FORT COLLINS, Colorado: A biotech firm has announced it has successfully bred the first puppies selected for birth via a sex-selection test.
Biotechl firm XY Inc said via press release it has succeeded in producing five sex-selected offspring, three male and two female black Labrador Retriever pups.
The dogs are the latest in a long line of animal species to undergo a similar procedure, including cattle, horses, sheep, dolphins, water buffalo and domestic cats.
XY told Veterinary Practice News its 'Sex Selection Technology' was been responsible for hundreds of thousands of sex-selected offspring.
Developing a reliable sex-selection procedure would be a boon for seeing-eye-dog organizations and the military and law enforcement sectors. In the case of seeing-eye dogs, Labrador Retrievers, particularly females, are a desired breed due to their calm and gentle disposition and intelligence.
“We are delighted to show our sex-selection technology also works in the canine world,” said XY Inc CEO Dr. Mervyn Jacobson.
“Over the last several years, XY Inc. has been approached by organizations breeding seeing-eye dogs or dogs used by law-enforcement agencies and the military. These groups have an interest in breeding technology as a way to improve and expand their breeding pools of animals desired for certain traits or temperament,” he said.
Eldin Leighton, Jane H. Booker Director of Canine Genetics for The Seeing Eye (guide dog training organisation) said the sex-selection procedure held great promise for the any blind people needing guide dog assistance.
“Producing a single litter of five pups is only the beginning of the process to prove the sex ratio really can be controlled, but if the sperm-sorting process is proven to work with canine semen over many litters, this will be a major step forward,” he said.
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“For specialty breeding, this is a major breakthrough with great potential.” Dr Greg Burns
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“The Seeing Eye would find it very helpful if some litters could be produced that are mostly females, and I believe that access to sex-selection technology would be useful to dog guide schools around the world,” Leighton added.
However XY researcher and owner of South Mesa veterinary Hospital Dr Greg Burns said the sex selection process may not be appropriate for use by general canine breeders and dog enthusiasts.
“Using sex-sorted sperm to artificially inseminate dogs is probably not too practical for typical breeding," Dr Burns said.
"However, for specialty breeding, this is a major breakthrough with great potential.”
I think humans are playing god. What will happen to the rescue dogs that are trained now to be seeing eye dogs? It goes against nature. Should not happen.
Well that certainly is interesting, isn't it? I suppose you'd want more male dogs for their aggressiveness and for being more active, and female dogs for being more gentle and nurturing. I'm just curious to know how much a procedure like that would cost though.
now that's something new! i wonder what they will do next? we already have cloning, etc. well, i guess this would be good if the dogs were to be used as seeing eye dogs or some type of other dog jobs that require a specific gender. but if they were to be used for business, coz a female pup costs more if you sell them, that's greedy! still think you should not mess with the natural way of doing things.
hmmmm... this is interesting. Science has definitely come a long way. When you think about it, it's actually amazing. This is good if you need a certain sexed dog to do some important job that would help people. But if you are a breeder, this is not such a good idea. You may ruin your chances of breeding "natural" dogs and might out your momma bitch's life in danger.
hmmmmm, very interesting. i wonder though how much it would cost. its just a bit scary that more and more animals are being cloned now.
in this instance, i dont know if this is a good thing or something to look down on to. i mean its a scary thought that now we can actually already choose the sex of dogs and the like.
I can't say I'm all for this sex selection test. It happened in dogs already. Pretty soon couple can choose whether they want to have a boy or a girl. I don't think that's gonna be all good.
let's not forget that its the gender of the dog that's being selected here. Wouldn't it be funny if these groups that are demanding, say, more female dogs, got their wish and all of these female dogs turn out to be stupid and 'untrainable' for the task? BTW, if they're selecting using the semen, does this mean that for the dogs to be bred they'll be using artificial insemination?