Your Litter A to Z, Module 2 - She's In Season

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• A2Z Calendar and Reminders
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Module 2 Documents

• She’s In Season Checklist
• Module To-Do’s
• Timing Your Breeding Checklist
• Breeding Diary
• Estimated Breeding Dates Worksheet

What’s In This Module

• She’s In Season Basics
• Brucellosis
• Caring for Your Bitch
• Timing the Breeding
• Semen Evaluations
• Breeding Your Bitch
• Section 1 Pre Breeding Quiz

📚 Section 1 Pre Breeding Quiz & Certificate of Recognition 📚

She’s in Season Basics

• Read This First! Read She’s in Season to get the details of what happens during this period.
• Enter the dates she came in season and/or the date she was bred to get Your Litter A to Z Calendar and Reminders.

You have two checklists for this module:

• First, use the She’s in Season Checklist to track all the tasks you should do during this period.
• Second, use the Timing Your Breeding Checklist for a step-by-step list of what to do to time your breeding.

• Tracking this specific season and breeding is important both for its success, as well as future ones, so go to Breeding Diary (download) and start using it.
• Figure out approximately when your pups will be born and when you’ll be sending them home to be sure you have the time and flexibility in your schedule for the breeding with the Estimated Breeding Dates Worksheet (download).

Brucellosis Testing

Test your bitch for brucella at her first vet appointment. Be sure the male has also been tested recently. If not, ask his owner to test him. Brucellosis is on the rise in many places. It is an incurable disease in dogs and often results in euthanasia because it can be passed from dogs to people. Don’t take the risk–test your dogs!

• Canine Brucellosis

Caring for Your Bitch

• Increase your girl’s food amount to 130% of maintenance and switch her to a reproductive diet per the Nutrition For Breeding (In Season) Worksheet, if she isn’t already on one.
• Use our Dog Food Calcium:Phosphorus Calculator to evaluate the calcium-phosphorus ratio in the foods you feed.
• Exercise her according to Fit to Be Tied’s Before and During Breeding schedules
• Give only safe drugs, including heartworm, tick, flea, over-the-counter, and prescription medicines. Check Drugs That May Or May Not Be Used in Pregnant Dogs.
• Do not vaccinate your bitch with anything but the Canine Herpes Virus vaccine (not available in US or Canada) or a rabies vaccine if she is bitten by a rabid animal. For more on vaccinations, see WSAVA Guidelines for the Vaccination of Dogs and Cats

Time Your Breeding

• If you can do it at home, start Vaginal Cytology beginning around Day 3 after first blood or other indications she is in season. Continue daily smears until she is 100% cornified. Then stop during estrus and return to daily cytology the day you stop breeding her and continue until Day 1 of diestrus. Get these supplies to do your own smears at home.
• Draw Blood for Progesterone. Do a baseline progesterone by Day 3 or 4, and then repeat according to the Breeding Diary Spreadsheet.

Additional Resources for Timing Your Breeding

• Listen to the A2Z Module 2 Podcast (download)
• Listen to AKC CHF Ovulation Timing Podcast
• Listen to the Optimal Time to Breed Bitches, Q&A with Dr Robert Hutchinson (“Hutch”) by Good Dog. Timestamp: 51:10 to 1:05:26
• Read “Breeding By the Numbers” Case Study for two breeding case studies
• Read “The Precision Of Peri-oestrous Predictors Of The Date Of Onset Of Parturition In The Bitch”
  

Ensure the Stud Has Good Semen

Good quality and quantity of semen are essential to a successful breeding. Unless the stud has a litter less than 3 months old, it’s best to have a semen evaluation done. That evaluation should include an estimate of the number of normal, motile sperm, and a morphological examination.

We use three types of semen for dog breeding. If you are using other than fresh semen, you need to know how the semen must be handled prior to and during the breeding.

• fresh semen, directly from a living dog. This is by far the strongest and most resilient semen. It can live 3-7 days inside the bitch but plan on 3 days.
• fresh-chilled semen, collected from a living dog, chilled down, and shipped to you. Depending upon the dog’s fertility, this is moderately strong semen that can live 1-3 days in the bitch after several days in the chilling box.
• frozen semen, collected from a living dog, frozen and maintained in a frozen state for years even decades before being used. This semen is usually very fragile and lives only 8-12 hours in the bitch.

Additional Resources 

Listen to the AKC CHF Podcast – Semen Collection and Tips for Successful Breedings.

If you are shipping in fresh-chilled semen, listen to:

• AKC CHF Podcast – Fresh Chilled Breedings, The Stud Dog.
• Listen to AKC CHF Podcast – Shipping Canine Semen

Breed Your Bitch

There are four types of breedings we can do. Each breeding method has strengths and weaknesses, as well as an ideal time for the insemination(s).

• natural breedings, where the two dogs mate naturally. This is often the most successful breeding type and is best for males with poor-quality semen. These breedings should be done every 36-48 hours from the day before ovulation until 4 days after ovulation.
• vaginal artificial inseminations (VAI), where we collect the stud dog and put the semen into the vagina using a tube. VAIs can be handled by you, an experienced breeder or stud dog owners, or a veterinarian. These breedings should be done with the same timing as natural breedings, every 36-48 hours from the day before ovulation until 4 days after ovulation. Can be used with fresh and fresh-chilled semen. Should not be used for frozen semen.
• transcervical inseminations (TCI), where a trained veterinary specialist uses a scope and tube to deposit semen to or ideally through the cervix and into the uterus. Typically one or two TCIs are done either on Days 3 and 5 or Days 4 and 6 after the LH peak. TCIs can be highly successful with any kind of semen, including frozen.
• surgical artificial inseminations (SAI), where the bitch has abdominal surgery and a vet injects the semen with a syringe into the uterine horns. Only one SAI is done during a season, usually Days 5 or 6 after the LH peak. SAIs can be valuable with older bitches and those who have missed, or when using very valuable frozen semen.

Additional Resources 

• Listen to AKC CHF Podcast – Fresh Chilled Breedings, The Brood Bitch
• Infertility in the Bitch, AKC CHF Infertility in the Bitch Podcast

Section 1 Pre Breeding Quiz

Complete and pass the quiz below to earn a Certificate of Pre-Breeding.

Your Litter A to Z Table of Contents

Section 1: Pre-Breeding

• Intro to Your Litter A to Z
• Module 1: Preparing Your Dogs For the Breeding
• Module 2: She’s In Season

Section 2: Pregnancy & Whelping

• Module 3: The First Trimester (From ovulation to Day 21)
• Module 4: The Second Trimester (Day 22-42)
• Module 5: Placing Your Puppies
• Module 6: The Third Trimester (Day 43-whelping)
• Module 7: Labor & Whelping

Section 3: Litter Management: Month 1

• Module 8: The First 48 Hours (Birth to 48 hours)
• Module 9: Your Litter’s First Week (Birth to Day 7)
• Module 10: Your Litter’s Second Week (Day 8-14)
• Module 11: Your Litter’s Third Week (Day 15-21)
• Module 12: Your Litter’s Fourth Week (Day 22-28)

Section 4: Litter Management: Month 2

• Module 13: Your Litter’s Fifth Week (Day 29-35)
• Module 14: Your Litter’s Sixth Week (Day 36-42)
• Module 15: Your Litter’s Seventh Week (Day 43-49)
• Module 16: Sending Puppies Home
• Module 17: Your Litter’s Eighth Week (Day 50-56)
• Module 18: After the Eighth Week (Day 57 and beyond)

Past Coaching Call Recordings