5 Most Common Questions about Dog Artificial Insemination

Many dog breeders are discovering the challenges faced by breeds with a limited gene pool, or a closed kennel breeding situation. The good news is there is a safe and effective way to combat those problems. You can breed your dogs to high-quality mates regardless of distance and even country locations and you can keep your breeding stock safe from infectious diseases while maintaining a closed kennel and still breed to the dogs you choose from the outside with the help of artificial insemination. As attractive and hopeful as the possibilities AI presents, some breeders are still worried about the challenges AI posses, and have questions about its safety or practice. These questions are easily answered, however. Here are the top five most common questions breeders ask about AI for dogs.

How Effective is Artificial Insemination?

In a perfect situation, artificial insemination is no more effective than natural breeding. However, as most people know, there are rarely any perfect situations. It comes down to the fact that almost everything can be controlled and timed as close to perfectly as possible with artificial insemination.

In addition, dog artificial insemination increases the chances of larger litters due to better placement of the semen in the vaginal tract. In an AI to AI comparison, there are some forms of artificial insemination that are produce higher rates of conception. Fresh semen used immediately on the premises has the highest rate of conception when all things are equal. Fresh extended, or chilled, semen has the next highest rate of conception. It is closest in overall conception rates to fresh AI and natural breeding. Fresh extended is far superior to frozen semen, and has an almost 90% higher conception rate. However, there are many good reasons to use frozen semen that compensate for the lower conception rate.

Is Artificial Insemination Safe for My Bitches?

As with any procedure, even natural breeding, there can be complications from artificial insemination. In spite of occasional instances of issues resulting from the insemination process, in general, artificial insemination is actually in many ways safer than natural breeding.

When using artificial insemination you protect your bitch from exposure to outside kennel virus’ and germs. She won’t be harmed by an aggressive stud dog, and in turn, a stud won’t be injured from a shy or reluctant bitch. When using a stud dog that is miles away in order to enhance your bloodlines, you won’t have to send your bitch miles from you so you relieve much of the stress from the breeding process. The actual process is quick, easy and typically causes no anxiety in the bitch.

How Expensive is Artificial Insemination for Dogs?

While using artificial insemination can get very costly if a veterinarian is used to perform testing and the actual insemination procedure, AI does not have to be much more expensive than a regular breeding. If you take a little time to learn the process yourself, you can do much of the work on your own, and save a lot of money. If you are breeding to an outside stud, you will have to pay for a stud fee whether you are using AI or a natural tie.
Live cover (natural tie) breedings can be even more costly in the long run. When using AI, the bitch owner only has to cover the cost of the actual breeding service and a little bit of a shipping fee. When sending the bitch to a stud, there are more expensive, live animal, shipping fees, boarding fees and the emotional cost for both bitch and owner during the separation.

Do I Need a Lot of Special Equipment for the Procedure?

It takes surprisingly few items to both collect semen and deposit the sample into the bitch. The important thing to remember is to always use high-quality tools that are sterile. While it is possible to obtain all of the things you will need, some of them can be difficult to locate and even hard to get in small quantities. Unless you are planning on breeding hundreds of bitches you probably won’t need, or want, big boxes of each type of item.

The items you will need to perform AI include:

• Powder free Latex gloves
• Sterile Lube
• 1 Sterile Syringe
• 1 sterile insemination tube
• 1 collection cone

Stud dog owners will need a few extra supplies in order to ship semen to outside bitches. The extra supplies include:

• 1 Styrofoam shipping container (reusable)
• Semen extender
• Centrifuge tube and o-rings
• Cold Pack(s) to keep chilled semen stored for shipment

How Does an Artificial Insemination Kit for Dogs Help?

AI kits for dogs make it easier to get the equipment you need without the frustration of hunting individual items down, shipping or traveling to get them, and then having to buy large quantities of each. When buying either fresh or chilled semen AI kits for dogs, you get all of the supplies for a single use, or you can buy kit packs for the number of collection/inseminations you are planning. Our AI kits for dogs carry all of the necessary supplies in single or multiple packs, and in both fresh and chilled versions.