Dr. Robert Van Hutchison: Canine Reproduction + a Great AR Put-down

Dr. Hutchison – a truly dynamic and entertaining speaker – opened his talk with a discussion of the causes of infertility and some fascinating information about the bitch’s physiology, including the following:

• A bitch has as many as 500,000 potential ova.
• A bitch that doesn’t come in season till the age of two can probably be bred for an extra year, because…
• Progesterone "wears out" the lining of the uterus, whether the bitch is bred or not.
• Interesting aside: transferring fertilized embryos into surrogate mothers is frequently done in large animals.

Dr. Hutchison explained that bitches are unique because the bitch ovulates into a progesterone environment; all other animals ovulate into an estrogen environment. He said that a vaginal prolapse is nothing to worry about. And like geneticist Dr. Jerold Bell, said we must rank the importance of genetic defects.

Dr. H. said that a puppy doesn’t start forming till 2 or 3 days after ovulation, and the size of the litter depends on…

• the timing of the breeding;
• the age of the uterus;
• and genetics (the closer you breed, the smaller the litter will be).

The way to determine the timing of the breeding is to…

• look at the physiological signs;
• do estrogen testing;
• determine the LH spikes;
• monitor progesterone levels.

He said semen lasts in the bitch for 4 – 6 days.

Dr. Hutchison concluded his talk with the following anecdote:

He said he was once asked at one of his seminars by a vet with AR leanings how he could in good conscience make his living by helping people produce more puppies, in view of the pet overpopulation problem. Dr. H. replied, "Puppies are a lot like veterinarians – there are way too many of them, and not enough good ones."