When Is The Best Time To Breed In The Dog's Heat Cycle?

Dog Progesterone Levels Chart Will Help!

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Canine Corner!

Today's topic;

When is the best time to breed a dog in her heat cycle? Using a dog progesterone levels chart to help you time our the breeding based on the testing equipment you are using.

The best way to pinpoint a dog's whereabouts in her cycle is through progesterone testing.

In this edition of the Canine Corner, we'll go through what a progesterone test is, and how to use it to correctly time your dog breeding.

The video below includes all the information and more.

Examples Of Different Dog Progesterone Levels Charts! A Must!

Dog Progesterone Levels Chart? How Do They Work? Why Do You Need One?

Here at CanineP4 we offer our customer many different options to meet their specific Progesterone testing needs! With all these options there is one complication that needs to be addressed. That is the fact that every progesterone testing system offered for animal use have there own ranges for the results you get when you test! As an example one system may read (like the Finecare shown here) ovulation ranges from 6-12 ng/mL. Then you run the same sample on a different system the ovulation range may be much lower or higher. The reasons for this is manufactures have different technology methods for measuring the sample and/or the calibration points are set different from manufacture to manufacture. So what we all really need is to find a reference method of testing and set up the Timing chart of each system as it relates to the Known reference method. CanineP4 is one of the only companies that runs correlation testing on very system we sell. To preform these tests we run from 50-100 dog serum samples on three systems. Two of the systems are the industry reference methods for progesterone so we have a lot of data from over the years so we know where all the testing levels fall. We then run the same sample 50-100 on the new system we are offering and then compare the results. Then with this correlation data we set up the timing chart based on the two reference methods. So the Progesterone Level chart that comes with every system CanineP4 sells has been developed from two know reference system values! Awesome! The Progesterone Level Chart for your system is the key that you can trust. Most other companies guess by simple observations! Sorry that will never do! Scientific correlation studies are required to get correct results! We have ya covered. Its all in the Progesterone Level Chart and its always FREE!

The Technical Explanation Of The Correlation Test.

A correlation test on two or more veterinary progesterone testing systems is used to ensure that the results generated by both systems are comparable and consistent. By assessing the correlation between the two systems, veterinarians and breeders can determine if there is a strong agreement between the test results from each system. This verification process is crucial to ensure accuracy and reliability in diagnosing and monitoring hormonal levels in animals. If a new system can not pass this test we either do not sell or limit its use to the ranges that correlate well. No junk science!

Explanation Video! Understand Your Results! Take a look!

What Is Canine Progesterone?

Progesterone is a hormone that helps to maintain pregnancy.

For our purposes, it's simply a hormone that rises at the beginning of the dog's cycle and continues to rise in conjunction with the days of the dogs cycle.

We can use these progesterone numbers to best time natural breedings, A.I and surgical. Well-timed breeding will produce more puppies, and poorly timed breeding will produce no puppies.

What Do I Need To Test Progesterone?

Name: Healvet 300 Portable Bundle - Dog Progesterone Machine
Brand: Canine P4
SKU: VME-FPKIT-60418
Price: 2700.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Most vets will test canine progesterone for you. However, testing at home can save you a ton of time and money.

To run your own testing you'll need.

- A progesterone machine (See all the Options here!)

- Centrifuge

- Pipette

- Needles and blood collection supplies

We also recommend using a vortexor in most cases as well as a heaping helping of patience.

Oversimplified, the testing process consists of drawing blood from your dog, spinning it down into serum in the centrifuge, and ultimately using that serum for the test.

Check out our Canine P4 Buyers Guide to find the right machine for you!

How Much Can I Save With My Own In House Progesterone Testing? Tons! Use The Calculator To See Just How Much!

Dog Progesterone Levels Chart Using Specific Testing Analyzers. They Do Not All Read The Same.

What is the Best Time To Breed Your Dog?

Pictured above are the expected progesterone results based on the bitches cycle. In a perfect world, testing on an idexx machine, we would expect the numbers pictured above.

Basically, we have a couple of different recommendations based on what kind of breeding you are doing.

These are all calculated with day 0 being the first bloody show.

Natural breeding: breed between 8-14 ng/l which should be around day 10-12.

A.I Breeding: 12-18 ng/ml which should be day 11-13.

Surgical: 22 ng/ml or day 14.

Keep in mind these numbers are only for an idexx and these ranges vary based on what instrument you are testing on. For example, the Finecare, V200, and Mini Vidas all have different range charts that correspond to certain days.

Pictured left is the reading chart for the finecare, as you can see it reads a lot higher than idexx with the estimated ovulation being 6-10 on the finecare vs 5 on the idexx.

There is also a lot of variation between dogs, this equation will fit most dogs, but there are a large proportion of dogs that will differ in their cycles.

The video above goes through this in greater detail.

There is a lot that goes into correctly timing a breeding. Using progesterone testing to find the best day to breed is the best way to ensure timely breeding's.

When testing it's also important to use the appropriate chart.

'Till next time!