We recommend that you call to schedule a breeding consultation with Dr. Rankin before coming in for initial progesterone testing. Blood progesterone tests and vaginal swabs are our only way of knowing when it’s the right time to breed a female. We can do these tests in-house, and have results for you quickly.
We do require pets to be current on Distemper/Parvo and Rabies vaccinations prior to their visit as well as Bordetella (kennel cough) vaccine if they are boarding. If we are breeding your female or collecting your male, we will also require a negative Brucellosis exam to be performed yearly. We highly recommend visiting the OFA website (https://ofa.org/chic-programs/browse-by-breed/), clicking on your dog breed, and assessing whether or not your pet would benefit from additional health clearances like Penn Hip or OFA Hip testing (both of which we can do here).
We offer 3 forms of insemination: regular vaginal AI, transcervical AI, and surgical AI. With vaginal AI, fresh or fresh chilled semen is placed in the vaginal cavity. During transcervical AI, a scope is used to place the semen through the cervix and right into the uterus. Fresh or frozen semen can be used for this type of breeding, and most dogs will stand for this without needing any sedation. If frozen semen is used, we recommend either transcervical insemination (TCI) or a surgical breeding, where the pet is anesthetized, a small incision is made in the abdomen, and semen is deposited in each horn of the uterus.
We can collect males here, and can either use the semen for breeding immediately, extend and cool it for shipping, or freezing. There is a lot of preparatory work that goes into freezing semen, so this is something we would need to know about well in advance.
