I have a pair of Westies that I would like to breed. The previous owners of the male claim that he has been used for breeding. So far he has not been able to "close the deal." I contacted the previous owners who suggested I "collect" from the male and inseminate the female. I have heard of this, but I do not know the "collection" procedure. Any advice?

Am not too familiar with your breed, and our REAL breed regulations do not allow this...doesn't mean it's not done on this continent however...LOL
Anyways, sounds like he's not a real easy breeder...if you need help with the breeding, you should find a really good vet who is experienced in AI's.
Good luck!
Michele

I couldnt leave this one alone, basically you have to masturbate the dog, not to put too fine a point on it.No joke, apparently the stud dogs get so that he's real happy to see the person who peforms this task.

The collected semen is then frozen until needed much the same as human semen is, some animal semen like cattle can be diluted with extenders so you can inseminate more females per ejaculation. AI with dogs is quite common in Australia because of the difficulties and expsense of importing stud dogs due to the quarantine laws. Its cheaper to import straws of semen than it is a dog. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Just a few further thoughts... I dont pretend to be any sort of expert dog breeder but as far as I know the usual practice is to attempt to use a experienced dog on a maiden bitch and vicea versa.

I have some friends who had a situation similar to yours where their two pet jack russels seemed unable to 'close the deal' as you put it. After trying for several years to no avail they took Jesse the bitch to a experienced stud dog who mated and 'tied' with her on the first visit from which she produced several pups.

It may be that your male is a dud breeder and that's why he was sold on to you in the first place.

On small breeds like westies the maiden bitches vaginal passage can be very small. We have a mini foxie chihuaha cross we wanted to breed. We found a similar sized dog but every time he tried to breed her she'd squeal and pull away. I looked into a few breeding books I had and one recommended dialating the bitches vagina with your little finger especially in a maiden bitch. Trim your nail and use some KY jelly. Dont know if yould be willing to do that but the vet will, we were doing it hard financially at the time so I did it myself, it worked and we have a little dog called Ruby whos our favorite to show for it. One other thing, dont let your dog mate the bitch over and over as she can end up carrying too many pups, one or two matings is usually all that is needed.