can someone tell me what is the best day to do the blood tests with my girl and will it make any diffence this will be the 3rd time i have took her to stud

Hi, I had the pre mate test on my bitch from day 8, we used it because the stud was such a long way away. On day 11 the vet told me she was ready and I should take her within 24 hours, which we did. She was obviously not ready and didn't want him anywhere near her.  We took her back 48 hours later (day 14) and had a perfect mating, a good tie and are now waiting for her first litter due in 2 weeks. Not sure I would bother with it again to be honest. I know some people have had good results but it didn't work for us. 

I had difficulty getting one bitch pregnant, so started testing from day 1 in the end.  She ovulated on day 4 and had one slip mating.  She wasn't pregnant, and is now too old for a maiden whelping.  She will now be spayed.

> Not sure I would bother with it again to be honest. I know some people have had good results but it didn't work for us. 

What you have to remember is interpreting the results.

The quantitative Elisa tests are very accurate,a nd the in house colour ones to within 24 hours.  What has to be remembered is what is the vet telling you.

Standard advice is to mate the bitch within a day of ovulation, as bitches can and do mate any time from just before ovulation..

This does not take into account that conception cannot actually take place until at least 2 days after ovulation, and the released eggs stay viable for about 48 hours or so after this.  Many bitches, especially maidens, won't allow a mating until this point, and some experienced studs also prefer not to mate a bitch until she is really ripe.

So the tests were accurate in your case as you got a mating 48 hours later, when they were prepared to mate.

So if I were having premate bloods taken I would only wish the vet to tell me at what point in the cycle she was not their advice as to mating day, as I am more likely to be able to calculate this based on my likely larger experience of my bitches and breeding (unless the vet is a reproductive specialist, or a breeder themselves).

Usually blood tests are started before the likely time of ovulation, often around day 8 and every two days until ovulation is detected.

If I understand correctly you have mated this bitch more than once and she has missed?

This is likely to mean she does not have typical cycles re ovulation timing so it may be necessary to start the tests sooner and continue them longer.

For example one of my girls doesn't ovulate until about day 18 and has been mated on days 17 to 22.  Most of my girls seem to ovulate around day 13 but usually don't mate (often the studs choice)until day 15.  As yet I have never had an early ovulate, but then I have had the occasional miss so maybe they were earlier on those occasions?

I have only ever had the tests done on the late bitch (as no mating had happened by day 17), and on another who played up and wouldn't stand, so wanted to know that she was in fact ready.

I totally agree with you Brainless about the interpretation of the results. The stud dog owner and I have had the exact same discussion. It was just a shame the vets advice wasn't clear, so I suppose we live and learn.  Fortunately, it worked well for us in the end and she was more than happy to stand for the dog in the end.