Chapter 9 - Sterility, Impotence And Cryptorchidism

Dogs, as a lot, show little variation in their sexual functions, and the breeder's difficulty in inducing them to reproduce is rare. In the event of either sterility or impotence in a dog, the counsel of a competent veterinarian is indicated. Though he may or may not be able to remedy or alleviate the condition, all such are by no means hopeless.

While the veterinarian should be consulted in such cases, the breeder should know at least enough about these phenomena to cause him to recognize them when they occur among the dogs of his kennel.

Sterility and impotence are terms that should not be confused. While both may exist in the same animal at the same time, the conditions are not identical. Sterility is the failure of either sex to produce functional gametes (sperm or ova) which are capable, when properly united with those from the other sex, of developing into living fetuses. Impotence is the inability or disinclination of the male dog to perform the act of copulation. Either state may be permanent or only temporary. With understanding and proper management, either can usually be remedied.

A bitch cannot be, in strict sense, called sterile or barren if she conceives puppies at all, even though her ova are not viable enough to permit of the development of the fetuses and the bearing of her puppies alive. A bitch who habitually aborts her puppies is no more sterile than another who habitually bears live puppies but of so frail constitutions that they die.

It is by no means easy to be sure of sterility in the bitch. What seems like sterility may so easily be something else. A mere failure, even habitual failure, to conceive does not imply sterility. If a bitch has ever been definitely known to be in whelp, barring serious illness or great general debility, she is not likely to become sterile, at least not until age puts an end to her reproductive life.

A good many bitches come regularly and normally into heat, accept the congress with the male, and yet never conceive. A breeder is likely to consider such a bitch sterile and, indeed, she may be. The opening from the vagina into the uterus may be so tightly closed that the sperm get no further than the vagina and fail of their function. The dilation of the os uteri, which any veterinarian will perform for one, just before breeding her will frequently enable her to conceive. If indicated, it is a simple and harmless process and is worth the trial.

Over-acidity of the vaginal and uterine tracts will often destroy the sperm before they reach the ova. Dosage of the bitch with bicarbonate of soda for a few days before breeding her, douching with a bicarbonate of soda solution, either or both, will often so overcome the acid condition as to make possible conception. These methods should be used with caution for over-alkalinity is as harmful to sperm as over-acidity.

In the male dog, sterility is a good deal easier to recognize definitely. An examination of his semen under the microscope will reveal whether the spermatozoa are alive and active. If they are, it is to be assumed that sterility does not exist.

However, a dog who fails to prove fertile after being bred to several bitches known consistently to produce, even though the dog has been recognized as previously fertile, should be removed from public stud until the reasons for his failure are established and his fertility is not open to doubt. To accept bitches for breeding to a sterile dog is to rob their owners of more than the money paid for the breeding fee; it is to waste the valuable time of the bitch which might be spent in producing puppies by some other dog.

Permanently sterile male dogs are frequently, although not always, of an erratic and temperamental, sometimes shy, frequently vicious, nature. The converse is, however, not true, and merely a strange disposition does not, without any other reason, imply sterility. A male dog seriously lacking in masculine sex character of type and bearing is also open to suspicion of sterility unless and until his fertility is proven.

Complete castration of the male, the removal of both testes, always results in sterility, as does the spaying of the bitch if both ovaries are removed. A dog may function reproductively with a single testis as may a bitch with a single ovary.

Permanent sterility may be produced in the male by means of a very simple surgical operation in the severance of the sperm duct or the removal of a section of it. This operation is not to be confused with castration. It does not alter the dog's disposition or his amative instinct and it is difficult to detect that it has been done. In a few cases when dogs have proved fertile in one ownership only to prove sterile in another ownership, it has been suspected that dishonest vendors have had such dogs artificially sterilized to prevent the buyer from obtaining stock from the dogs.

Such suspicions are sometimes unjust. A change of environment, food, and management may render a dog sterile; or it may, without understandable cause, restore the fertility of a dog that has been temporarily sterile. In fact, it is to be recommended that a dog who habitually fails to produce with adequate opportunity have his whole environment changed, that his ration be largely of raw, lean beef, and he be exercised to the limit of his enjoyment for activity.

Neither obese nor emaciated dogs of either sex, particularly female, are fit to reproduce their kind, and often fail when it is sought to have them do so. Reduced or built up, as the case may be, to a healthy state of hard flesh, such dogs who have failed to breed satisfactorily may prove excellent breeders.

Prolonged exposure to X-radiation is known in many cases to produce sterility in either sex and a male so exposed should be tested for his fertility before being placed at public stud.

Sterility in an otherwise normal and healthy dog is difficult to understand and to overcome. There is little to be done, when one has made sure that the condition is really sterility, except to experiment in alterations of diet and living conditions.

Impotence of the male dog, while most annoying to his handler, can usually be remedied. The utmost of patience, kindness, and consideration is required in the handling of such a case. Sometimes no other remedy is necessary. If the impotence is not complete or permanent, harsh treatment and loss of temper on the part of the handler may aggravate and prolong it.

Impotence may be due to one or more of several causes and the first procedure in dealing with it is to find and remove the cause, if possible. The cause may be organic, functional, or often, merely psychic.

The sexual organs may be so malformed that copulation is impossible. Such malformation may be congenital or may result from injury. Surgery may or may not be an effective remedy.

Mere phimosis, a contraction of the prepuce in such a manner as not to admit of normal erection, can be easily corrected with minor surgery.

Functional impotence may result from glandular imbalance, from general debility, or from obesity, which may itself be of glandular origin. A correct and complete diet, including plenty of raw beef and milk, with systematic exercise to put the dog into the optimum of condition, will often overcome his sexual indifference. Indeed, a reluctant dog may sometimes be induced to breed by having him play violently until well tired and then, after a short rest, taken to the bitch.

It should not be expected of a dog that his sexual instinct should exhibit its strongest manifestation immediately following a heavy meal or when the animal is much fatigued. If he is at all disposed to impotence, such matters should be taken into consideration in handling him.

Drugs to whip up a waning or absent sex ardor should be used only with moderation and discretion. Most of the aphrodisiac drugs are deleterious, many of them positive poisons. Tincture of cantharides (Spanish fly), which is perhaps most frequently used for such purpose, is a violent irritant and can do very serious injury to the dog.

Dogs vary in their tolerance of strychnine and the correct dosage for the individual is difficult to determine. As everyone knows, it is a violent heart stimulant and dangerous poison. Caffeine is less hazardous and is sometimes useful.

Fowler's solution of arsenic, used in graduated dosage over a period of time as a systemic tonic, may serve to increase the sexual ardor of a dog. However, once used to it, a dog deprived of his arsenic is liable to deteriorate, and its use should not be begun unless it is intended to continue it.

Perhaps the least harmful of the aphrodisiac drugs and the most efficient is hydrochlorate of yohimbin. Why it is not better known and more used is not easy to understand. It is or once was put on the market in veterinary form under the trade name of "Vetol." Excellent results often follow its use. Daily dosage with yohimbin for a few days will sometimes enable a dog to breed who is unwilling or unable to do so without it.

The same drug can be used to induce menstruation in bitches that have skipped their season.

These drugs or any others should be given only with the advice of a competent veterinarian or by a practical dog breeder who is familiar with their dosage and with the results to be expected of them. The benefit to be derived from them may be easily cancelled out by the harm that accrues from their careless or ignorant use.

Many more cases of partial or complete impotence in dogs is of psychic rather than of physical origin. They especially demand the handler's comprehension and consideration. Gentleness in dealing with such an animal, encouragement and sympathy are the soundest treatment.

A psychically impotent dog is likely to be one of a very sensitive disposition. In an early sex experience, such a dog may have been injured, punished, or even shamed to such a degree that he thereafter associated copulation with the unpleasant incident. A dog of more callous temperament would not be deterred from the manifestation of his normal, sexual instinct, but one of a more delicate nature may be rendered impotent.

Such a dog requires to be psychically reconditioned. Especially shall he not be made aware of how great a trial he is to his handler's patience. Only the gentlest treatment and kindest encouragement to breed should be given him, and he should be removed from the bitch and returned to her at frequent intervals. Alternate petting of him and of the bitch to whom it is desired to breed him may stimulate his interest in her.

A judicious use of yohimbin or other aphrodisiac drug may so increase the sexual urge as to overcome the fear which deters the dog. If he can be induced to breed to a few bitches and can so be conditioned to disassociate the sexual act with the unpleasurable experience which brought about his impotence, there is a likelihood that thereafter he will breed without urging.

True impotence seldom exists in the bitch and the word is not often correctly applied to her. Tumors or neoformations in the vagina may make copulation for her impossible or painful. Such conditions require surgical attention.

Some bitches, though organically normal and in full heat, refuse to be bred. They may flirt with the dog and encourage him, but evade coitus. Usually such bitches are virgin and their reluctance is due to fear, although there are some bitches who never recover from such fear and their handlers have difficulty with them each time that they are to be bred.

Such bitches are not impotent. Often patience, encouragement, and sympathy will induce them to accept congress with the dog. If such means do not suffice, it becomes necessary to force such a one, first making sure that there are no obstructions which might cause pain or injury to her. If small, she can usually be held, supported by collar and loin. If of a large breed, it becomes necessary to muzzle her, tie her up on a very short lead, and support her under the belly to prevent her sitting down or breaking away. Care should be exercised to show her no more indignity than necessity warrants. Impatience should be concealed and the bitch should be petted and caressed. The restraint of such a bitch need be of but brief duration, for she will usually stand quietly after copulation has taken place. There is really no more pain for her than for the bitch who welcomes congress with her mate and her refusal is actuated only by unwarranted fear.

The testes are at the birth of the dog in the abdominal cavity and descend into the scrotum at a few months of age. In some dogs one or both of the testes fail to descend and the dog goes through life retaining the gonad in the abdomen. Such a condition is known as cryptorchidism.

When both testes are buried in the abdomen, the dog is never consistently fertile. That such animals do sometimes beget puppies is attested by the registration of their progeny in the stud book, although there are breeders who are inclined to look with suspicion on such registrations. To employ such a dog for breeding is at least hazardous and is better avoided if it be possible to obtain from another source the attributes for the sake of which one might make use of him.

When one testis has descended normally into the scrotum, one need not have the same fear of infertility. While dogs with one testicle visible in the scrotum may not exhibit quite the consistency as stock-getters as do dogs showing the normal two, the unlikelihood of their fertility is not such as to deter the breeder who wants in his puppies qualities that such a sire may bring to them.

Worse than the hazard of infertility in such a case is the hazard of introducing cryptorchidism into one's strain. Since cryptorchidism is a recognized genetic recessive factor, once introduced into the strain, there is always the probability that it will pair with another recessive of the same kind and consequently manifest itself in the phenotype.

Cryptorchidism is seen most frequently in a few breeds, notably in Bulldogs and in some of the Toys. It may be considered as a minor unsoundness when single, and as a somewhat more serious unsoundness when double. Judges of dog shows were at one time prone to assume a lenient attitude toward cryptorchidism and attach little if any penalty to it in its single form. The American Kennel Club, however, has now ruled that cryptorchidism and monorchidism are both unsoundnesses of such proportions that dogs manifesting either condition must now be disqualified from competition. Monorchidism may still not prevent a dog from being used for breeding purposes. There are cases on record in which a double cryptorchid dog has been awarded the prize for best dog of any breed in large, all-breed shows.

Sterility, impotence, refusal to breed, and cryptorchidism are comparatively rare among dogs. Such abnormalities need not confuse or deter the breeder. A cognizance of them must sometimes perforce be taken, however, and the practical breeder should be aware of their significance and of the means best employed to overcome them.

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