Here is my situation...I did a bunch of Target tests on Onyx because the last time she was in heat she came in and went out in 8 days. So we were breeding her at Potomac. On Monday of Potomac week, she was a C2 on the Target test and was Day 13. So we found a vet clinic who did a blood draw and sent it to Antech for a progesterone number, but they also gave me some serum from the same draw to run a Target test. The Target test said that she was a C3, meaning that she was between 2.5-5ng. However, Antech said that as of the blood draw on Tuesday, she was 9.5. We bred her on Wednesday and Friday. I feel like either the Target test or the Antech results were not right. The breeding on Friday seemed better as she was softer.

When doing the pregnancy test, I counted from the date that she got the 9.5 from Antech, and then ran the test on what would have been day 30. There was a faint line. However, I re-ran the test 3 days later, which would have been 30 days from what I think of as the better breeding, and it was a strong positive. Has anyone else had problems with either progesterone lab results, or Target test results? I am now wondering if her litter is just small, or if I initially tested her too soon.

I will do an x-ray when she get close to whelping.

if your test went from faint to strong, it was just a little on the early side. I had a "faint positive" test result on day 30 after a second breeding that turned out to be a litter of 9. Not familiar with the Target test but Antech has always worked for me.

Just our own experience but we went zero for three with Target. I have a friend whose vet uses Target, at best she is 60%.

All we have used before is Target. Out where I live, it takes 3 days for results. Yes, I said 3 days, so we have just started relying on the Target test. Out of 3 breedings, we have 3 in whelp or who have whelped. However, we had nothing to go by, and this is the first time we have done the progesterone numbers, so I figured one of them had to be incorrect. Just wasn't sure which one. We have now found a place where a breeder friend sends for her progesterone tests, and we will start doing that. Thanks for your help.

I have never had a progesterone test fail me yet. It think they are by far the most accurate test. You are looking for the surge, so you need to run a baseline around day 6 or 7 and go every other day. When she surges up over 5 ng, that means she is ovulating. It takes approximately 4 days for the eggs to be released. You want to breed on day 3 and 5 after the surge. Your puppies should be born 63 days from the surge. I've had excellent results with this and not-so-good results with Target and Camelot. Of course, you need to be able to get your results quickly. My vet has a set up with Antech. If I get my girl in first thing in the morning, the results are on his fax machine when he comes in the next morning.

But as Laurie said she can't get results for 3 days I don't know the other test unfortunately, wish I could be of assistance.

I like the Camelot Farms PreMate test. Results in an hour. Has surprised me a couple of times recently telling me the bitch was ready to breed when I thought she was much earlier in her season.

As far as progesterone:

study done: blood drawn from one dog all at one time, handled 3 diff. ways.

1. blood put in vile with separator, spun, and shipped to lab in same vile.

2. blood put in vial with separator, spun, serum transfered to red top vial and shipped to lab.

3. blood spun in red top vial with no separator, serum transferred to another red top and shipped to lab.

results:
1. 7.3
2. 13.6
3. 15.5

Antech diagnostics also indicates on their paper work/progesterone results:

"Recent studies show that progesterone concentrations measured by RIA may be falsely decreased in serum collected using serum separator tubes(SST). The sample of choice for progesterone concentrations is serum separated from blood collected in a plain red top tube."

We followed this advice and had a successful breeding.

Option 3 is essentially the way you do the PreMate test, so that makes sense.