Natural reproduction, insemination

If you are a breeder of a stud dog or a bitch, so you will sooner or later plan the mating of your dog with a suitable female or male. There are several options you can choose when you are going to breed. The text below can help you to decide which option is best for you.

.

Natural reproduction

The ideal variant of breeding is definitely the natural mating that is in most cases successful and has the highest rate of pregnancies, although recently the percentage of pregnancies decreases for many reasons (nutrition, breeding approach, breeding, …). Problems with natural reprouction occur particularly in some breeds, for example, 80% of female dogs of French Bulldogs must be artificially inseminated. The high rate of pregnancies is supported by the ideal time of mating that can be determined by the breeding pair itself. However, the natural reproduction is associated with several disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that the animals sometimes have to be transported to very distant places. The transport is stressful to animals and also financially and time demanding. Mating cannot be planned long time in advance and therefore quick action and synchronisation of both“teams”is necessary. The natural mating of dogs is connected with the risk of injury, either due to aggressiveness of one of the dogs or, for example, due to substantially different animal body conformation. The natural reproduction is a suitable variant if the breeding pair is not separated by too great distance.

Other breeding option is artificial insemination. Insemination is possible by using fresh, chilled or frozen sperm.

.

Fresh semen insemination

When fresh semen is used, it is deposited in the female immediately at the place of semen collection or the fresh semen can be transported short distances (max. 2 hours). The advantage of insemination with fresh semen is the high rate of pregnancy, the preparation of the insemination dose is not difficult and thanks to it this method of insemination is financially affordable. However, it is still necessary to transport the animals if you want to mate a pair of animals that live great distance apart. Insemination dose of fresh semen cannot be stored for a long time and therefore the correct timing of insemination is necessary. The insemination with fresh semen is almost not used in dogs any more.

.

Chilled semen insemination

The second method of insemination is insemination with chilled semen (short-term semen preservation). In this case the semen is treated with a special diluent thanks to which the semen can be chilled for approximately 72 hours at 4-5°C. The advantage of this method is that the insemination doses can be transported longer distances (chilled) so the transport of dogs is not necessary any more. The preparation of chilled insemination doses is neither complicated nor financially demanding and the success rate is very good. The disadvantage of the chilled semen is its limited fertilization ability and a quick coordination of the stud and the bitch “teams” is necessary. The veterinary clinic Vedilab can provide you with assistance during insemination with chilled semen.

.

Insemination by deep-frozen semen

The last insemination option is insemination with cryopreserved semen (deep-frozen). Before cryopreservation the collected semen is thoroughly analysed and processed. After freezing, the insemination doses are stored in liquid nitrogen. The use of insemination with frozen semen is increasing and getting popular because of its advantages. The semen collection does not depend on the oestrous cycle of the female dog and you can use the insemination doses anytime in future. The semen should be collected at the most fertile age of the dog that is at the age between 2 to 5 years. The semen can be used for bitch insemination after the fertile age of the dog or even after its death. Deep-frozen insemination doses can be transported long distances without the necessity to transport dogs and so it is possible to mate breeding pairs living an unlimited distance apart. The insemination with cryopreserved semen is continuously improving and the success rate achieves up to 80% with intrauterine semen deposition, when the semen is deposited into the bitch cervical canal using a vaginal endoscope. The next advantage is that you can prepare several insemination doses from one semen collection and so you can inseminate more than one female contrary to natural reproduction. You can obtain more than 10 insemination doses from one ejaculate of optimum quality. Thanks to ejaculate analysis before its processing, spreading of sexually transmitted diseases (such as herpes virus or brucellosis) is avoided. The disadvantage of this method of insemination is the demanding preparation of the insemination doses and higher financial costs associated with it. In case of deep-frozen semen, differences in the sperm viability between the individual insemination doses may occur.

Genomia sperm bank is able to prepare cryopreserved insemination doses and store them. Our priority is the personal approach to our customers and therefore do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.