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Heat and Selection of Mating Date

During heat a female external genitals - "hole" - enlarge, swell and become visible.

The beginning of heat is determined by blood colored egesta. Note this day to count the day of mating accurately. A female in heat may have enlarged mammas, which even may excrete milk.

During first days of heat a bitch doesn't allow males to approach and snarls actively.

The most appropriate date for ovulation (ovulation means exit of ripe, ready to be fertilized ovules out of ovaries) for a Berner Sennenhund is the 11-14 day. In rare instances the peak of ovulation may migrate and move on the 5th or 23rd day.

The best date for mating is a day before the day of ovulation. By this time blood egesta stop or turn from bright red into pinkish or colorless. One may determine this by putting a piece of white paper on the hole. One may determine that 1-2 days left before mating judging by the sign that the hole gets soft and stays elastic only at the top.

Beside this, a female ready for mating changes its' behavior: she takes a typical pose - draws the tail aside and bends knees when you strike her at loins and rump. In ideal case one may determine the date of ovulation at a veterinary hospital by taking a smear out of vagina.

With each new whelping date of ovulation may move.

A female fertility is inherited genetically. There's a notion that the more bitch mates the more puppies are in litter. It's not quite true, "despite the excessive amount of sperm in comparison to number of ovulating ovules during a given heat, the potential fertility is determined by a female capacity".

It is recommended to make two matings at an interval of one day, especially for those females that being mated for the first time. The lifetime of spermatozoids is about 75 hours after excretion, so in case of two matings with the interval of one day there's about four days to fertile ovules.