I was just wondering when people first test their bitch and how frequently they do it after the first one?
My bitch is due in season and I plan to mate her this time around. From the way she is and the way my male behaves I would hazard a guess that she is in peak season generally around day 10, but that's only a guess.

I was thinking of doing the test say day 3, 8 and then see what the results are.
I don't want to waste money for the sake of it but I want to get this right. I'm hoping to get two matings but we will see what happens.

Any thoughts will be gratefully received.

Ps: she's had all relevant health tests and more before anyone asks with good results. And endorsement has been lifted too. Lol I have to cover this as I know how picky some posters are!

Anyone?

Tests are not cheap if you have to have several done.  I would test of day 7, await result and see what they suggest from there.

Thanks will give that a go and see how we fair

Good luck...

As my girl has 'odd' seasons and has had a silent season in the past, I sent a sample off about a week after I saw any colour. I took the advise of when to next test her from Idexx. As it happened, the first time she had 4 samples sent off, and the second time there were three samples sent off.

For the first litter, she was ready to be mated on day 19 according to Idexx, from the first 'deed' on day 19 she was probably coming up to the 'peak', day 21 she was a floozy!!

So when we mated her for the second litter, I was concerned that she may be ready sooner than before, as I aware that some bitches do not always ovulate the same time each season. So again I started at day 8, and as it turned out, she was mated day 18, and by day 20 she was going over

Both times Idexx were spot on, with 9 puppies in each litter

IMO, it's not cheap. BUT being a novice breeder, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to miss her being ready. I think I probably spent about £60 each time I sent a sample off (thats to have the blood taken, Idexx payment, recorded delivery) I would definitely be using Idexx next time we have a litter

Thanks, I really can't afford for her to not take, I know it's not guaranteed but I want to get the best possible chance. Will start with day 7 and go from there, we have an Idexx lab near my home so will be personally handing it in, lol

it would be fairly unusual for day 10 to be the ideal day to breed once they ovulate the eggs need two days to mature so days one and three post ovulation are ideal most of mine do not even ovulate until 12 to 14 days and the bred days 14-17 I usually pill blood at 10 days but often they are only at less than one nanogram

I started with Vino on day 8 (<0.6 nmol/l ) then did day 10 it was slightly raised at < 0.9 nmol/l then day 11 it was 4.0 nml/l we set off on day 12  as we were going overseas and on day 14 (Tested in the overseas vets after the first mating)  it was 28.9 nmol/l and we had 2 good mating's days 13 and 15 resulting in 9 pups.
Hope that helps.
Aileen