Hi
I have been stalking my girl as I'd like to have another litter from her this coming season.
Her daughter came in 9 days ago and they usually cycle together within 5 days.

However I've been tissue testing in my eagerness and she's been showing staining on the tissue for 5 days now

On Saturday it increased and was visible at times on her externally.

However she is generally a very heavy bleeder so I'm not sure if I should term day1 from the increase Saturday or wait until herblood flow becomes more noticeable.
Previously I've never tissue tested and always termed Day 1 when I saw blood dripping or noticed spots on the floor.

I am sure it will be obvious when she is ready as she is a tart but just wondering what everyone else thinks?
Cheers

Progesterone testing will help you to establish the best time for her to be mated.

Yes science and instinct I guess.
We have issues at weekends with progesterone testing and of course it's always on a weekend when the important result is awaited...

Taken from klb's recent post

Progesterones

0-2 Nmol or 0- 0.6ng   Baseline  

3 - 6 Nmol or 0.9 - 1.8ng minimum two days to ovulation but could persist for up to a week. Minimum estimated breeding 4-6 days

7 -12 Nmol or 2.2 - 3.7ng minimum one day to ovulation. estimated breeding window 3 -5 days

13 - 18 Nmol or 4 - 5.6ng ovulation impending or just occurred. Estimated breeding window 2-4days

19 - 31 Nmol or 5.9 - 9.7ng ovulation recently occurred. Estimated breeding window 1-3 days

32 - 64 Nmol or 10.6 - 20.2ng Ova mature Optimum fertility. Estimated breeding window 0 - 2 days

65 - 90 Nmol or 20.4 - 28.3ng ova mature but ageing, decreased fertility. Breed at once

90Nmol plus or 28.3ng plus - too late

As such you should be able to extrapolate and not need to test on a weekend.

We've been undone  before with weekend tests.
Once had blood taken on a Friday - then told lab had closed 12pm on Saturday so no results available. As it was we travelled based on her behaviour and she was mated day 13 and had 8 pups.

This time based on what I think is her day 1 her day 14 will be on a weekend
We are looking at a different lab that is open Saturdays this time.

We travelled with her last time day 13 but I think she stopped her season or stopped ovulation as we didn't get any real indications she was ready after 5 days away. Come home and she's flagging assay 2 dats later when I had no chance to travel again.

I sympathise with all you've experienced there, with lab progesterone test results and weird bleeding patterns when you want to breed.

With our most recent litter, the blood was quite light (in flow) and dark (in colour) and not at all like the bright red blood we usually have at the start of seasons.  The stud dog owner wanted to term Day 1 from the first day of red blood, whereas we wanted to call Day 1 the first day of any blood. 

We were progesterone testing but due to travel (far) and weekends, we had to set off before an 'ovulation happened' result.  In the end, we got there for (our) Day 12 and had a mating with a 20min tie, and then another Day 15 the same.  7 pups were the result.  If we'd done what the stud owner suggested, all that would have been a few days further ahead and she'd have gone over (she was starting to go over by Day 15, and slightly less into it than on Day 12.)

So - personally, I'd go with first sign of any blood... Oh, and also we didn't go for 2 matings 48hrs apart, but 3 days apart, to cover a wider range of dates.  Took a lot of self-control not to go back there on Day 14... Got this idea from a book called Canine Reproduction by Phyllis Holst (if I remembered that right)....

Fab thanks
Crossing fingers this time!

We used cytology smears and saliva ferning. Got accurate results resulting in a good natural day 15 mating with a 22 minute tie.

Glad we didn't need to do blood tests :-)
Now we cross fingers and wait!