The anxiety and excitement of getting our Bernedoodle mom pregnant.

What I imagine a pregnant Coco looks like

I remember when I was trying to get pregnant with my kids, I had to start relying on an ovulation tracker. You could get these kits from the store, and they would check your urine throughout the month to let you know when you had the best odds of getting pregnant. I had pretty good luck with these kits. I didn't know that dogs had similar testing they could do.

Coco is very mentally ready. She keeps trying to get in front of our other female Bernedoodle Kira to present. Kira just sniffs and walks around and Coco rushes in front again. Kira tried to imitate a male dog when Coco was in heat the first time but she caught on that it didn't work.

Give it up Coco. It's not happening.

I had already found the stud I wanted to use for Coco, so I was just waiting for her to go into heat. Our other Bernedoodle, Kira, just had her first heat, and our vet said that Coco would likely go into heat soon based on that. Fun fact that dogs could sync up their cycles like women can.

Sure enough, Coco went into heat just as Kira was ending hers. I was so excited and contacted the stud owner so we could finally start getting our Bernedoodle pregnant. The stud owner had an at-home progesterone testing kit. We did the math and scheduled for Coco to get tested 9 days after the first day of her heat. I was nervous and excited, but her reading was an 8. She wasn't ready yet. The test readings should move at an exponential scale, and we are waiting for a 'surge' in levels.

This is info from the AKC Canine Health Foundation on ovulation timing:

"Progesterone is baseline prior to the LH surge, begins to rise at the time of the LH surge and by time the bitch ovulates is in the 4-8 ng/ml range and by time the bitch is in her peak fertile period the progesterone is > 20 ng/ml and often in the 30-40 ng /ml range. The period of time starting at the LH surge until the end of the fertile period is very consistent between bitches."

We brought Coco to the stud owners two days later, and this time we were sure she would be ready to get pregnant. This time Coco tested at a 9.6. It was higher but not yet on that exponential scale. So, I'm crossing my fingers for attempt number three in a few days.