So last Friday (the 21st) was day 10? If so, you have, in all probability, missed on this cycle.

Have you done much breeding before? Is this her first breeding? Is the male an experienced male? Was she flagging the male? How old are the two dogs? The female will not be ready on the first day of her cycle; my wife is the real expert (she is out of town for a while), but I believe it's more like day 6 or 7 on average, at least for our breed. If you tried to put the two together on day 1, the girl will definately not be receptive. We do progesterone testing on our girls to determine peak fertility. You can also watch for a color change in the girl's discharge, but testing is much more reliable. Most of our girls are average, one is ready really early in her cycle, like day 5 or so; tough to really generalize when they are ready to breed.

When we breed, we usually have someone holding at the head of the girl while the other assists the male. Sometimes a small dab of vaseline on the girl helps, especially if it's her first breeding. I suggest you buy a breed-specific book that has a good chapter or two on breeding and welping. As you're finding out, it's not always as easy as just throwing two dogs together and hoping fpor the best.

Our breed (Cavaliers) can be very difficult to breed at times. We did have a couple instances where the 2 just couldn't tie. The boy tried and tried, but it just wouldn't happen. In that case we use artificial insemination. That's not something I could talk you through, but the vet can do it at their office. Best thing is if you can bring both male and female to vet so you are using fresh sperm.

Hope I have helped some. When my wife and I first decided to get into showing and breeding, we were lucky to find someone in our breed who mentored us and helped us learn what we needed; we also bought a whole stack of breed-specific books that helped a lot. Good luck with your next breeding.

Bruce