Hi guys, I wonder if any of you have had any experience. My bitch is now on day 12 of her season. On day 11 she has stopped spotting blood. There is now a clear discharge. This has never happened on her other seasons. I am having her progesterone tested  by idexx and the results came back today to retest in a few days. Is the clear discharge something I should be concerned about?

Actually the books say that the blood coloured discharge changes to straw coloured during the receptive stage but many of us have bitches who bleed throughout, and never seb the 'straw coloured' discharge.

Some bitches have silent seasons too, so the discharge can vary widely.

I'd say your bitch is almost textbook unlike any of mine LOL

Her tests from idexx are saying she's a good few days away from the receptive stage. Yesterday she was at 1.6 and there saying she needs to be somewhere near 17. It's all very confusing

As I said the bitches don't read the books, the colour of the discharge really has little bearing on anything.

At 1.6 you need to test again in 2-3 days, and quite possibly again after that. Be sure to allow for weekends if your vet can't get your results back to you on the same day. My own bitch was ready on day 8/9, but my stud dog has just been mated to a bitch who was finally ready on day 22 and mated again on day 24--my bitch had bloods drawn twice on days 6 and 9 (very easy considering I was taking her to Poland), and other bitch needed 5 samples done in the end.

So results from today were 14.6 so we're heading in the right direction. Thanks for your advice and help guys.

> My bitch is now on day 12 of her season. On day 11 she has stopped spotting blood. There is now a clear discharge. This has never happened on her other seasons. I am having her progesterone tested  by idexx and the results came back today to retest in a few days. Is the clear discharge something I should be concerned about?

Much as bitches (dogs!) don't read the text-books, all mine faded to a light straw-coloured discharge by around day 10 and most would then just have less and less discharge to around day 21, when the season ended.   I had just one who, mated twice on days 11 and 13, went back to a blood-coloured discharge at which point although she was perfectly fine otherwise, I just felt she'd probably missed.   However, she had an uneventful pregnancy and 9 of what were probably the best litter we've ever bred - so good that we kept 3.

As I've said many times before, I don't go by testing but by how the bitch, and then the (experienced) stud dog behaves.

Provided the discharge isn't heavy, or offensive, I'd suggest you don't have anything to be unduly concerned about.