> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://breederbuddy.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Heat Cycles & Breeding Records > How to record a heat cycle, find heat cycle predictions and the missing Heat Cycles tab, log progesterone tests and ovulation timing, record a breeding, tie date, or AI date, log multiple breeding dates, record a stud service or stud out with an outside female, record a pregnancy and due date, add past heats and pregnancies, see why a bred dog is not showing pregnant, and stop heat projections for retired or spayed females. # Heat Cycles & Breeding Records > **Video walkthrough:** [Watch on Loom](#) *(link coming soon)* *** Every female's heat history, progesterone tests, and breedings live on her own profile under the **Heat Cycles** tab. Tracking cycles here unlocks fertile window predictions, next-heat estimates, and the Litter Planner timeline. *** ## What You Can Do Here * Record each heat cycle with its start date and fertile window * See an estimated date for her next heat, based on her own cycle history * Log progesterone tests and watch the rise toward ovulation on a chart * Record breedings — natural ties, TCI, and fresh, frozen, or surgical AI * Update the fertile window and due date automatically from ovulation timing * Turn a breeding into a litter (with the due date worked out for you) and set a pregnancy check reminder * Track the dam's temperature before whelping on the **Whelping Watch** tab * Stop heat projections for retired or spayed girls *** ## How It Works ### Recording a Heat Cycle **Before you start:** the **Heat Cycles** tab only appears on profiles where **Sex** is set to **Female** and **Type** is not **Puppy**. If you don't see the tab on a girl's profile, open her **Details** tab, click edit, and check those two fields — a young female still marked as a **Puppy** won't show it. 1. Go to [**Dogs**](https://app.breederbuddy.com/animals) in the left menu and click the female to open her profile. 2. Click the **Heat Cycles** tab (in the **Care & Evaluation** group on the side). 3. Click **Add Heat Cycle** at the top (or **Add First Heat Cycle** if this is her first). The **Add New Heat Cycle** window opens. 4. Enter the **Start Date** — the day the heat began. 5. Adjust the **Fertile Window Start Offset (days)** and **Fertile Window End Offset (days)** if needed. These default to 9 and 14 days after the start date, which is typical for most breeds. 6. Add any **Notes** and click **Save**. The cycle now appears in her list. Once a cycle is saved, the tab shows her **Last Recorded Heat Cycle** and an **Estimated Next Heat Cycle**. The more cycles you log, the more accurate that estimate becomes. BreederBuddy looks at the gaps between her past heats and uses her typical gap (the middle one, so a single unusually long or short gap, or a mistyped date, doesn't throw it off). With only one cycle on file, it assumes about 180 days. ### Heat Cycles and Fertile Windows on Your Calendar Every recorded heat cycle puts a bar on your calendar, and so does its fertile window. Upcoming cycles you have not recorded yet show as estimated heat cycles and estimated fertile windows, projected from her own history, including her own fertile window offsets if you have been adjusting them. To hide any of them, untick it under **Show on calendar** in the panel on the left of the calendar (on a phone, tap **Filters**): **Heat Cycles**, **Est. Heat Cycles**, **Fertile Windows**, and **Est. Fertile Windows** are listed under **Breeding**. Fertile windows are read-only on the calendar because they belong to the cycle they came from. To change the dates, edit the heat cycle on her **Heat Cycles** tab and the calendar follows. They also flow into the calendar feed you subscribe to from your phone or Google Calendar. ### Logging Progesterone Tests Progesterone tests attach to a specific heat cycle: 1. On the **Heat Cycles** tab, find the cycle and click **Cycle Activity — Progesterone & Breedings** to expand it. 2. Click **Log Progesterone Test**. 3. Enter the **Test Date** (the day the blood was drawn), the **Progesterone (ng/mL)** value, and optionally the **Vet / Lab** and notes. As you add tests, BreederBuddy charts the **Progesterone Rise** with reference lines for the LH surge (around 2–3 ng/mL) and ovulation (around 5 ng/mL). If a reading comes back below the ovulation threshold, BreederBuddy offers to put a retest reminder on your calendar. When a test crosses 5 ng/mL, the **Ovulation Timing** panel appears with recommended breeding windows: * **Natural / fresh AI** — ovulation +2–3 days * **Frozen / surgical AI** — ovulation +3–4 days Click **Apply to fertile window** to update the cycle's fertile window from the actual ovulation date, and BreederBuddy also shows a refined due date (ovulation + 63 days). *Progesterone testing is shown for dog programs — cattery accounts won't see this section, since progesterone timing isn't used the same way for queens.* ### Recording a Breeding (Ties & AI) 1. Expand **Cycle Activity — Progesterone & Breedings** on the heat cycle. 2. Click **Log Breeding**. 3. Enter the **Breeding Date** — the date of the tie or insemination. 4. Pick the **Breeding Method**: **Natural tie**, **TCI (Transcervical Insemination)**, **AI - Fresh/Chilled**, **AI - Frozen**, or **AI - Surgical**. 5. Under **Sire Used**, click **Select a Sire** and pick him from your dogs. If he isn't one of your dogs, look under **Outside sires already in your pedigrees** in the same window and click **Use**. If he's not there either, click **Add a new outside sire**, type his name, and click **Add sire**. 6. Save. BreederBuddy also creates a matching breeding record on the sire's **Health** tab if he's in your system. ### After You Log a Breeding: Litter and Reminders Right after you save a breeding, BreederBuddy asks **What's next for this breeding?** You can pick any of these: * **Create the litter** — opens a new litter with the parents and breeding date already filled in. This is what marks her as pregnant on the Litter Planner and her **Whelping Watch** tab, and it sets her estimated due date. * **Create pregnancy check reminder** — puts a pregnancy check on your calendar a set number of **Days after breeding** (28 by default; change the number first if you like). * **Tentative due date only** — adds an unconfirmed due-date marker to your calendar. You don't need it if you create the litter. If you skip the litter now, that's fine. When you later mark the pregnancy check reminder complete, BreederBuddy offers to **Create Litter From Breeding** if that breeding doesn't have a litter yet. Breedings are saved as health records, so they appear both under **Breedings This Cycle** on the heat cycle and on the girl's **Health** tab. If you log a breeding from the **Health** tab instead, it links to the current heat cycle automatically when the date falls inside that cycle's window. Details like tie times or progesterone values at breeding fit nicely in the notes field. ### Whelping Watch (Temperature Tracking) Once she's bred, the **Whelping Watch** tab (called **Queening Watch** for catteries) on her profile is where you log her temperature as the due date approaches. Click **Add Reading** to record each temperature — BreederBuddy charts the readings so you can spot the drop that signals labor is close. ### Stopping Heat Projections for Retired or Spayed Girls The Litter Planner timeline only shows females whose **Type** is **Active Breeding Dog** — and it excludes anyone whose **Fertility** is set to **Spayed / Neutered**. So when a girl is done breeding: 1. Open her profile and go to the **Details** tab. 2. Click edit. 3. Change her **Type** to **Retired** (this removes her from the Litter Planner and from Buddy's upcoming-heat predictions). 4. If she's been spayed, also set **Fertility** to **Spayed / Neutered**. 5. Save. Her heat cycle history stays on her profile — nothing is deleted — but she no longer appears in projections. *** ## Key Terms | Term | What It Means | | - | - | | Fertile Window | The days in a cycle when breeding is most likely to take; defaults to days 9–14 after the heat starts | | Progesterone (ng/mL) | The blood test value used to time ovulation; baseline is under 2, ovulation is around 5 | | LH Surge | The hormone spike (progesterone around 2–3 ng/mL) that happens about two days before ovulation | | Natural tie | A traditional breeding between the sire and dam | | TCI | Transcervical insemination — a non-surgical AI method | | Fertility | A profile field (**Active**, **Retired**, **Spayed / Neutered**, **Contract to Spay/Neuter**) that controls things like Litter Planner visibility | *** ## Tips & Common Questions > **I was told to add a heat cycle on her profile, but there's no Heat Cycles tab. Where is it?** > > The **Heat Cycles** tab only shows on females who aren't marked as puppies. Open her **Details** tab, click edit, and confirm **Sex** is **Female** and **Type** is set to something other than **Puppy** — for a breeding girl, that's **Active Breeding Dog**. Once you save, the **Heat Cycles** tab appears in the **Care & Evaluation** group of her profile. > **Where do I log AI dates, progesterone results, and ties?** > > All three live on the heat cycle. Open her **Heat Cycles** tab, expand **Cycle Activity — Progesterone & Breedings** on the cycle, then use **Log Progesterone Test** for blood results and **Log Breeding** for ties and inseminations — the **Breeding Method** dropdown covers natural ties, TCI, and fresh, frozen, or surgical AI. > **I logged a breeding. Why doesn't she show as pregnant?** > > Pregnancy comes from a litter, not from the breeding record. Create a litter with her as the **Dam** and fill in the **Date Bred** — the easiest way is the **Create the litter** button that appears right after you log the breeding. Once the litter exists, she shows as pregnant on the Litter Planner and her **Whelping Watch** countdown starts. > **Can I record a breeding with a sire I don't own?** > > Yes. In the **Log Breeding** form, click **Select a Sire** and search his name. Reuse an outside dog with **Use**, or click **Add a new outside sire** and type his registered name. > **How do I record a stud service (stud out) with an outside female?** > > Log it on your male. Open his profile, go to the **Health** tab, and click **+ Add Breeding** in the **Breedings** section. Enter the **Breeding Date** and **Breeding Method**, then under **Dam Used** click **Select a Dam** and either pick her (your dogs and outside dams are listed together) or click **Add a new outside dam** to add her. Click **Save**. If the female is one of your dogs, BreederBuddy adds the matching breeding to her **Health** tab too. BreederBuddy then asks **What's next for this breeding?** For an outside female you can **Create the litter** (only if you want to track her puppies) or click **Skip**. Pregnancy check and due-date reminders are only offered when the female is one of your dogs. > **She was bred more than once. Can I log multiple breeding dates?** > > Yes. Click **Log Breeding** once for each tie or insemination. They all show under **Breedings This Cycle** on that heat cycle. Her litter has one **Date Bred**, so use the date you want her due date counted from. > **How do I record a pregnancy and her due date?** > > Create a litter with her as the **Dam** and fill in the **Date Bred** (the **Create the litter** button after **Log Breeding** does this for you). BreederBuddy shows the estimated due date under **Date Bred** (61 days by default; click **Change** to set your own gestation length). > **I bred her. Why doesn't the calendar show her as pregnant?** > > The calendar doesn't draw a pregnancy bar. Once she has a litter with a **Date Bred** and no **Date of Birth** yet, the calendar shows her estimated due date as an "Est. Birth" event with the litter's name. If you don't see it, make sure the litter exists and that **Est. Whelpings** is ticked under **Show on calendar** in the panel on the left of the calendar. Pregnancy bars are on the [**Litter Planner**](https://app.breederbuddy.com/litter-planner). > **Can I add past heats and pregnancies so the predictions are better?** > > Yes. On her **Heat Cycles** tab, click **Add Heat Cycle** for each past heat and enter its real **Start Date**. Next-heat predictions come only from her recorded heat cycles, using her typical gap between them (with one cycle on file, BreederBuddy assumes about 180 days). For past pregnancies, add each litter on the [**Litters**](https://app.breederbuddy.com/litters) page with its **Date Bred** and **Date of Birth**, and set **Status** to **Completed**. > **Where do I see her predicted next heat?** > > On her **Heat Cycles** tab, under **Estimated Next Heat Cycle**. Upcoming heats also show as estimated heat cycles on your calendar, and for all your girls at once on the [**Litter Planner**](https://app.breederbuddy.com/litter-planner). > **What's the difference between a recorded breeding and a planned litter?** > > A breeding (from **Log Breeding**, or **+ Add Breeding** on the **Health** tab) is a record of the tie or insemination. It doesn't create a litter or a due date by itself. A litter is what tracks the pregnancy: once she's the **Dam** on a litter with a **Date Bred** (usually with **Status** set to **Planned**), she shows as pregnant on the Litter Planner, gets an estimated due date, and her puppies can be added later. > **What happens if I delete a heat cycle?** > > Deleting a heat cycle also deletes its progesterone tests and unlinks any breeding records from it. The breeding records themselves stay on the **Health** tab. *** ## Still Have Questions? We're here to help. If something isn't working the way you expect, or you'd like to have a discussion around a certain topic, please reach out to us anytime through the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. Thank you. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.