Mother Nature just so happened to coordinate Zene's heat cycle with the huge Woofstock Dog Show in Vallejo (Northern CA) and Zene happened to be entered. Since Beckett lives in the area, his owner Susan, was already going to the show and she was able to take Zene from the showgrounds back to her house - and later to her vet for progesterone testing. This is generally the first step when doing any breeding (live cover or artificial insemination).
What the heck is progesterone testing, you ask?
Basically, progesterone is a hormone produced by the ovaries that rises as the heat cycle progresses. Early in the canine heat cycle the progesterone values will usually read less than 1.0 ng/ml. The first significant, sustained rise in progesterone usually coincides with the "LH Surge". The LH stands for luteinizing hormone and is released by the pituitary gland in the brain. This is important because ovulation occurs about 48 hours after the LH surge. The progesterone value at the time of the LH surge is usually about 2-3 ng/ml. The progesterone will rise to about 5-8 ng/ml at the time of ovulation. Canine eggs are not ready to be fertilized at the time of ovulation and take about 2 days to mature. Once mature, the eggs remain fertile for 2 to 3 days and then begin to deteriorate. Of note: progesterone stays elevated for about 2 months whether the bitch is pregnant or not. We like to know when the "surge" is so that we have an idea of ovulation, when to breed, and to estimate the whelping day.
Zene's progesterone testing came back as 2.8 on Saturday, June 8th, and 6.8 on Tuesday June, 10th (the LH Surge). The "lovebirds" had their first breeding on Wednesday, June 12th (and a few more others for good measure).
If all goes according to plan we can do an ultrasound around the week of July 15th to verify a pregnancy.
