Use of surgical intrauterine insemination to manage infertility in a colony of research German shepherd dogs.

A colony of German shepherd dogs with inherited ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death had infertility that was resolved by intrauterine insemination. Mating of German shepherd males to related German shepherd females (40 cycles) by vaginal artificial insemination resulted in a low pregnancy rate of 35% and a small median litter size of 3.5. When these same German shepherd males were bred to female beagles by vaginal artificial insemination, the pregnancy rate of 100% (P = 0.02) and median litter size of 7.0 were significantly (P = 0.04) greater. Therefore, inadequate fertility existed when the German shepherds were mated. Because matings between these dogs were necessary, surgical intrauterine insemination of fresh semen was instituted in eight German shepherd females over nine cycles. In bypassing the cervix with this method, German shepherd fecundity increased significantly, with a pregnancy rate of 100% (P = 0.002) and median litter size of 8.0 (P = 0.001). Surgical intrauterine insemination may be an important method for management of canine infertility in the research environment.