Thirty fresh ejaculates from 15 dogs were cryopreserved in Tris-fructose-citric acid-egg-yolk extender with a glycerol content of 6%. Semen samples were examined by the methods of routine sperm analysis and by the SQA IIc device. The routine semen examination focused on the evaluation of parameters determining the quality of sperm membranes. The significance of monitoring semen quality in the course of the short-term survival test for predicting dog semen quality after thawing was assessed. Relevance of the assessment of sperm morphology, and above all the percentage of sperm with membrane changes in the acrosomal region was documented. The fact that the SQA device analyses semen quality by evaluating the mass of moving cells was confirmed. The results provided by the SQA IIc device appear insufficient for the needs of deeper dog semen analysis, especially morphology assessment. Dog, sperm analysis, morphological assessment, Sperm Quality Analyser (SQA)The testicles of breeding males are marked by their high cell production, accompanied by the natural production of insufficiently high-quality cells. A series of factors in the internal and external environment influence the production of this cell population. The proportion of abnormal cells in semen is linked to its fertilisation capacity. Morphological abnormalities of sperm in different animal species have been evaluated in connection with declines in fertility by a number of authors (Hancock 1959;Held et al. 1991; Oettlé 1993) . The limit values for the occurrence of morphologically abnormal sperm in semen have been established according to convention in different species of livestock, or in the human being, and are variable. Johnston et al. (2001) and Stockner and Bardwick (1991) set the percentage of morphologically abnormal sperm in normal dog ejaculate at below 20%. Threlfall (2003) considers acceptable a semen sample containing more than 70% morphologically normal sperm. VûÏník et al. (2003) agreed with this value, with the proviso that primary defects in the ejaculate should not exceed 10%. According to Oettlé (1993) the fertility of fresh dog semen is markedly reduced when the percentage of morphologically abnormal cells in the semen is higher than 40%. For semen samples with a morphologically abnormal sperm below 40% the author obtained a pregnancy rate of 61%; when morphological defects exceeded 40%, this rate fell to 13%. Cryopreservation intervention reduces dog ejaculate quality and thus also the fertilisation success rate (Johnston et al. 2001). Feldman andNelson (1987) consider fresh dog semen containing more than 70% of normal sperm and less than 20% of sperm with primary defects suitable for cryopreservation.It is essential for the AI doses that donor semen quality is good because fertility of frozen dog semen, in additon to other factors, is associated with the quality of the fresh ejaculate