1st Time Breeding

Question
My husband and I are starting our own kennel and we are breeding one of our sires and dams for the first time.  The male is almost 3 and the female is 5.  They are both epagneul bretons (French Brittanys), are AKC & UKC registered, have passing hips by OFA, and get regular vet check ups, etc.  

The bitch is in heat... and is on her 14th day of blood.  I think it is starting to be more clear colored than red.  They are and have been in the same pen together for the past week. We also have been putting them in a larger room by themselves and monitoring them.  The past couple of days she has been flagging and is not growling at him or sitting down when he comes over to her and licks her vulva.  It appears to me that she is ready and wants to be bred.  

He has been licking her more but will not mount her.  You can tell he is excited to be around her but is more interested in playing.  Last night he did not eat his food and that is usual for him when she is in heat.  We tried to put our other male with her to see if his behavior was the same as the stud we want to breed and it was.

Is it possible that she is not ready to be bred even though she is showing all the signs of being at that stage of her heat cycle?  Could there be something wrong with our male?  Is there something that we can do to help him along or make him more interested? We are willing to try anything, but want to do it the natural way rather than getting a vet involved for the first time.  We also don't want to miss out on getting her bred because we will have to wait until her next heat cycle.  

Thank you.

Answer
Hi Kaylen

First thing you want to do is seperate them. Anticipatation towards the breeding will excite a male and encourage him to get the job done. The biggest mistake new breeders make is allowing the male and female to hang out 24/7 when the female is in season.  Is the male experienced?

Typically you would start putting them together for short times (about 15 minutes) starting day 9 until about day 17.  Spending too much time together can frustrate both the male and female as well as the male waste his semen if he's just "playing around".

What you may need to do is hold the female.  Use a leash and collar and hold her steady so she can't bounce around.  Encourage the male by petting him, telling him he's a good boy and patting the female.  This will also get the male excited so he can mount the female.

Good luck