Whether you are a new or well experienced breeder, Bristol Veterinary Clinic is excited to offer reproductive services to help you carry your animal’s superior genetics into future generations! Bristol Veterinary Clinic has a special interest in canine theriogenology, we are not board-certified theriogenologists. The veterinarians and staff at Bristol Veterinary Clinic have many years of combined experience in reproductive and neonatal medicine. Our veterinarians are breeders themselves active in competing with purebred dogs. Our aim is preservation breeding and breeding with a purpose. We are not reproductive specialists, but this is an area of special interest in the veterinary medical field and a personal passion for many on our team.

Because reproductive medicine is particularly important to us, there are requirements to be accepted as a reproductive client of Bristol Veterinary Clinic. A client must fulfill and stay current with these requirements to receive reproductive care for your animals.

These requirements are:

• You must only breed animals with completed health clearances according to recommendations made by OFA and/or the breed parent club. If needed, Bristol Veterinary Clinic can help you complete necessary testing by either performing health testing or referring you to an appropriate source to complete the requisite health clearances.
  If an outcross or hybrid of multiple breeds is being performed, the health clearances required for all foundation stock must be performed (i.e. a ‘Goldendoodle’ needs health clearances required of both the Golden Retriever and the Poodle).

• You must breed to the standard of a recognized breed club. Bristol Veterinary Clinic will not assist in breeding canines of disqualifying faults, “rare” or “exotic” variations, non-standard colors, severe conformational faults detrimental to overall health, or other fads encouraged by public trends.

• You must breed healthy animals who do not pose a public health risk. They shall not be over- or under- weight. They shall be outwardly healthy on physical examination prior to breeding. Bitches shall receive wellness bloodwork with a urinalysis, heartworm, tick-borne disease test, and a fecal test as part of their pre-breeding examination. Rabies vaccination must be kept up to date and either titers or vaccinations must be performed for core vaccinations. The animals must have a negative brucellosis test within 30 days of breeding or collection and it is recommended to have brucella testing performed on all breeding animals every 6 months. It is strongly encouraged all breeding bitches be maintained on an appropriate heartworm preventative through breeding, gestation, and lactation. If a heart murmur is detected, a breeding will be performed at our discretion after a consultation and echocardiogram with a board-certified veterinary cardiologist.

• You must breed only animals with a suitable and stable temperament. With or without owners present, they must accept physical examination, blood draws, moderate restraint by Bristol Veterinary Clinic team members, insemination, and manual semen collection without a muzzle or sedation.

Bristol Veterinary Clinic reserves the right to refuse services to any client or any animal deemed unsuitable or unstable for breeding regardless of the reason (mental or physical or client related) and regardless of client-imposed time constraints. We reserve the right to refuse services at any time if a client becomes abusive to the Bristol Veterinary Clinic team or the animal develops a health or temperament concern rendering it unsuitable for breeding, even if we have initiated ovulation timing or previously agreed to perform a collection or insemination.

PLAN AHEAD!
New clients must schedule an Initial Reproductive Consultation with Bristol Veterinary Clinic prior to any client-imposed deadline (i.e. a bitch requires immediate breeding). Availability of assistance for your breeding plans cannot be guaranteed for new clients without an initial consultation.

Bristol Veterinary Clinic offers a full line of reproductive care for your dogs and bitches, including ovulation timing, in house progesterone testing, vaginal artificial insemination, transcervical artificial insemination (TCI), surgical artificial insemination, manual semen collection and evaluation, semen survival testing, fresh chilled semen shipment, semen cryopreservation, subfertility and infertility counseling and intervention, planned and emergency cesarian sections, prenatal monitoring, neonatal care, tail docking, dewclaw removal, and very soon ear cropping. We will perform any of these services to approved clients during regular business hours.

If you follow Bristol Veterinary Clinic’s protocols and procedures for ovulation timing and perform all follow-up gestational checks with us as recommended (unless otherwise arranged), you will have access to our 24/7/365 emergency phone number, email address, and care specific for reproductive urgencies and emergencies. We will also accommodate breeding requirements outside our typical business days if needed to complete a time sensitive collection and/or breeding. Any after-hours care, including phone consultations, will result in additional fees.

If you do not follow our recommended protocols or do not perform follow-up appointments with Bristol Veterinary Clinic, we will happily assist you during normal business hours. We will refer any after-hours needs to a local emergency veterinary clinic.

The Bristol Veterinary Clinic team believes in producing superior puppies to help shape the future of all purebred and purpose bred cross breeds – we do not believe in merely producing puppies to add to the population. We are excited to work with fellow breeders who share our passion and vision for the preservation and future of purebred and purpose bred dogs.