In middle of interesting discussion with friend........so what do you think....mate on 2 consecutive days or mate on days 1 & 3?

Either :) I think ideally miss a day in-between but I've had people use my boys and because of the travelling involved we've done one mating in the evening, they've stayed over with me, and we've mated them the next morning, they've always been successful too.

we always mate on 1 & 3 days

I say 2 days apart.

Mating one will cover day 1-2 and mating 2 will cover day 3-4 possibly 5..

If the bitch is visiting with the male then often all that happens on the missed day is the male frets for the bitch, so any benefit of resting him is probably negated.

In the wild canids would mate as often as they were inclined over at most a week, but more often 4 or five days, so unless the dog was elderly or in great demand for use with another bitch, allowing things to go at their pace with supervision makes for a more relaxed pair, and also helps a male learn when a bitch is most ready.

Because he can take his leisure such males often wait until the optimum time once they have some experience, making for very reliable studs.  At least that seems to be the case in my breed.

If I had to travel for each mating and was successful with the first I woudl retrurn two or even 3 days later, ideally you want the bitch and dog to show disinterest the last time they meet as you are then sure the bitch has gone over.

My friend in the US when she has bitches shipped to her likes to mate 3 days in succession, then a days rest and another if the pair are still interested and every other day until bitch stops standing.

In practise she rarely gets past the three in a row or perhaps the one extra.

When I have had the male I bred to stay here to mate his 5 bitches I have let the dog dictate the pace and kept them together while I was at home to keep an eye on them and let them mate at their leisure.  His fifth bitch he came to stay here but the bitch lived a few minutes from me so we visited her daily for 3 days and then gave a days break to let him recharge his batteries and on the fifth day tried them again to check she had gone over, she hadn't so we had another mating.

All five bitches had 6 to 8 pups, despite him not starting his stud career until he was 6 1/2, and his last litter was sired at 8.

When I had males to stay visiting my own bitch with Jozi I only got two matings as she would not stand until the end of her fertile period.

When I went to Finland we had the bitch mated 3 days on th trot, even though she would have stood two days earlier, but he wasn't ready to oblige   She carried 8 pups.

Have had a litter of 9 after one mating two days after a failed attempt, also a litter of 7 after one mating, but both these were late in receptive period.

I had 2 litters earlier this year.  Both bitches had bloods and the first was mated on 2 consecutive days - 16 & 17 and the other with a days break in between on days 12 & 14.  Litters of 9 & 10 the result.

I think litttersize does depend a lot on breed and the bitch rather than timing.

I do two consecutive days.

I've done both but think I prefer leaving a day in between for everyone to have a break -dog, bitch AND owners. :) However I am going to be using a stud dog in Scotland at some point and that may make it a bit harder when the travelling involved is so much!

I try & discourage mine as they seem super fertile.  I have mated 2 bitches and bred 3 litters, they were mated on day 13 - only one mating - and had 14 pups in each of those 3 litters.  I daren't risk conception from every mating.

My stud boy seems to produce even when the bitch is only mated once.  But I recently had a girl visit, and my boy quite happily played with her, but nothing else.  I invited the girl to stay as she'd had a long journey.  It was a Saturday.  They got on great, and he wasn't interested in mating until the following Wednesday, although the bitch was flagging.  I left it to him that he knew when she was ready, and he mated her every day for 3 consecutive days.  She whelped 56 days after the first mating, super easy whelping, and 3 smashing puppies (normal for the breed.)  When my girls are in season, he doesn't pester them, just sniffs to check, and wanders off if they're not ready.  It's great for me, as I have learned to trust his judgement.

I think so many people panic and don't trust the dog, or don't let the dog learn to be a good judge of timing.

With correct timing we know one mating is enough (sperm should be in good condition withn the bitch for at lest four days), but no harm in having more than one if both dog and bitch are eager and available, statistically overall results are better with multiple matings.

it wasnt so much whether to do multiple matings that we were discussing....rather whether there is any scientific reason for leaving a day between matings....or just some tradition passed down amongst breeders....ie what is the reason for it & why not mate on 2 or 3 consequetive days?

I think it is for travel, based on the fact that sperm will still be fresh the second day so no need to mate every day if the bitch isn's staying with the dog.