My bitch is in season now, I will be using my own male on her (experienced and tested), I have a couple of concerns, the first being that although my male is very experienced, he is very submissive in the household (mainly consisting of bitches) and this bitch in particular has always been a little hard on him. The second being that one of my other bitches is a very dominant bitch in the household.

Could anyone give advice how to manage the situation? At present the male and bitch in season are together with the others whilst I am at home and when out, the male is crated.

Would you suggest keeping them apart all the time apart from supervised matings? And should i remove them from the dominant bitch.
I am just a little concerned about my male being put off as he is quite a sensitive soul.

Thankyou

My male used to mate in house dogs when he was younger but now hes getting on in years for some reason he wont mate a girl he lives with or one thats been in the house with us for a few days. Dont mind really as its his daughter now come to age so we keep them apart at the crucial time. But id keep them apart until introducing for mating. allowing him out to do his P+W once shes been out so he can scent himself and test her urine.

Would you suggest keeping them apart all the time apart from supervised matings?

Anything else is dangerous in case you end up with unsupervised matings. He'd be more keen also.

I would  be concerned about the dominant bitch becoming jealous in this situation and picking a fight with your in season girl. Why not put the girl to be mated out of the way  ? My girls are happy to be in a crate in the bedroom at these times  ( but come out to play regularly !) and only allow the lovebirds to be together under supervision and away from the other girls.

We are day 10 now. My male is not interested in the slightest. I'm starting to become a little concerned that his lack of interest is due to them living together.

When does your bitch normally ovulate.  I would expect no great interest from an experienced stud (beyond a morning sniff) until your bitch is spot on, the only way you will know is if you have her progesterone tested.

With my girls day 10 would be way too early with most of mine being mated around day 15 and some later.

Hi, I should have perhaps said more, my bitch is standing and flagging...normally if an outside bitch did this my boy would be more than willing, yet with her he is just not interested at all.

She is a maiden bitch so I dont know when she normally ovulates but her mother and grandmother both ovulated between day 10 and 13 and on previous seasons she has always flagged between day 10 and 14 and then stopped.

I really really do not want her to miss. My back up stud(similar lines to my male) is fairly local to me so im wondering whether it might be worth a trip there today to see his reaction and if he is willing then to go with him instead.

Why not just do a premate test?

My "dominant" bitch wouldn't let my male anywhere near her when she was in season (not that I wanted to use him on her anyway). But when I took her to the chosen stud, she was a real floozy :) Your girl might not let him mate her at all.

Have just returned from a visit to the other stud. Within 5 minutes we had a 40 minute tie. I guess that answers my questions!

My 2 males show no interest in my females till the crucial time, days 12-15 for two and day 8-10 for the one that ovulates very early, then the lads go nuts for a few days, luckily all the girls come in together so the pandemonium doesn't last too long.

I hope you get a litter, watch your lad doesn't suddenly get the urge. 

Yes they are completely seperate now I have made the decision to use the other stud dog. I do believe that it is because they live together and she has told him off many a time as he has always been rather persistant with bitches in season that dont live here.

We are going back to the other stud this morning.

We went to the stud dog today, my bitch was flagging and very willing but the male was only half heartedly interested, he mounted when she stood and flagged and then she snapped at him (no contact) and it was almost as if he couldnt really be bothered with the hassle.

Do you think she may have gone past now? He was obviously very interested yesterday and they were tied within minutes of meeting but im thinking maybe he was just, well, randy! yesterday and today he has had a play sniff with her and realised she is either not ready or has gone past?

I think its more confusing than when i use my male on bitches as usually they come to stay but i feel i may have left it too late (though we had a good tie, i like to have at least two and usually 3 just to be sure)

I would suspect that she was spot on when you took her the first time and now it's getting a bit late. I've heard of dogs not bothering to mate a second time (not that any of my boys have ever "not bothered"!!). All you can do now is keep your fingers crossed. I've had a litter of 15 from a single mating so I wouldn't be panicking if I was you :) Time will tell ...

I'd try again as some males in their enthusiasm like to mate a bitch as she comes through the door if she will stand, and then not bother again until she is spot on.

I think that more likely as the home boy has not bothered about her yet.

Thanks, yes we are going back tomorrow morning to try again.

This is so much more stressful when its your own bitch rather than just owning the stud (as im used to!)

We had another 20 minute tie this morning, so im pleased and relieved. My male was very interested this morning but as soon as she growled he rolled over! (not that i would have let him mount her of course) so I do believe that it is because they live together that he was not performing.

Now just the long wait.

When working out the due date do you count the day they mated as day 1 or the next day as day 1 ?

The day they first mated as day 1.

As mentioned on another thread some males won't mate the day after a successful mating they save their energy so that may be what happened in your case.

Hope all goes to plan.