[erickajm]

Originally Posted by bjh

The majority of females are not ready until the 10th or 11th day of their heat cycle. It is around the 11th day of the heat cycle that the eggs drop but there are always exceptions. When a female is ready to breed she will usually flag for the male. You can scratch the female at the base of her tail and if she moves her tail side to side then that is a good indication she is ready. When a female first comes into heat she will swell and then start bleeding. In some females the bleeding is very noticeable and they may drip blood while with others you may not notice much bleeding. When the bleeding turns to a light pink or appears to stop that is when the female is ready to breed. Also when the female is ready to breed the vulva will soften and make penetration easier for the male. Some breeders use progesterone testing to know more accurately when the female is ready to breed.

As gardenyorkies stated, you should never leave a male alone with a female that is in heat. For one thing the male could wear himself out early trying and then by the time the female is actually ready he may have lost interest or given up on trying. This pertains more inexperienced males. The main reason though is that if the male is successful in tying the female then the male and female both could get hurt if the female starts dragging the male around or starts flipping over in an attempt to break loose. The actually tie can be very painful for some females so you must always be near the female so you can hold her still once the tie is accomplished.

Well put!