[Mardelin]

Here's some info that you may find useful.

To determine the approximate best time for breeding, the bitch should be presented to a veterinarian for vaginal smear at about five days after the first sign of color and swelling. There are some bitches who come into heat and are ready for breeding before they are willing to accept the male, and in these cases, you or your bet will have to do an artifical insemination. Usually the best time for breeding is about the tenth and twelfth, and fourteenth day of color. You vet can teach you how to read the changes of the cornified cless under a microscope. Some breeders have used diabetic testape, which starts to turn green when the breeding time is right, after being inserted carefully at the opening of the vulva. There is no clinical medical proof that the testape is a good guide, but it does turn green at the mos promising time for breeding.

In some instances, the bitch ovulates before she is willing to accept the male, and in those cases, artificial insemination may be the only answer. In this situation, ovulation testing by your vet is the key to determining the correct breeding time. Fortunately, those instances are rare and probably not worth all the extra effort and expense involved. The period of normal heat is one week coming in in, one week in heat, and one week going out. The ova (eggs) are ready to be fertilized as the reach the uterus and break down if not fertilized within forth-eight hours. The male sperm live up to seven days.

Theree are devices developed; Ovulation Detector. These devices are expensive, but accurate.