I have a mating planned between my dog and bitch.
They have both been shown and have numerous high placings, compliment each other in terms of structure, temperament etc, are of similar lineage and i have been given the go ahead from their breeders (they both had endorsments place on their pedigrees) after they have both been hip scored well below the breed average and have clear eye certificates.
My only problem now is the way in which to carry out the mating. I have known some breeers mate in a specific room, the dog does the job and then leaves, others let the dog and bitch flirt a little and wait till the dog has mounted and thn step in to support and calm the bitch and dog tilll the job is done.
Which is best?

A lot depends on the experience of handlers, dog and bitch. Four novices (ideally you have a handler for the bitch too) spells potential problems!

I have the mating in the garden, and introduce bitch to dog with the bitch offlead and dog on. This way the bitch is less likely to turn on the dog as she is free to get away. When her willingness has been assessed I let the dog loose too for final flirtation, then put the bitch on the lead. A maiden dog and bitch can get it terribly wrong if left to their own devices, and one, or both, can be quite seriously hurt, so supervision and assistance is vital. Assuming all goes well, when the dog is ready to dismount he is assisted (keeping tails out of the way) and the pair restrained from moving till the tie breaks naturally (between about 10 minutes to an hour or more).

Hi the problem I had when trying to mate my own dog and bitch , was when I went to hold my girl, Woody my dog thought I was going to tell him off so he got off her, and they wouldnt do anything if I was close to them both.  So the theory of mating own dogs is harder than I thought it would be, hope yours will be more successful than mine. Do they live together all the time I have been told it is maybe easier if you keep them apart befor for awhile and he would be more eager to oblige whoever is around.  Plus having 2 novices isnt such a good idea as neither of them know what they are doing and neither did I!!!!!

Keep them apart for the begining of the season to make the dog want to have the bitch.  If possible try to get someone more experianced in to assitst with the mating (breeder of one of your dogs or??)

Good luck, you sound like you are prepared and are you are doing this all proberly :) which somehow doesn't always happen, nice to find someone who does care about health checks :) !