The Junior Test was also judged by Craig Stonesifer and Garry Moore. Congratulations to all Qualifers - and thanks again to all the many volunteers who made this a very enjoyable weekend. The visual signs of the heat cycle are vaginal bleeding and vaginal swelling and attractiveness to male dogs. The female may also act very amorous toward other dogs. The bleeding seen with the heat cycle is vaginal bleeding, not uterine bleeding, and is not a cleansing of the uterus.
Breeding can take place during the heat cycle.
This is when the female will usually be receptive to the male and usually when ovulation will take place and, if breeding occurs, pregnancy will follow. The timing of breeding is important to insure that the male's sperm is present when the female's eggs are present so that fertilization of the eggs can take place. Now, we have stated that the heat cycle is roughly 21 days in length. In other words, the middle week is the proper time to breed the female. My recommendation is to count the 1st observed bleeding day as day 2 of the cycle, attempt to breed the female on the 10th day of the cycle, if she breeds on the 10th day, skip 2 days and breed again on the 12th day.