Dog Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook.pdf - Mr. Walnuts

SEX AND REPRODUCTION • 445
AI using fresh semen is best used when natural mating is impossible or has
been unsuccessful. Usually this is for psychological reasons, anatomical reasons,
or problems associated with heat detection. It should be taken into account that
if a dog cannot breed naturally, then perhaps he or she is not a dog who should
be bred.
Cooled transported semen can be used to inseminate a bitch in another
state or country who could not otherwise breed to a particular stud. Frozen
semen can be stored for weeks, months, or years, possibly increasing in value
as the importance of a particular stud dog is recognized through his progeny.
The success rate for AI has improved dramatically with the ability to time
the insemination with ovulation using progesterone assay kits and LH testing,
as well as vaginal cytology (see The Estrous Cycle, page 436). Predicting ovulation
is particularly important when the bitch does not display the typical
signs of estrus. Semen is obtained by stimulating the male and collecting the
ejaculate in a rubber conical sheath connected to a receptacle such as a glass
tube or the barrel of a syringe. When inseminating with fresh semen, the
bitch must be present. The semen is introduced immediately into her vagina
using a sterile flexible insemination pipette connected to a syringe. The
semen is deposited at the entrance to the cervix.
Using an insemination pipette, the semen is deposited into the vagina at the
entrance of the cervix.