Mentalindex
That's how it goes.
SEXUAL MATURE
The dog usually becomes sexually mature when it is 6-15 months old. For smaller breeds, this happens earlier compared to larger breeds and our breed is a large breed, so we often expect a Cane Corso to become sexually mature at about 15 months of age. Normally, all dogs, regardless of breed and sex, must be fully sexually mature at 24 months of age.
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The process of becoming an adult takes time and sometimes makes up for it for the individual and his environment. Ghost ages where many things are perceived as frightening are replaced by periods where the individual feels that he / she can and does everything. We humans like to make comparisons with ourselves and refer to the different developmental periods as adolescence or five-year defiance.
No matter what you want to call these periods, you will experience both easier and more difficult moments and it can feel nice to have a ballpark. Both your breeder, dog trainer and veterinarian are good sounding boards and we at RACC are also happy to help.
RACC would like to advise some caution to have too much faith in various forums on the internet.
TIKEN
Sometime between six months and one and a half years of age, most bitches become physically sexually mature and start running for the first time. This means that they are fertile and can have puppies, even though it happens that bitches do not ovulate during the first and sometimes second run.
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But bitches are neither physically nor mentally mature when they are this young, the idea of puppies should take at least another year. If we go to the legislation, it is expressly forbidden to mate bitches younger than 18 months and the Swedish Kennel Club's own basic rules also have a writing that regulates this.
RACC recommends that bitches that are mated have reached at least 24 months but preferably reached 36 months.
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Bitches usually run twice a year. But there are bitches that only run once a year as well as there are bitches that run both three and four times. Most common in our breed, however, are two races a year.
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The bitch starts to bleed, that's how you know she started her run. There are large variations in how much a bitch runs, ranging from a few small drops to real splashes. Some bitches are good at licking the blood while others let you clean. Most bitches bleed around three weeks and you can see that the blood changes appearance during this time. As the high tide - ovulation - approaches, the blood becomes light.
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Some bitches change their behavior during their runs, they can get tired and want to rest a lot. Keep track of temp and if you are unsure, contact your veterinarian.
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About 10 - 11 days in, it is usually time to mate your bitch, but even here there are large variations. To be able to ensure that you mate on the right day, the veterinarian can make a vaginal section where you can see under a microscope what the cells in the vagina look like. With this knowledge, the veterinarian can decide when he / she will do the next examination: a blood test that shows the progesterone level. Progestorone is a hormone that determines when ovulation should occur and the veterinarian can use this knowledge to calculate when the optimal time for mating falls.
The veterinarian usually recommends that you do the first vaginal smear and / or progesterone test on days 7-9 during the course. Sometimes you need to do more than one test. The most common reason why a bitch goes empty (does not get pregnant) is that the mating took place on the wrong day in the race. Therefore, vaginal smears and progesterone tests have become appreciated aids for dog breeders.