Artificial Insemination
 

Does anyone made it successfully?
I'm wondering how breeders from secondary countries to the breed can mate with a good dog, bringing new blood to the country.
Travelling is the only option?

This is also interesting for me.
I travelled twice from Vilnius to Prague and Warszaw and both times weren't successful. Having in mind, that my girl's progesterone level changes from 5 to 30 in two days (weeks "growing" till reaches 5, then sudden jump), it is not so easy to be at the male in time. This time she was mated with a male, who came to our home and - tadaaaaam - this time it is a success :)
But it is not so easy to find a male, who will come to your place, so I am really seriously thinking that for her next litter I would like to try AI... I know it is popular and works well with many breeds, why CzW should be an exception?

For people living in europe, I guess that travelling is the best way.
I know some breeders who used the IA in their females and was everything ok, they had a nice litter and so on, but what I noticed is that when the breeder turn the IA as preference the quality of the chosen stud fell.
I could see several people chosing the stud dog, not because of their bloodline or because how his blood could improve the breed in their country, but because of the fact that the owner accepted to send the semen of his dog for IA.

Just remembering here that most of the good stud dogs are not with breeders, but with mere owners who maybe, have no idea about how precious for the breed their dog could be, or who simply does not care for dog breeding, perhaps people who just does not want to have extra work by helping breeders to use their pet dog in breeding. ;)

But the problem is even worse because of travelling. People mate dogs because the stud is more accessible. For example, for me a trip to Poland will be 6000km by car... with the dog! (yeah, I know, you made even more but generally speaking... no one would do it)
With IA we could choose THE RIGHT dog. Still, I don't know what it takes... is it expensive? Complicated process? Any breeder here sent semen abroad?

But that's exactly the main point, often the right stud dogs does NOT have the right owner or will not live in the right place (ie. with conditions) for IA, and I can tell you that few owners would be willing to really have a lot of work, searching for competent vets and clinics, for cool or freeze the semen only to send it for you.

In some countries is not easy to find a vet able to work with semen properly and you must take this in consideration, if the vet does not make a good work preparing the semen for you, you will expend a lot of money and lose a heat of your female for nothing.

A breeder will probably see no problems in do it all to send semen for you, but several times good studs are not in hands of breeders, but of mere owners as pets.

Well, for example, our vet, who makes AI, also recomends vets in other countries and contacts them himself to make everything as "smooth" as possible. So, everything stands on stud's owner...
I know in Lithuania the procedure and sending sperm from EU countries might cost about 300 euros. Guess it might be even cheaper in other countries.
It is just very important for semen not to be x-rayed on the border :D But they have special stickers :)

What I'm more curious about is: any breeder did it successfully?
All these litters I see between dogs in different (sometimes distant) countries are made live?
Usually the male go to the female house?

I think we will be attempting AI at some point in the next couple of years. I insist that both dogs have successfully produced a litter each with natural covering before I would consider AI. The biggest problem for me is the timing of the heats of my females - I am a teacher, so by contract cannot break my cotract to travel - usually in early autumn, when our heats come. The whole process makes me very nervous! :)

If I was a breeder (which I am not), I don't think I would accept using AI unless I have also seen the dog I want to use in real life before.

I think photos are a poor way to judge a dog.

Hmmmm… Nebulosa and Yukidomary have a point… but also the others! I noticed several times (for other breeds) sometimes the male owners were not able to do all the right things at the end …. Or when I did meet the male he was total different in exterior and behaviour what I did expect from photo’s…
But … I agree with GalomyOak that in future (because of spreading the gene pole) we also have to deal with AI. But only when both dogs did succesfuly produce a litter before!

For my CsW I did drive hundreds of miles for a covering. But for other breeds I did have successful coverings with AI (see for example more info: http://www.cloneusa.com/aboutus.html , http://innovativecaninereproduction.com/ or http://ukclone.co.uk/ )
But worldwide in all kind of breeds, breed clubs, kennel clubs a.s.o. it is not “well done” to speak about AI or sometimes even not allowed to do this…

But I know it is successfully done (even in CsW breed), but I never don’t want to blame or harm any breeder by mentioning any names!