Vale Park’s Dr. Sheller Delves into Canine Reproduction

Vale Park’s Dr. Sheller Delves into Canine Reproduction

The staff at Vale Park Animal Hospital takes pride in all of the services that they offer. Emergency surgery, orthopedics, integrative medicine, behavioral services… these are just a few of the offerings that pet owners can utilize at the facility. But did you know that Dr. Mary Ann Sheller specializes in reproductive services at Vale Park?

She certainly does. In fact, the practice has breeders from all over the country calling to work with Dr. Sheller because the work she does is so positively recognized.

“Reproductive work is very interesting,” Dr. Sheller said. “Some clients at Vale Park got me interested. They were breeders and they wanted to stay local and not travel to Purdue to get this service for their dog.”

Dr. Sheller began to get special training so that she could perform reproductive services. She continues her education to this day to make sure that she is always on top of her game.

“I am not a specialist,” Dr. Sheller noted. “I am just an extra educated vet who does a lot of repro work at Vale Park. It’s about 20% of what I do there. Dr. Jerry is my backup guy when I need some assistance.”

Almost all of the work that Dr. Sheller does is with show dogs and high-performance dogs –high performance meaning hunting dogs.

“They want the right genetics to get the best result,” Dr. Sheller explained. “I work with well-educated breeders who are not in it for the money. They care about the health and well-being of their dogs and so do I.”

The negative connotation that comes with the subject of breeding does not fall on deaf ears to Dr. Sheller. She understands how one could think that way as there are people out there who are into breeding for all the wrong reasons. But the breeders that she works with are very dedicated to their canines and do their best to make sure that the health and happiness of their dogs are paramount. Dr. Sheller said that the network of breeders she is part of is very well-connected and close.

“I enjoy talking to breeders. They have an amazing network. I get a lot of referrals and over the years my clientele has gotten bigger and I’ve learned more and gotten more equipment so I can better serve our clients,” Dr. Sheller said.

Breeding-2At Vale Park clients can have their dogs take part in various types of reproductive services including artificial insemination, progesterone testing, pregnancy testing, and semen collection and freezing.

“Frozen sperm is being used more and more. You can use sperm from dogs who are no longer alive or no longer fertile,” Dr. Sheller explained. “And for canine infertility it’s mostly a case of missed timing. A dog’s reproductive cycle is very different from a human’s. But some dogs need help because they can’t do it on their own.”

For example: bulldogs need help to get pregnant. This breed has health and physical issues so Dr. Sheller has had to learn how to help them reproductively and surgically.

“I learned how to fix problem areas like noses and tails on a bulldog. So many of my clients have bulldogs. They are bred to look a certain way and their look has consequences,” Dr. Sheller said. “Some breeders are looking to move away from genetics problems. In order to fix them, you have to pair dogs that have the desired traits; like a longer snout on a bulldog, for instance. It takes generations to fix genetics issues in breeds so it’s a slow process.”

Dr. Sheller is continually doing her best, as well as is the rest of her staff, to make sure that the pets and their owners are happy.

“We want our clients to feel that we love their pets as much as they do. We can do the level of quality that we do because we have multiple doctors and we have great equipment and staff. I focus on customer service and focus on having the staff do as well as they possibly can. It’s a great place to work,” Dr. Sheller ended with a smile.