vets for a test as it was a Sunday.

So keeping everything crossed here that we've scored, going by the mating, it looks hopeful. We may go back on Tues for another try, but it was a very LONG way across country on little roads...

Don't think I'll rely on the pads again, far too stressful. Unless I can understand exactly how they work, or get a microscope! Far too stressful if you don't have a male on hand to tell you, or if the mating is extremely important to you.

Only time will tell....

JeanSW - Ahh, thank goodness for utter tarts ;-) was one of those who took my older boy behind the Land Rover and taught him what to do!!! My very heavily pregnant girly is no such thing though ... I'm not sure the same will be said about the youngster though, I suspect there might be a bit of tart in there somewhere!

Eddieluck - they were easy to use, but have a look at the video clip on their website first, it's quite useful - though a bulldog in season looks very different to my girlies in season!!! I think our problem was the bleeding right through, the pads just went to a terracotta colour, and in talking via e-mail with the producers, that's just picking up the blood colour. But I will try them next time with my other girl.
My friend gets her bitches to lie down, my girl was easier standing. Just be careful how you insert them and not too far.

hi thanks for that going to have look at vid now!! just tell let you know we have stud  line up & he sire 1 litter at moment  & its 5hrs around trip and this will be her 1st time so hoping we get it right ,