The first dogs were born using in vitro fertilization in Alexander Travis' laboratory.
In vitro fertilization is the "process of fertilizing an egg with sperm in a lab" according to Smithsonian.
"People have been working on this since IVF was invented. No one has ever made progress with IVF in the dog. This is the first success," says Travis, a reproductive biologist at Cornell University.
In vitro fertilization in humans had been successful since 1970s.
After more than 30 years, scientists have figured out how to create healthy puppies in the laboratory.
"Why not magnesium? Everyone is using this medium without questioning, and it was invented in the 1970s. We went back and looked at it. It's definitely a life lesson-I question everything now," Jennifer Nagashima, a reproductive biologist in Travis' laboratory, said. She is also a member of the Joint Graduate Training Program between the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Cornell's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.
"We had people lined up, each with a towel, to grab a puppy and rub them and warm them up," Travis said in a report by The Guardian. "When you hear that first cry and they start wriggling a bit, it's pure happiness. You're ecstatic that they're all healthy and alive and doing well."
The dogs' names are Ivy, Cannon, Beaker, Buddy, Nelly, Red and Green.
Unlike humans that ovulate once a month, dogs releases egg for fertilization only once or twice a year.
The new technology of dog in vitro fertilization could increase populations of endangered canine species.
"That is a huge positive step. Every study that helps us better understand normal reproductive biology helps us think about how we might use that knowledge to help animals and humans," Margaret Root Kustritz, a small animal reproduction specialist at the University of Minnesota, said.
Researchers detailed the breakthrough in a paper entitled "Live Births from Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris) Embryos Produced by In Vitro Fertilization" published in Plos One.
