Best Breeding Days & Other Questions...

[TeddyandTiffy]

Experienced Breeders I have some questions about your Best Breeding Days you prefer from your Experiences of Breeding and other questions about the stud and bitch used during your breeding sessions. When/If we choose to breed Sage and Galahad (They both are owned by us and live with us in our house, we do have a Yorkie Room) this will be both their 1st times breeding ever to any Yorkie. Sage will be 16 Months old and in her 2nd heat cycle and Galahad will be 2 yrs and 2 months old. Galahad is NOT a regular stud Yorkie...He will be used ONLY in our own Breeding Program.


I didn't go by days for my Teddy and Tiffanie (Didn't know to then, now I do lol) I have read breeding books and studied the subject since our last breedings of Teddy and Tiffanie . Please answer all questions in details for me and others hopefully to learn from these detailed questions I'm asking. Thanks for all your input and wisdom on this Subject. It is valued dearly by me! Please put your answers beside my questions in color.

1. What Breeding Days of your bitches Heat Cycles you prefer (9, 12...)?

2. Why do you prefer these days

3. Is it due to what signs your bitch shows you?

3. a. If it is due to what signs your bitch shows you (Flagging, flirting with male and such), can you explain what those signs are in detail?

4. Is it due to the signs your stud shows you?

4. a. If it is due to what signs your stud shows you, can you explain what those signs are?

5. How do you know the days you choose are best for breeding?

6. Do you skip days?

6. a. If you do skip days, what days do you skip and why?

7. Do you always hold your female and help your male during their breeding?

(Reason ask this question, I never helped my Teddy and Tiffanie, they did their own thing..Sad but true then ...I had no idea then we we're suppose to help them!!! Learned a lot since their breedings !)

8. Have you ever had a female to try to roll on you during your breeding session?

(Reason I ask this question is due to Sage wanting to roll onto her back to play with any of our other 4 Yorkies (Male or Female) and she wants on her back ALL the time to have her belly rubbed, she don't want petted on her head or back, it's her belly LOL)

9. Have you ever had a female be afraid to breed with you present or while you was holding her for the stud?

(Reason I ask this question is Sage doesn't like to be held down such as being held tightly, she is very smart and can be stubborn when she doesn't want to do something you want her to such as rinsing her during her bath with the sprayer even on low with almost no water coming out she will fight you with those long legs of hers lol and she is a private little lady...Will NOT potty with us in the room or with you watching her, she will hold it till you turn your back or leave the room, so I'm wondering if we (Me and Hubby)can hold her during a breeding due to her being this way????)

10. If you have a bitch that fights you while you are trying to hold her for the breeding session, then how do you deal with this without instilling fear into the bitch?

(Sage is a VERY strong Yorkie...She can be very very stubborn if she choose to be. I need to know the best approach to her for her 1st time breeding experience without her having fear...I don't want her 1st experience to mark her for future breedings. Does that make sense??? She still is timid so this worries me about her. Should I be worried about her being timid?)

11. Have you ever had a stud be afraid to breed with you present?

(Reason I ask this question is Galahad is one that will not do anything he wants to do in front of you...Such as rub his pony out, or rub his oil off his body, until you leave the room or turn your back...So I'm wondering if he will perform for us while breeding Sage if we're holding Sage for him to breed her. Also he is stubborn and timid as Sage is, they make a good pair lol, he knows Sage is his, he sniffs her everytime he is around her and marks everywhere wither any female is in heat or not in our house lol...Teddy our other male could care less lol)

12. If you have a stud that fights you while you are trying to help him during the breeding session then how do you help him with this without instilling fear into the stud?

(Galahad as Sage is a VERY strong Yorkie...He can be very very stubborn if he choose to be. I need to know the best approach to him for him 1st time breeding experience without him having fear...I don't want his 1st experience to mark him for future breedings. Does that make sense??? He still is timid so this worries me about him. Should I be worried about him being timid?)

13. Say your stud and bitch both are showing signs of wanting to breed and they don't/won't do their actual breeding with you there in front of them, then what do you do???

13. a. Do you try to help them?

13. b. Do you leave them alone, step outside the room and close the door? (I know you never leave them 100% unsupervised)

14. We have a Yorkie Room and a total of 5 Yorkies should I remove my other Yorkies (I know I will have to remove Teddy our other male lol) when they have their breeding session? I'm thinking I will or my other 2 little ladies will want to play too lol or distract them during their session.

Hugs Lee

[luckylady]

...........I will be watching for the answers as I will need to know the same when it comes time for Halle and Toby hopefully sometime next year.

Thanks for starting this what will be informative thread!

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

1. What Breeding Days of your bitches Heat Cycles you prefer (9, 12...)?

Either days 8, 9 and 11 or 9, 10 and 12...depending on when her heat started...if it was overnight, then 8,9,10, if it was late during the day/evening, 9, 10, 11.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

2. Why do you prefer these days

I had progesterone testing done on the first and second heat to determine when her most 'fertile' time was.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

3. Is it due to what signs your bitch shows you?

No

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

4. Is it due to the signs your stud shows you?

Nope. There are no studs in my home--I bring in the male to breed, then take him back when the deed is done...each day.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

5. How do you know the days you choose are best for breeding?

Again, I had progesterone testing done prior.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

6. Do you skip days?

I breed 4 days, skipping the 3rd.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

6. a. If you do skip days, what days do you skip and why?

Mainly to let the bitch rest. I would breed the 4th just to cover bases in the event that her ovulation started a bit later than I calculated.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

7. Do you always hold your female and help your male during their breeding?

Hold the female, yes...ALWAYS! Hold the male, no...never needed to.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

8. Have you ever had a female to try to roll on you during your breeding session?

Nope. And so long as you are holding her (which you should be) she won't.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

9. Have you ever had a female be afraid to breed with you present or while you was holding her for the stud?

Nope, and again, if you're holding her...
If you can't control her to hold her during the breeding, then don't breed her. Not meant in a harsh 'then-you-have-no-business-breeding way, just that if she will not permit you to hold her, then don't let the alternative be to let her go it alone. IMO, it would not be worth the risk to let she and a male tie without having a hand on her.

I have to wonder though...if she is as you describe, very stubborn and won't even go to the bathroom if you are watching...how do you think she is going to fare having pups in front of you? You can't very well leave her alone for that, but if these types things cause her that much anxiety.... It's something to consider.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

10. If you have a bitch that fights you while you are trying to hold her for the breeding session, then how do you deal with this without instilling fear into the bitch?

Work w/ her before hand holding her...even way before she comes into heat. During a tie you can expect to have to hold your bitch firmly for about 15 min. You have to make a judgement call as to if it is stressing your bitch out too much. If it's causing these types of situation are that stressful for her, then she may not be cut out to be a breeding bitch, and not every female is. You seem to be very concerned about her temperament already...honestly, if these concerns are as serious as you describe them, not sure that I would breed her. Completely you're call, but that's just my take on it.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

11. Have you ever had a stud be afraid to breed with you present?

Nope...luckily in my experience they have all been hormone driven.

12. I need to know the best approach to him for him 1st time breeding experience without him having fear...I don't want his 1st experience to mark him for future breedings. [/QUOTE]

I've heard from several that it is never good to breed a 1st time male to a 1st time female...I suppose to avoid what you are describing.

13. Say your stud and bitch both are showing signs of wanting to breed and they don't/won't do their actual breeding with you there in front of them, then what do you do???[/QUOTE]

Try again later? Consider AI if you are going to miss your window?

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

13. a. Do you try to help them?

Well, you can only 'help' them so much. If they ain't gonna do it, they ain't gonna do it. :P

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

13. b. Do you leave them alone, step outside the room and close the door? (I know you never leave them 100% unsupervised)

Nope. Never ever NEVER! If you can't have a hand on your female when they tie, then don't leave them alone with the opportunity to. It takes a split second for a female to bolt and cause serious damage to the both of them.

Originally Posted by TeddyandTiffy

14. We have a Yorkie Room and a total of 5 Yorkies should I remove my other Yorkies (I know I will have to remove Teddy our other male lol) when they have their breeding session?

Most definately remove them.

[wildcard]

Mostly ditto what Misty said above, but as far as breeding dates go I do progesterone testing so I know for sure when the best date is. After about day 4 or 5 of the heat cycle I have blood drawn and it is sent to a lab with results coming back the next day. I usually get some indication that progesterone is increasing on that first draw then a skip a day, do another draw and that one generally shows that ovulation is occurring or will occur very shortly. I usually do a breeding on the day of ovulation and then one 2 days later, because the eggs are not ready to be fertilized until 24-48 hours post-ovulation. Since sperm lives 5-7 days these two breedings are more than adequate. I have not missed a breeding since I started doing that. Some bitches ovulate very late in their cycles so breeding on what are the "traditional days" of somewhere between 9-15 might not work. Another advantage is that you have a much much firmer due date if you know when the bitch ovulated.

[wildcard]

Also should clarify that I differ from Misty in that I do progesterone testing on each bitch each time whereas sounds like she does it on earlier heat cycles so she knows for future heats when her bitch will be fertile. Either way you have a much better chance of not missing a breeding and have better knowledge about the due date. Both work!

[BamaFan121s]

Originally Posted by wildcard

Also should clarify that I differ from Misty in that I do progesterone testing on each bitch each time whereas sounds like she does it on earlier heat cycles so she knows for future heats when her bitch will be fertile.

Yes, you are correct, early heats...at least at this point that is all I've seen need for with my specific circumstances.

I can clearly see that there are times when you need specifically to know for certain vs making an educated estimate....if you are doing AI or have a stud on loan for example or if you just want to know for sure, you have less room to gamble, I suppose.

[tjdmom]

Great thread Lee! Interesting questions!

[Ladyhawk]

I let Connor tell me when it's time, he's never failed me yet. I stay close and watch if she's cooperating. When he starts treading I know he'l almost done. As soon as he finishes I pick them up and we wait out the tie on the futon. You really have to learn what works for each pair of dogs. My gals usually ovulate on day 10 to day 12.