Breeding

[DuckDog]

How long after a female starts to bleed generally should one plan on breeding her? My lab just started last night

[eagle_3464]

Generally days 11-14 are best but that can vary from dog to dog. I have heard some dogs as early as day 7 or as late as day 21. Every dog may be different and it just depends on when they ovulate. To get a better idea it is best to do smears and/or progesterone tests. Our lab was just bred on days 10 and 12 from the first day I noticed. Day 7 smear was 90% cornified and day 10 looked good.

[LABS4ME]

It varies depending on the gal... 10-17 days seems to be the average for me. The stud will tell you when she is ready, or if doing an AI, plan on doing a progesterone test to nail the day of ovulation. Semen will live inside of her for 2-3 days, so 2-3 breeding over a course of 5 days almost guarantees coverage. breed, skip a day, breed.

Good Luck!

Ken

[DuckDog]

So this is after the start of the first sign of blood or after its completed? Thank you guys!

[LABS4ME]

1st sign...

now remember... 1st sign to you may be a few days in already. Some girls are extra 'tidy' and take care of the onset of heat prior to you knowing it's there.

As stated above a smear is cheap and relatively accurate in regards to ovulation... a progesterone test will nail it.

Good Luck!

Ken

[kentuck_ike]

We like to breed days 10, 12, and 14, after 1st blood. If the female is a clean freak, we will check with the male on day 9 just in case we missed the start and she is ready to stand. It is not uncommon for us to breed on day 10 & 12, and then she isn't interested on day 14. I also have a female that won't stand until day 17 at the earliest. If the stud in close by, it doesn't hurt to check, and see if she is ready to stand early incase you missed the days of 1st blood. Generally when she is ready to stand she is ready to breed. As already stated breed every other day for 2 or 3 Ties,

[eagle_3464]

Labs, how much do you pay for the smears?

[duckbuster]

Ken, where the HECK have you been?

[LABS4ME]

'Righting' the kayak...

No need to go too deep into it, but got 'hit by a pitch' a couple years... dusting myself off and sliding back into the batter's box. All is good!!! Unfortunatley many things that I truley enjoyed in my life needed to ride in the back for a couple years... checked in here on occassions, but my free time was pretty limited... even hunting and fishing days were/are rare, but when I do get a chance to go, those times mean even more to me now than when I had nothing but time on my hands...

How have you been? The Dogs? Still running trials?

Hopefully should be around here a bit more now...

Good Luck!

Ken

[LABS4ME]

eagle...

It would be har for me to guess... been quite a while since I did smears... I think I was paying $15.00, but that would be 10 years ago. I did use them to get a pretty decent snap shot as to where we were in the heat cycle when breeding with a local stud.

5 of my last 7 breedings were AIs and I did the progesterone test. I think that ran about $40.00 but money well spent when taking into account shipping chilled semen 1/2 way across he country and needing to pretty much nail down the ovulation dates...

Good Luck!

Ken

[duckbuster]

'Righting' the kayak...

No need to go too deep into it, but got 'hit by a pitch' a couple years... dusting myself off and sliding back into the batter's box. All is good!!! Unfortunatley many things that I truley enjoyed in my life needed to ride in the back for a couple years... checked in here on occassions, but my free time was pretty limited... even hunting and fishing days were/are rare, but when I do get a chance to go, those times mean even more to me now than when I had nothing but time on my hands...

How have you been? The Dogs? Still running trials?

Hopefully should be around here a bit more now...

Good Luck!

Ken

Ken, Sorry to hear about the mishap in your life BUT certainly glad to see you back in the saddle.

Got a new one that just turned 2 in February. Got QAA at 18 months last fall down in Lincoln. Will be making his AA debut in 2 weeks down in Texas at Brazosport. Extremely excited about him. He is a Chopper puppy and has his major gene, HIGH OCTANE!!!!! It is going to be a fun summer and the following years will as well.

Talk to you soon.