Reproduction in the Dog: Reflections on Past Neglect and Its Consequences for Society

REPRODUCTION IN THE DOG: REFLECTIONS ON PAST NEGLECT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR SOCIETY WOLFGANG JÖCHLE* InJuIy 1988, the First International Symposium on Canine and Feline Reproduction was held in Dublin, Ireland. About 100 scientists from around the world attended or participated. This symposium was organized as a satellite to the World Congress on Animal Reproduction and Artificial Insemination, and almost all in attendance had been to the big meeting first. This vehicle was needed; without it, the chances would have been slim to get those who made major contributions in the recent past, and those interested in the subject, together. Lack of funding, not lack of enthusiasm about the subject, is the reason for this sad state of affairs; a situation well known to insiders but hardly imaginable to the wide and often opulent world of pet owners. The announcement of this symposium triggered in this author paradoxical reactions: satisfaction that finally the need for such a gathering of experts was not only recognized but had reached a critical mass; and renewed puzzlement that the reproductive biology of man's best friends, helpers, and companions had been so long neglected—to the detriment of mankind. The dog is regarded as the oldest domestic animal. Yet the true characteristics of its reproductive physiology have been until recently—and to considerable extent still are—unknown territory , in spite of early spurts of interest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that had the dog play a pivotal role in the discoveries that sperm can stay alive for some time in vitro, some dog sperm even for 7 days [1], and that artificial insemination was possible [2, pp. 129134 ]. Congress calendars have been studded for decades with conferences , symposia, and meetings on the reproduction of cattle, sheep,»Address: 10 Old Boonton Road, Denville, New Jersey 07834.© 1989 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 003 1-5982/90/3301-0668$0 1 .00 66 I WolfgangJòchle ¦ Reproduction in the Dog goats, horses, and pigs, and those dedicated to rodents, rabbits, and primates have almost become an industry. Why such neglect of dogs? Economic interests have sponsored progress in obtaining insight about reproductive phenomena and their control in farm, sport, and lab animals . A multibillion-dollar industry grew around dogs and cats, but its proponents seem ambiguous about the need to finance research in this regard or to exert political pressure for its public funding. This is difficult to comprehend since society is burdened with the products of unwanted reproduction—14 million young dogs and cats are destroyed annually in the United States, and 1 million in the United Kingdom— and lack of knowledge interferes not only with our companion animals' welfare but with that of society at large. A misinterpretation of correct information obtained from the bitch in the middle of the last century and the unsuitable use of the bitch as a model for conditions in man 100 years later are pertinent examples. In 1845, Bischoff [3] reported correctly that, during the period of vaginal bleeding accompanying heat, the bitch ovulates. His and his contemporaries' conclusion that consequently the human female ovulates while menstruating not only was wrong but had grave consequences for progress in understanding human reproductive biology and its socioreligious ramifications. The use the Catholic church made of this "insight" is a good example, pointed out byJohn Rock, the pioneer of birth control [4, pp. 155-167]. First steps toward alleviating the burden on married couples with large families, taken in "Opinions of the Sacred Penitentiary" by the Vatican in 1853 and in 1880, advising parish priests on confessional practices, draws attention to these findings by allowing restriction of intercourse to the intermenstrual period [5]. As the world was shown later, this directed intercourse to the peak level of fertility, around ovulation in the middle of the menstrual cycle. Only in the second quarter of this century , Knaus [6] and Ogino [7, 8] convincingly corrected this error, which must have had far-reaching consequences for millions of faithful Catholics over two or three generations. This 180-degree shift in recommendations of when to have safe intercourse was belatedly accepted by the Catholic church and by now is widely...