A slow rise

Rylee just is a girl who does things on her own time.  Takes her time to eat, go potty, find the right spot to sleep in ... so why should ovulating be any different? Miss Ry is at a 3.2 today.  We are moving in the right direction and we get to travel back tomorrow to see what is going on with her. 

On our way

Progress at last.  We have started to see a rise in Rylee's progesterone levels.  Today she came back at a 1.28.  Thursday is her next test so her number should be even higher then.  I am glad to see that she is on her way up and no longer hanging out.  Rylee isn't much for the drive to Ohio and having her blood drawn but she is being a trooper and I keep telling her not much longer.  She is my good girl. 

The new man in Rylee's life

Due to unforseen circumstances with Beau, we have changed stud dogs.  Hondo was the other dog in the running for Rylee's affection and we think he has won her over.  She swoons when shown pictures of him.  He is very handsome boy who lives in Oregon.  He is a great, versatile dog with a few titles after his name, hoping to add many more in the future.  He also does quite well in the show ring, earning several AOM including a prestigious one at our 2010 national specialty in CA.  Hondo and Rylee look to be a great match and I am certainly excited about this breeding!

Hanging out

Rylee was at 0.2 today.  The doctor said that anything below 1.0 is basically the same number to them so fluctuations like this are normal.  They indicated that we should head back to Ohio on Tuesday and retest.  Crazy girl. 

Sitting pretty

Rylee seems to be sitting pretty right now.  Her results came back at 0.5.  I faxed the results over to the reproduction vet and he told me to bring her in on Friday.  Rylee is at about day 6 right now and her mom ovulated around day 12 so if like mother like daughter, we are looking at a breeding around early next week.  Rylee is still lounging around the house in her diaper, chewing on her rawhide, not indicating when the magical day will happen.  She likes to keep me in the dark about these things. 

Going to the vet

I decided since Rylee was at a 0.7 on Saturday that I would take her into her regular veterinarian for her next progesterone test.  The upside is that it doesn't take four hours of driving ... the downside is that I don't get the results the same day.  I will have to wait for the results to come back since they are sent out to a lab and not done in house.  I think Ry appreciated the shorter drive.  By the way ... she hates her diaper!

Up and down

I was on pins and needles on the drive home from the reproduction vet.  The test takes about two hours to run and the drive home is about two hours ... how perfect.  The vet called me and said there has been a little problem.  It turns out there was a mix up with your test results yesterday and your girl is at 0.7.  There was another sample that had a result of 0.3 that we are pretty positive is yours.  I went to one of the better reproduction vets in the country because well, they are the best and then you get a little set back like this.  Hopefully this is the last of it.  So when all is said and done, Rylee is at 0.7 on what I am assuming to be day two. 

I am only interested in the progesterone hormone which at 5 is indicative of ovulation.  That is what we are hoping for.  Rylee seems  to be on a nice steady increase so we will see what her levels are in the next few days.

Rylee is in season!

Well Rylee took me by surprise today.  I saw that she had started her heat but figured it was day one.  In talking with the stud dog owner we decided that she should go into the reproduction vet for a progesterone test for her baseline.  She came back at a 3.9! We go back tomorrow for test #2.