A commercial box for dog semen transport: What happens inside when the environmental temperature is increasing?

Abstract Environmental temperatures may influence the temperature inside commercial transport boxes during semen shipment and thereby storage conditions of diluted dog semen. To evaluate the temperature changes inside boxes and their influence on sperm quality, split semen samples ( n  = 8) were placed in Neopor boxes ® exposed for 48 h to room temperature (RT) (Box 1), 40 °C for 6 h and then kept at RT (Box 2) or 40 °C (Box 3). A fourth subsample was kept at 4–5 °C in a refrigerator (control). Inside Box 1 temperature initially decreased to 30 °C (Box 3) resulted in an almost complete loss in sperm integrity. In conclusion, results suggest a revision of current recommendations for storage temperature of diluted dog semen. Boxes for semen transport should be prepared depending on the expected environmental temperatures.