I am getting ready to breed my girl for her second litter. We caught her late last time we bred her. She had a surgical the day AFTER she was prog. of 36. We had a nice litter of 8. I counted myself lucky!
My query is, should I breed her the same as last or due the "norm" of 24 hours post 5.0????
Repro. guy is no help.

You have no idea when she was 36+ last time. Why don't you breed 1 and 3 days after ovulation? I'd venture a guess that at 3 days post-ovulation, the progesterone level would be at the 36 level.

Also, it's entirely possible the 36 level before would be too late for an AI breeding (assuming that's what you're doing). Studies have shown the eggs are still viable even after the cervix closes and they can't be fertilized via AI (or natural). Since you did a surgical before at the high level, it might not be possible to conceive a litter at those levels vaginally.

We did ONE vaginal AI with chilled semen this last litter, 3 days post ovulation (this is what we normally do, just one AI 3 days post ovulation and have had large litters). Did a progesterone day of AI as we normally do, and it came back 42 nanograms. She whelped 12 puppies, lost the last one, so we ended up with 11.

We are all on the same page that you are considering 5.0 is ovulation correct?
Several repro people do things differently, starting to count at 2.0.

Thank you Breeder and Val. I also have some issues with stud availability that I need to work around because of specialty shows. I may have to have two (good) collections and split those so I have 4 breedings to cover her all over.

Stud dog owner is being EXTREMELY helpful and wonderful as always. She has never let me down when I have used her dogs. We are just hitting some goofy timing issues.

I liked it in the old days when we didn't feel pressed to use technology.

If you can get two AI shipments then I would bred
day 1 and day 3 after ovulation approx. 5 ng. If you can't get the shipment the day after she hits 5 ng then breeding day 2 and day 4 should work as well.
I don't worry about progesterone numbers, the important progesterone number to know is when she
hits 5 ng.

Our reproductive vet does our implants on day 3 post ovulation on chilled, day 2 or 3 on fresh. She has been following this guideline with us for over ten years now and we have never missed. This is pretty much common practice, hit ovulation and count the days.

I have found that not every bitch fits the norm.

We have one girl that we imported frozen semen for and spent $7000.00+ total costs trying to get her pg with it and nothing. She finally did conceive with fresh semen AI. Serial progesterones following her showed she either ovulated and conceived at 2.5 or whelped 5 days early. Puppies did not look "Early" so we think she ovulates earlier than most.
Repro guy blamed allergy to extender????
Who knows... I got my beautiful pick bitch out of that one fantastic miracle litter and counted myself lucky.

"We are all on the same page that you are considering 5.0 is ovulation correct?"

With the breeding I mentioned, blood drawn on a Saturday a.m. came back 4.2 nanograms, so we considered late Saturday time of ovulation. Did that single vaginal AI with chilled Tuesday afternoon around 2:30 p.m.

BTW I mostly do the progesterone the day of AI just to satisfy my own curiosity on how the numbers can progress.

Ideal prog for surgical implant is 20. If you wait 36 hours- implant her on third day from 5- you will probably be right on the money. Do a prog on the day of implant to be sure. good luck!

You ARE talking surgical? An AI would probably be best 48 hrs after 5.0.

48 hours after ovulation. Repeat at 72 hours. No earlier. JMO.

With the first breeding we opted for a surgical to "buy time back" d/t the progesterone being 36+. We shipped the day of 36 and did the surgical the next day.
We caught her early this time so we took time to pause to figure out what to do. After talking to the stud owner, we have elected to cover her from 48 hours after 5.0 and beyond with as many times as it takes.
I am so happy to be blessed with a stud dog owner that wants to make sure that my bitch gets pg.