I have also been very impressed during my recent judging assignments in Europe and Scandinavia with the fact that so many of my winners over a variety of breeds have been produced from frozen semen, including Best Opposite Sex at the Italian Afghan Hound Specialty. It is not always possible to recognise this because there is no indication in the catalogue, and it is recognised by knowing that a certain prefix belongs to a particluar breed in a different country, whereas in Australia, the letters A.I. MU ST appear after a dog's name. They are part of his registration and will always be seen whenever his name appears, in catalogues, advertisements, service certificates etc. Personally we feel this is most important and it is regrettable that other countries do not follow this procedure, but of course in contrast to our regulations in Australia, many do not include the country of birth in the registration details of imported dogs either and again we feel that this is not in the best interests of accurate record keeping.
Another reason for using frozen semen, and in our opinion the most important of all, is the long term storage of precious genetic material for future usage, thus greatly expanding the potential for serious and ongoing line breeding to famous stud dogs.Thi s also allows for practical evaluation of contemporary stock by comparing the results of these litters with those produced only from current parents. Unfortunately we all know that show criteria are subject to fads and fashions, despite the careful wordin g of the breed standard. A breed can change greatly over a few short years, and not necesarily for the better. Long term stored semen therefore presents an invaluable opportunity should you wish to go back and re-incorporate the valued - sometimes even es sential - traits you may otherwise find hard to source.
As some people have a problem with the concept of puppies being produced long after their sire is deceased, their concern will be discussed a little further on.
Carefully pre-planned line-breeding from long-stored semen is an area with which we personally are currently deeply and very successfully involved. Once again we were the first in the world to achieve success.
You can see here a painting which includes three of our most famous stud dogs, all long-deceased. Since 1992 we have had an intensively line-bred litter from each of them.
In 1992 we produced a single pup from semen that had been stored for sixteen years, and he quickly became the 40th champion for his sire, our long deceased Flying Dutchman of Isfahan (imp USA), who was born in 1968. (Second from left in the painting.) A Multi RUBIS winner, this dog born in 1992 has already sired three champions including Championship Best in Show and Runner Up Best in Show winners. His dam was Ch Calahorra Fledgling, who was herself line bred twice to Dutchy, via her fourth and fifth gen erations and who, as a bonus via her dam Ch Calahorra Rowena, was also a grand-daughter of our historic 1976 litter.
In 1993, came the litter using 17 year old frozen semen from Ch Calahorra Quetzlcoatl, who was born in 1970 and sired 17 champions during his lifetime (first on the left in the painting). The current progeny are line bred five times to Quetzl, once to his champion sister Quo, and ten times to their sire Chandhara's Emir of Gray Dawn, with at least 30 crosses to American, Canadian, Venezuelan, Ch Shirkhan of Grandeur. Their dam Calahorra Born Toperform is a Rowena grandaughter, being out of Fledgling. In a normal breeding frame it is virtually impossible to produce so many generations of sufficiently mature age to establish such concentrated direct line breeding, other than by resorting to inbreeding with father/daughter or brother/sister matings. In our opinion, these are seldom justified and certainly not recommended for any but the most experienced breeders with great depth of knowledge of their own bloodlines.
This litter has created enormous interest world wide, two are already champions, and four more are well on the way with Best in Groups and RUBIGs. Grandchildren are also winning at the highest level with several having multiple challenge certificates.
On the right of the painting is Chandhara's Emir of Gray Dawn (imp UK), born in 1967 and sire of at least 21 champions during his lifetime. His newest daughter was born in 1995 from frozen semen stored for19 years at the time of the insemination. Her dam , who is also Calahorra Born Toperform, traces nine times to Emir of Gray Dawn, so this puppy's "type" was almost certainly assured.
By collecting semen for freezing, you can not only store your own famous stud dogs for re-incorporation into your lines at the right time, but also by pre-planning with frozen semen of course you have the equivalent of an insurance policy. For example, fr eeze any young up-and-coming star you may have, but which at your particular stage of development you cannot use in your own breeding programme simply because he is too closely related to your females at this time. He may well turn out to be an invaluable link for you in twenty years' time. The same applies to an outstanding dog you may sell, especially if he is to go out of your country. Remember also that dogs can die prematurely from many unexpected tragedies or causes, not just old age, or an accident al injury can prevent him from mating naturally, so if you value his genetic potential, freeze him. Of course ethics come into the equation at this stage, so more about this later.
For these reasons also, preservation of semen may become a crucial factor in the development of rare breeds.
A further advantage - and in fact an inestimably important one - has recently been brought to my attention, and that is the situation which occurs in breeds with genetically inheritable problems, such as PRA, Cataracts, Hip and Elbow Dysplasia etc. Pre- p lanning and responsible use of frozen semen could assist significantly in the control - possibly even the eradication - of these problems. To take it one highly probable step further, it is feasible that - in extreme cases should the gene pool of non affl icted animals become alarmingly small - frozen semen may become relevant to the very survival of certain breeds, by ensuring future access to these clean sires. Conversely, programmes designed to detect inheritable diseases in bitches could be implemented by matings with frozen semen specifically collected from affected or carrier dogs.
In American Cockers for example, a certificate for eye clearance is not obtainable until eight years of age. At that stage, many males will be decreasing in fertility, or if they have not previously been used at all, will be reluctant to mate. By storing semen from a significant dog when he is young, say at around 3 - 4 years, then it would be possible to use such a sire after he has been cleared, the overall result being that semen can be made available to the entire world, which could well assist breede rs in their endeavours to eliminate such horrific problems.
So you can see that if you have a stud dog you value and you plan ahead, by using frozen semen you will again be able to re-produce his qualities many years into the future.
Wendye Slatyer July 97
Copyright(c) 1997
Not to be reproduced without written permission of the author.
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