I would be interested in hearing from people who have had litters (or not had litters) when they used frozen or chilled semen.

I recently attempted a breeding using frozen semen that was not successful <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> We attempted it using surgical AI and immediately after the surgery my bitch had bleeding (from her vulva) and I knew then that something was not right and it would not take. In the surgical any handling of the uterus can bring on this reaction, plus they knock your dog completely out (it took over an hour for this surgery) and she has a large scar afterwards (bigger then a spay scar). I would NOT repeat this experience (to say the least, I also lost $2800 attempting it). This was a case of a very fertile bitch (12 pups her first litter), excellent timing (ovulation + 3 days), and excellent semen quality. Right now I'm very sceptical of any kind of frozen breeding so would not repeat it, at least not until I had another natural success or two under my belt.

If you are going to attempt it using frozen I would suggest TCI, that is the only way I would attempt it again. With the transcervical they do not knock the dog out and they insert it directly into the uterus (via cervix). From what I hear it has much better success rate but it is difficult to find the experienced specialists needed for this procedure. My friend who works at the blind dog center in San Rafeal (sp?) in CA (Kathy O'Brien) says they have great success with frozen using TCI's, but you have to remember that is a very controlled setting so they will have higher success then the general public. I spoke with her a couple days ago and there was recently a national reproductive seminar and it was stated that the surgical is not the way to go because of low success rates due to the handling of the uterus (excessive trauma). On using fresh chilled I have a friend (Glenn Salamanca) that attempted this and it did not take, the vet looked at semen prior and said it was excellent quality. I also know someone who has attempted two TCI's using frozen and in both cases she got nothing (well two mummified pups in one case). All these cases involved Malinois. So I am probably not the person to talk to right now because I have decided to go back to 'the old fashion way' of breeding dogs. Again if I saw a lot of success stories then I would possibly change my mind, but it's a LOT of money and emotional turmoil to go through for nothing. Plus my dog is in the prime of her life so I will not waste another heat on such low odds, when even regular breedings are not a sure thing.

If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to e-mail my privately, I learned a lot from this experience. On timing (serum progesterone guidelines), thawing of semen, etc - at the guide dog center they do not thaw the semen until they have the catheter in the uterus, so it is IMMEDIATELY thawed and inserted (in my case it was 45+ min's).

Also most important is research who you use upfront, find out how many they have performed and how many were successful. Forget all the statistics on frozen semen you will see, that may be best case stats from one selective survey from Sweden, but means nothing when it comes to where we are here in the States, and more important, who you chose to perform it.

Kelly

I haven't bred any dogs, but my pup was conceived using frozen semen (10 pups in the litter). My breeder can be reached at http://www.blitzkrieger.com and I am sure she would be happy to share info.

Lela

I think the other question to ask (possibly) is where the kit is from. There are a few companies out there that specialize in this and could possibly impact the outcome as well.

just a thought...

Back to work:-)

Friends of mine just had a successful litter born from frozen semen of their late stud dog. 10 puppies weighing 14-17 oz. I think AI provides a great opportunity to utilize the genes of dogs that might otherwise have been lost when they passed away.

Hi Ed..

I have used frozen semen 4 times.. all times there were at least 8 pups.. one time 10. We had it done surgically.. small insision.. inject right into the uterus.

I am going to try a chilled breeding this winter for the guide dog school.. we will see how that goes!

Jody

I had one experience with it with my Border terrier stud. I was told he had to be brought in one week for a tests and the next week the vet would do the actual collection. Whe he was brought in for the collection, they again ran tests and I was told he had a small staff infection that would rule out shipping. He didn't have the infection the week before, and the vet admitted he may have gotten it from the origional testing. This was 8-10 yrs ago. I hope it's a better procedure now.