I am a first-time breeder, my Vizsla Neela a maiden bitch at 6 years old.  With the approval of Neela's breeder, we made the decision to breed her based on several factors:  she completed AKC Championship, Obedience and Agility titles, received OFA "Good" and CERF "Normal" readings, is of sound temperament and has no known health concerns herself or in her pedigree. 

We had an unsuccessful A-I in April 2001 (age 5) - cause most likely timing of the 2 vaginal inseminations since both shipments of the male's chilled semen retained its quality.  The second attempt in January 2002 was a natural breeding to the same male where we drove from Wisconsin to the East Coast.  

Progesterone tests on the day of the second tie indicated timing was good.  When the pregnancy test was negative, on the advice of Neela's reproductive vet we had her tested for mycoplasma which revealed the highest level and was the likely cause of the miss (the stud tested negative).  

For our third and final try, we switched studs to eliminate all variables.  When progesterone tests indicated she was ready, we had Neela surgically inseminated once with fresh chilled semen from a stud in Virginia.  It retained 95% motility when warmed, swimming strong and straight.  We felt Neela was at high risk for a vaginal delivery due to her older age (6) and reproductive history so decided on an elective C-section.  Factors which decreased the likelihood she would conceive at all and if she did, that it would be a small litter was 2 missed breedings, discovery of cysts on her uterus during the surgical A-I, the recent mycoplasma and later a vaginal infection for which she was treated with antibiotics.  

When we found out she was indeed pregnant, we opted to use Whelpwise service given how much energy and money we had invested and on the advice of our vet, Dr. Amy Spaeth of Jackson Pet Hospital, who personally used it and recommends it  My husband and I both work full time, and we didn't want to take the chance of coming home to puppies whelped in our absence nor lose any puppies if we could prevent it.  Even with no medical background, 

I was able to quickly learn to use both the Uterine Monitor and Doppler Unit.  I detected 5 heartbeats, and that is exactly the number of puppies whelped.  Because I monitored her for an hour in the morning and once again in the evening, I had peace of mind that she would not deliver early in our absence.  

The staff at VPS were extremely helpful and patient and informative - I felt comfortable asking them "dumb" questions and confident they would be there to answer my questions anytime.  I highly recommend the use of this service.