I have an 18 month old male who so far is turning out very nicely. His Prelims were great, his temperament is outstanding and he is just the greatest guy. I wanted to breed him this summer on his prelims to an experienced bitch who will be having her last litter and I would like it to be with him . He is very , very immature and prefers playing to anything else. I collected from him 2 1/2 weeks ago to analyze his sperm and after a long 10 minutes I had 6 CC's of nearly clear fluid with no thickness and barely any cloudiness to it. I checked under the scope and there were zero sperm, I tried another sample with a new slide and again nothing. He had been on antibiotics (Cephalexin) for 2 weeks for a skin bacteria he picked up laying in straw in the play yard so I attributed it to that and the fact that it was his first time. I collected again yesterday and again a long process with the same result. He even laid down during the collection. He did not respond in any way at all. I keep holding out that he is so immature and his sperm production will catch up. Has anyone ever experienced this with a good outcome? Any supplements I can give to help promote sperm? I work for a vet so I am taking him in this Saturday for a CBC, a thyroid panel and send some serum in for a testosterone test to a lab we deal with. I will even do a Brucellosis test even though he has never been with a bitch.Any tests I should be doing as well? I don't want to stress him and I if it could just be immaturity. Thoughts please and thank you in advance.

doesn't sound good at 18 months he should have good sperm counts. Have you taken him to a repro vet?

That will be the next step after I get the results of the blood work I am having done.I live in eastern TN, does anyone know of a good one close to my area. TN, NC, SC?

Did you have a teaser bitch to arouse him? They can give a collection with no sperm if not excited enough.

That made me hopeful. Put a smile on my face. I used a cloth that I swiped a bitch with when she was in standing. It had been in my freezer for nearly 1 year. My other boy who I collect from about every 2 months to clean his pipes if I am not using him had amazing swimmers in 12 seconds with the same cloth. Maybe the younger boy felt inhibited by the older boy's scent on the cloth.He worships him and respects him totally. I have 2 girls in heat right now (day 3) and tomorrow I am taking my older boy away from the girls but leaving my younger boy with the girls. Hopefully I will see a reaction. I am also removing all toys from the play yard so he might get focused.

Sperm can live for a good number of days inside a bitch if he figures it out, so I wouldn't leave him out with bitches in season, but I would definitely use one as a teaser to collect him. I wouldn't dream of attempting to collect a young boy without one.

I had the same problem. Turns out he had Lyme disease. Unfortunately even after several rounds of treatment, he remained sterile.

Every dog is different. Just because your older, experienced boy is a quick study when it comes to ejaculating sperm when there is a year-old frozen scent of a bitch in heat doesn't mean that they all will. We forget, they are animals, and so much of their behavior is triggered by instinctual intelligence, especially the inexperienced, immature ones.
He's no dummy, he knows there is no bitch in heat, so he's not giving up any of his precious sperm!
I don't know what your schedule is, but I would definitely wait for a bitch in full-blown heat, and I bet you this young stud will give you lots. Day 3 is probably just way too early for him.
Can you collect him in the presence of a bitch who is ready to be bred? And let him mount her to collect him. The more you can reproduce a natural experience for an inexperienced dog, the better your results will be. Stay calm, quiet, and don't make movements to scare him when you are collecting. Let him concentrate on "breeding" his bitch with minimal interference.
And I do think it is a good idea to get the other male out of the picture so he is not inhibited by social hierarchy concerns.
Good luck with your boy, I would not give up on him yet!

I agree with Robin and would add a few things to it. Don't stand over a male when you are collecting him. Get on your knees and let him mount or flirt with the teaser then collect him from behind so he doesn't worry about what you are doing. If he is mounting the teaser he will think he is breeding her and should give you a good collection. I also use pads when collecting experienced studs but a young boy doen't understand what is happening. I also collect him in a small area where he cannot fly around and hurt himself. Sounds like he just gave you preseminal fluid so I wouldn't worry just yet. Have a repro vet do a morphology on him.

Enlarged Prostate ? I had my boy on Baytril for FOUR months one time, to the tune of $2000 , but he is back now. Get him to a Repro Vet now, and get started on some work up, good boys are hard to come by.

I think he is pretty young for an enlarged prostate or other medical problems. It's always possible, but given what you have said about the lack of semen, it sure sounds like a behavioral/sexual issue with a young, inexperienced stud.
Think teenage boy!
It's probably a good idea to do the tests you were considering, but the the more you stress out around him, you can create more anxiety in him (sex is about emotion in dogs, too). So, think positively, wait for a bitch who is closer to ovulation, have a Margarita, and be relaxed and calm when you collect!
Good luck and please let us know what happens!

Thank you all for your good advise, good wishes and all the kind thoughts you sent my way. Some good news today. My husband was watching our young boy from across the yard . The boy knew someone was in heat, he did not know who so he chose his favorite girl that he plays with, got down on his front legs, rear in the air and started flirting and playing with her in a coy boy stud way. She responded and he hopped on and started humping her. She is not in heat, but she let him hump her for a minute until the one in heat (day 4) started humping him. This is a first for him!My husband said it was all uninhibited and natural for the boy. So I will take the advise and not lose hope and collect him with a teaser bitch. I will keep you all posted. Thank you all again.

had a beautiful boy almost finished, same age, no sperm. every test was done, all results normal, repro vet more tests,after a year of trying total costs $4000 + still no sperm went to a wonderful pet home.

I know 2 unrelated studs in the Carolinas (North and South) that developed the same problem in the last year or so, no sperm. One was proven previously, the other was not. Sounds like you are close in eastern TN.
Nancy, is sterility in dogs a common affect of Lyme disease? What are other diagnostic symptoms?

Lyme has many symptoms and can attack many parts of the body. It seems to like the genitourinary tract in dogs - but that is just anecdotal for me. I have known several males and I have two girls who also are sterile and were exposed at the same time. The girls were not tested - I treated the whole kennel with a month of doxycycline when my boy tested positive. It only affected the Labs - my Havanese are all quite fertile still. His collection was clear - no sperm at all. I knew it was in my area and I had also heard it causes sterility, so I had him tested on a hunch. In retrospect, he also had some joint pain symptoms that I thought was a bad gait. Apparently Lyme causes an autoimmune reaction that destroys the sperm. Over time it also caused atrophy of the testicles.

I have the opposite problem, Boy mated to two different girls, no puppies, panic mode ! Took him to be collected for a sperm test, he is a very shy boy and didn't do well at all, the sample they got wasn't great but was more than enough to get a girl pregnant, we gave him half an hour to get himself together again and tried again, this time much better in fact very fertile,, his 3rd girl is due this week, they say she is in pup but not a big litter, these are all natural breedings as he DOES not like to be collected, he is a lovely sound boy with a surpurb pedigree so I hopefull the first 2 were just bad timing and a novice boy. I sure hope so anyway!