Canine Repro Seminar with Dr Hutchison

A lot of great advice from Hutch!

Dr Robert Hutchison, widely recognized as one of the preeminent repro vets in North America
Northview Animal Clinic, N. Ridgeville, OH
Transcript: Canine Reproduction Seminar



DrHutch: Good evening!
PCFFasDog: Good evening and thank you all for being here! We are very excited to welcome Dr. Robert Van Hutchison to our first Canine Reproduction Seminar.
This free seminar is sponsored by Veterinary Perinatal Specialties, Inc., home of the WhelpWise service. Please visit their website at http://www.whelpwise.com, and show your support for their sponsorship of this event!
Many of you already know Dr. Hutchison or have seen him speak in person. He is one of the leading canine reproduction experts in the world, and a favorite speaker at specialties and dog club events all over the country. It's a great honor for us to welcome him here tonight. Dr. Hutch is a Reproduction and Genetics consultant for the Veterinary Information Network, and is co-director of the Animal Clinic Northview, Inc., in North Ridgeville, Ohio.
He is also the president of the International Canine Semen Bank of Ohio, and advisor for College of Veterinary Medicine students interested in small animal theriogenology from Ohio State University, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Tufts, and Michigan State University.
Dr. Hutch is the author of many articles on canine reproduction in various breed journals and magazines, including "Canine Frozen Semen," "Improving the Odds of Having Healthy Puppies," "Treatment of Pyometritis in the Bitch Using Prostaglandin F - a Hypo-thyroidism," and "Female Reproduction." Dr. Hutch will open with a few remarks and then he will take your questions. To ask a question, just click on "AskDrHutch" in the right hand column, type your question, and hit "send."
If you have problems during the chat, just click on any of the names that begin with "@PCF" then type the question and hit "send."
I am very happy now to turn the seminar over to Dr. Hutch!
DrHutch: What a wonderful way to spend a winter evening! I thank everyone for their interest in canine reproduction. I especially want to thank Karen Copley and Whelpwise for their sponsorship and Christie Keith from VIN for her help.
For those that do not know me, I am tall, extremely handsome with wavy dark hair. For those of you who do know me, yes, I am still short, bald and dumpy! I do want to thank those who have attended my repro/pediatric seminars for their kind words on the message posts. Your questions have been excellent and very stimulating. I hope to cover as many as possible this evening.
For us to understand canine reproduction, we must realize that the canine, and especially the bitch, is a unique individual when compared to all other domestic species. While most animals ovulate into an estrogen bath, the bitch ovulates into a progesterone environment. This fact is why we cannot use estrogen testing, vaginal smears or breeding guns for other than general timing of the bitch's estrous cycle.
The use of frozen semen and fresh-cooled semen showed us the true facts of canine breeding. Many testing methods that seemed to work only appeared so due to the extreme long life of fresh semen in the bitch.
I always pictured Mother Nature looking at us dog breeders and saying "those poor, poor fools. They don't have a clue what they are doing!" Progesterone testing has allowed us to anticipate ovulation, determine whelping dates and to schedule planned c-sections months in advance.
Interpreting progesterone levels, unfortunately is still a mystery to many veterinarians and breeders. With these facts in place let's talk about your problems, concerns and interests!
Question: When you say "The use of frozen semen and fresh-cooled semen showed us the true facts of canine breeding. Many testing methods that seemed to work only appeared so due to the extreme long life of fresh semen in the bitch," what do you mean?
DrHutch: Basically, fresh semen lasts 5-6 days. Colorado state has found live semen ELEVEN days after breeding. This made up for a lot of our mistakes. Once we started using fresh cooled and frozen semen, which last only a few days or hours, suddenly things that seemed to work in the past no longer seemed to work. Now with prosterone testing, we can get 83 percent conception rates with FROZEN semen....
Question: Bitches who keep missing.
Several people asked a variation of this question:
I have tried a number of times to breed my bitch, both with natural breedings and with AIs. She has missed repeatedly. Where do you start when trying to understand and resolve this problem?
DrHutch: Basically there are only SIX reasons a bitch misses, and we run around testing thyroid and doing cultures, which are really only minimal reasons for failure.

• First, is the male sperm good.
• Second, did she ovlulate.
• Three, was semen put in at the right time.
• Four, did semen get to egg.
• Five, did fertilized egg implant.
• Six, did placenta develop enough to maintain (the pregnancy).

We have to work our way through the list to determine what the cause was. What we do is, first of all, have the male semen evaluated. That is NOT saying there is a drop of sperm on the slide, there is sperm or no sperm.
Normal sperm evaluations consist of 10 million sperm per pound of body weight, 80 percent motility, less than 20 percent abnormal, and if your male sperm meets those criteria, probably it's not the problem.
The other five problems have to do with the bitch herself, and progesterone testing the DAY of ovulation is the day her progesterone goes above 5 nanograms. Even though she has this three week-plus heat cycle, there is a three to four day window we have to hit that varies from bitch to bitch. With progesterone testing, we can be sure the semen is put in at the proper time no matter what type of insemination method we are using.

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Dr. Hutchison gives his permission for breeders and dog clubs to reprint this article in their club newsletters or publications provided the following statement is included:
Copyright 2002 by Dr. Robert Hutchison and the Veterinary Information Network, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Dr. Van Hutchison can be reached at Animal Clinic Northview, Inc., 34910 Center Ridge Rd., North Ridgeville, Ohio 44039; (440) 327-8282.