So I am at the LRCP this year and listen to this British man named John(can't remember last name) giving a lecture on Minitube chilled semen kits and wonderful they are. So I said what the heck and bough a set(BIG MISTAKE)
I thought something was funny when no other brands of chilled semen products were spoken about i.e. CLONE, Synbiotics, ICSB
That John fellow was talking about how long it can last, saying up to 10-14 days, BS, BS, BS.
If you read the very, very small print it says up to 10-14 days in labratory conditions.
I want to know what is the deal with people running events at LRCP, I just found out from a board member of the LRCP that this John(the British man) is a member of the company Minitube and makes money on each kit sold in America and the UK ro something like that.
I always have used CLONE kits since about 1989 and have alomsot a 85%-90% conception rate, I though to buy these and who knows they could have been better, but my bitch owner called me the next day when she received the kit to say the sperm was all dead. I sent another kit that day for overnight delivery and it arrived dead as well. It was a odd/confusing/long process that doesnt seem to be very helpful to the sperm you are trying to protect for the overnight trip in my mind.
I just think it is outrageous how someone can rip people off at a specialty.

Sorry you had a bad experience with Minitube, however it doesn't mean you were ripped off or misled. I have heard nothing but great things about the Minitube extender and have had great success using it myself. I bred a bitch over New Years weekend last year with 7 day old sperm sitting in my refrigerator with the Minitube extender which resulted in 7 puppies for my 6 year old bitch. That is just one example, but in my opinion Minitube has been a Godsend!

We use it and love it and have many puppies by it. There are also many big names out there that have converted over to it solely, so I would check your protocol, something sounds off with your personal use. Also some boys ship better with one than the other. This is something people wanting their dogs used publicly should investigate and know which gets best results in the same conditions (in my opinion).

Troll alert...........

I had a mini tube shipment (from a very highly regarded big time breeder)with only 10% viability on the 3rd day.

Great experience here. Collection on Friday for Sat delivery but Fed Ex messed up and sent it 2000 miles in the wrong direction. Finally arrived yesterday, 4 days after collection, received at room temp, ice packs thawed. Swimmers were great!!

I used it about a year ago when we sent a shipment to Germany on a boy I did not have frozen yet. It worked great and had great motility when it arrived at its destination. It was fantastic to have that option.

Please be alerted this troll is trying to take yet another long time breeder down!!!! Hope Jill reads this and takes it off!!!
BTW>>> The minitube was presented at a huge breeders/Vet conference and nothing but 100% positive reviews
Go back under your bridge Troll!!!

Marcy, if you bought a set and didn't like them I can't imagine John and Saudjie Crook not standing behind them. They are nice people – John is a very respectable man.

I don't think this is a troll, I have use minitube and my friend, we both got the same comments from different vets,different studs used, after 1/2 hour under the scope light they are still very sluggish.
Recently learned a repro specialist in my area doesn't like it either, didn't like the results he has seen coming into his office. I am going to be seeing him soon so will try and find out more info and post it.

I've had good success with the mini tube extenders. Both the 5 day and 10 day cani pro. I don't know about the ** very, very small print it says up to 10-14 days in laboratory conditions** But I extended a sample from Robin, put it in my very UNlabradtory like refrigerator...right there between the mustard and pickle relish, and lo and behold...11 days later I still had very active semen.


There are many things that can affect an extended sample. I don't think it's fair to condemn the product out of hand.

-Jill

Just had my litter via mini tube. One puppy

Maybe there's something wrong with your bitch? Seems everyone always blames the sperm or the male geesh!

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Replying to:

Just had my litter via mini tube. One puppy

Yes indeed. There are many factors other than the quality of semen that contribute to a successful breeding. How many of us have either done a natural and missed, or got one or two puppies, or used fresh chilled that looked great under the scope and missed. Me, for one, several time, and we thought we had things timed. But for the most part from what I have heard from posters here and conversations with other breeders, the extended life of viable semen with minitube is way, way better than Clone or Camelot Farms. Sure, there are exceptions to everything, some of which are handmade!

As for the troll -- it's obvious. "Some British guy" named John, and you can't remember his name???? Pretty spineless to post that one anonymously.

Darn. I just had a one puppy litter too. Natural breeding. Tried natural and it was terrible.

I recently used Minitube (a first for me) for a shipment to Italy. I kept a small amount in my refrigerator (like the instructions suggested) and while Customs refused to release the shipment - I had good viable semen up through day nine. 85% motility about 87% mobility. Very easy to use and this is coming from one who HATES reading instructions of any kind.

The only recommendation I would make - would be to line the edges of the funnels with something soft. One small scrape on the penis and you'll have blood contaminate your sperm. I've been collections Studs for many years, and I haven't found one yet that just stands still while trying to breed

We use Minitube all the time and have great luck with it. We had a litter from 8 day old semen with one breeding. I have found that sometimes it takes about 10 min on the slide warmer for the semen to look normal. Minitube does quality control on every batch the produce, extending multiple dogs and measuring viability out to 7 days on the Chill 5. They will be happy to provide any quality control info. on the batch you used. There are many factors that can affect extented semen, collection technique, packing and shipping, and evaluation on the recieving end. Most Veterinarians have one day or less of reproduction training in vet. school and do not know how to properly handle and evaluate semen.
John Lichty with Minitube would be happy to address any comcerns or questions you have (800)646-4882.
Lisa

We use it all the time both the five and ten day and we've had great success. We also had great success with Camelot Farms. Didn't really use Clone that much but lots of people are very happy with it. I do like that minitube is continuing testing and coming up with more new products all the time and improving the old ones. They are not just sitting around resting on their 'laurels'.
We used the ten day extenders two years in a row during Christmas and New Years Holidays. ( Did you guys realize that half the Labrador bitches in the world are in heat on Christmas and New Years Day and one quarter are inheat on Thanksgiving and the other quarter on weekends and other holidays!!) Both of those years were long holidays for Fed Ex because the first year Christmas fell on a Sunday which caused them to be closed on Monday, so that meant if you sent a shipment out on Friday it would not arrive until Tuesday, if you were lucky and there were no shipments going out on SAturday. Then the same thing happened all over again on New years. The next year was the same because Christmas and New Years fell on a Monday. By using the minitube 10 day and sending it early to several bitches during those holidays both years, we got every single bitch pregnant. We were thrilled.
Two years ago we were going to the Potomac and our Pipe Major sister came in heat and we were taking the stud dog with us, so we collected him two days in a row, left it with Vonnie's husband and let him do prog. tests and take her to the vet to inseminate her 8 days later and then he forgot to do the second insemination for three days and when he took her and the semen in it looked great and she had ten puppies, one of which we still have, and show.
So it works for us.
And shame on you for talking mean about John. You could have talked about the extender without being so rude to him.

Funny, Judy and I were posting simultaneously and didn't know it. Obviously we are happy with Minitube!
Lisa

I sent an email to the address shown on Marcy's post. Why is it bouncing?

Who checked the sperm before it was added to the extender?
Is this someone from CLONE?



""I always have used CLONE kits since about 1989 and have alomsot a 85%-90% conception rate, I though to buy these and who knows they could have been better, but my bitch owner called me the next day when she received the kit to say the sperm was all dead. I sent another kit that day for overnight delivery and it arrived dead as well. It was a odd/confusing/long process that doesnt seem to be very helpful to the sperm you are trying to protect for the overnight trip in my mind.""

Oh Marcy - so sorry you also had to deal with that man. No manners, no education, no experience and so obvious he knows "squat" about Labradors!!

I ordered three minitube kits from a top breeder with 36 Labs in all five colours, plus 5 Doodles. Not one of my bitches produced puppies... yet I swear they swallowed all the stuff!!

Joking apart, I've never tried minitube but I do know John - he's professional, he's competent and he's forgotten more than most of us will ever know!

LOL, I seriously doubt John has forgotten more than we know. He is professional but not a GOD at all, just as human as any of us are.

You can take him off your podium now.

Breeder - did you not get your saucer of milk today?

It was wonderful for a bit to watch how people on this thread took such a snarky little post (from a poster who has had zero response by the way) and really turned it into something so informative. I loved the story about how minitube was used while the stud was gone to show...talk about convenience! Our repro vet REALLY likes frozen...she went on and on last time we saw her telling us how wonderful it is not to have to stress over the postal service or time in general. Seems to me that canipro is a happy medium (haha good joke for those who got it) that can provide the best of both worlds for those that want the benefits of frozen but perhaps dont want to do a surgical etc.

Why do people so often get all in a huff at the idea that there are others out there that are respected?
Annie

No true experience, but if their product is as good as the customer service, we'll be having puppies in February!

"I sent an email to the address shown on Marcy's post. Why is it bouncing?"

Joan, this is bouncing because it is a troll...And they use many different names when posting...I think "Breeder" is the the name they are using today...Sad but true...

I'm not a troll. It seems to me there are good and bad reviews for mini tube which would make sense. Not every product is perfect and there is always something to be learned.

Does everyone like Camelot or Clone? It sounds the same with Mini Tube. You need to find what you like and use it as a stud owner.

My girl was bred with the help of Minitube and we had great sucess. Please don't bash John Crook, Potomac and the Minitube because you did not have success with it. Many have had excellent results. We got 8 puppies.

We had 10 puppies with Mini Tube spring 1007, shipped from Back East. Shipment was temporarily lost but we were able to still breed her.

I also used the mini tube and had a litter of 11 pups.
I found it easy and think it's great to have other options.

I ditto the “shame on you” John Crook is a good man.
He took time to school me when I was a newbie and his advice paid off.
I don’t forget this type of kindness.

Speaking of nice – Saudjie gave me a refund on a shirt that was a year old!
Any one who knows the Crooks – knows they are good people.

I’ll never forget that hill I had to drive up to their home in Carmel – what a view – but what a hill! LOL

You know, not sure about the troll. Sounds like a great ad for mini tube. I do plan to use it, but this sure sounds like someone got just the ad out of this they needed. No one think of that. Everyone knows John. Please.

Hi
There were people at LRCP who actually work for Minitube ( not just kit ditributors) including one person who has years of experience in Labs. This person is also someone who would not promote or be associated with a product that couldn't live up to its claims.
Not all products work for everyone as others have stated.
Troll you may be - in my world we have other names for you - which shouldn't be printed in polite company ;)
Dawn

I think this is an AD too, notice the Crooks didn't even respond to thier product!

WOW! I've been away to Yellow Lab Club and came home to read on the Forum that I have a job working for MiniTube!! Cool!! The people at MiniTube are great and the product is fabulous.

Sorry. The truth is that we don't work for MiniTube nor have we ever, nor do we intend to work for them. We don't get money from them. Never have and never will.

We discovered MiniTube after a friend sent me a copy of Lisa DaRoss's post on the Forum about MiniTube. I used Camelot Farms for 10 years but we can't get it over here in the UK. It wouldn't work for us anyway because we need extender that keeps semen viable for longer than 48 hours because of the ongoing problems with shipping.

We brought some MiniTube extender over from the States and tested it with our three champions Weathertop El Nino, Weathertop Storm Cloud and Belgairn Polo.After 12 days in our refrigerator the sperm was still swimming.

Until very recently the British KC hasn't allowed AI so the Brits are way behind on the subject. I have made it my personal mission to teach my friends over here how to ship semen so we can make British Stud Dogs available to the rest of the world. I bring the extender in from the States and put together a kit. I make a very small amount of money for my trouble. If people need extensive help I will, for 100 Pounds Sterling, sort out all the paper work for both parties, arrange shipping, take stud fee by credit card and write a cheque to the stud dog owner etc. I teach the stud dog owners how to do it so that I don't have to do it the next time. The Brits know me and trust me. The amount of money I make is negligible. I'm doing it as a service to the breed. I'm also writing articles and doing a lot of hand holding for free.

We had the privilege of speaking at the Potomac 2007 Breeder's Seminar and people tell us we did a great job. Our topic was The Global Development of the Breed. I invited the President of the Kyoto LRC in Japan, the VP of the Korean LRC and Dr Verstegen (who developed MiniTube extender) to be our guest speakers.

MiniTube is important to the global development of the breed because it allows chilled semen to be shipped to far off lands and stays fresh in the box for at least 4 days lost in a warehouse, hung up in customs etc. You can't do that with other extenders.

My husband John and I split the topic between us.John spoke about the History of the Breed and Structure. He didn't speak about MiniTube at all.

Dr Verstegen DVM, MSc, PhD, DECAR LACS who developed the extender is a professor at the Veterinary College University of Florida Small Animal Theriogenology. He's a small animal reproductive expert. We've become friends and he did me a huge personal favour by fitting the Potomac Seminar into his very busy schedule. He's a genius and all around great guy. I'm proud to call him a friend. If I'm very lucky he'll come over to the UK to do a repro seminar for breeders. And I won't make any money on it.

People who are getting one puppy litters are not getting their progesterone timing right. It is NOT the fault of the extender.And if the semen was dead after one day it certainly is not the fault of the extender.

My husband, John Crook OBE, of Balrion is a retired corporate executive who was given the title Order of the British Empire by The Queen personally at Buckingham Palace for his services to British Industry. He chaired a committee of the European Commission. And yes he has forgotten more than a great number of us will ever know.

Another troll bites the dust....
(sung to the Queen song of course)
Annie

Has any1 e/mailed the administrator about taking down this fradulent post? If so have you heard back?

It is so obvious this is a false e/mail address (bouncey bouncey) and was put up to trash a quality kennel and their association with Mini Tube.

Can some1 please e/mail Jill so this can be removed. If it is still up later I will send an e/m.

Shame on the imposter for doing this. Once again this is jealousy. Things like this do not happen on lists that you have to register for now do they?

Another troll bites the dust....
(sung to the Queen song of course)
Annie


How so Annie? It's still sitting here dang it, growl If we stop replying they might go away for a day.

This is infringing on people's livelyhood. Do you think George Govette of CLONE would tolerate being slammed on here? I highly doubt it.

TAP TAP TAP, waiting for a removal. Jill must be coming back from a show.

The original e-mail address is @SUBHOST.NET puhleeessseee. It is not valid. This needs to be removed ASAP, everyone fed into it again unfortunately. Time to self police, meaning Ignore the TroLLs.