My bitch came into season finally. Today is the first day that I seen blood spots. So from doing frozen breedings the past few times I was told to count 8 days from the day I seen the first spot of blood then do a progesterone test and go from there. This is her first litter so I have no idea when she will be ready to breed. When should I do the first progesterone test??
With a surgical or trans-cervical insemination of frozen semen ovulation timeing becomes not only important but absolutely critical to a successful breeding.
Add to this situation, she is a maiden bitch, so her cycling is basically unknown. I have known bitches to ovulate on day 5 or 6, and some on day 21.
I would probably do the first one on day 5 or 6. If it's really low, wait 3 days and see where you're at. She could spike quickly or she could rise slowly.
My recommendation would be to keep doing progesterones until you reach 5, don't stop when you hit the LH surge, as she could stall. With surgical your timing has to be impeccable.
Since it is so important a breeding for you, with great expense and potential for missing optimum timing, I would recommend having a repro specialist DO the insemination or at the very least oversee the timing of it.
Good luck, fingers crossed for your breeding!
We are breeding her naturally with luck. The past few breedings we have done frozen implants..so after that I am just trying to figure out when to test her. This will be her first litter and I don't want to miss it.