What a topic for a post. I did get a comment and a question from a reader at Scratchings and Sniffings on the subject of monorchidism and cryptorchidism in response to a comment I made about orchidectomy. Orchidectomy is the medical term for the surgical procedure most of us know as neutering the male dog. Castration is another common term and my granddog Miles is recovering at my house from this very procedure. He is fine BTW. I don't think he misses them at all.
Monorchidism is the term for being born with only one testicle. It is a rare, inherited, developmental abnormality and it is often confused with one form of cryptorchidism. Cryptorchidism refers to undescended testicles and can be either unilateral or bilateral, meaning only one is descended or neither testicle has descended into the scrotum.
Cryptorchidism is much more common and my first real dog, Fritz the German Shepherd, was a unilateral cryptorchid. This condition did not affect his health in any way. He was the grandson of a famous midwestern champion known as the Heine Dog. I would never have been able to show or breed Fritz because this trait disqualifies pure breed dogs from either activity. 
Fritz never got neutered, by the way. That is the treatment of choice for this condition but I was a too young and dumb to get it done. Probably had a little issue with the procedure as a young male myself.
The testicles of cryptorchids are usually found in the inguinal canal or up higher in the abdomen. Testicles are supposed to be descended at birth and it they haven't shown up in the scrotum by 8 weeks they usually are not going to make an appearance.
That was one reason I got Fritz at a steep discount. He had the looks to be a show dog but the breeder knew he would never get in 
the ring due to his condition.
To diagnose whether a dog is monorchid or cryptorchid requires a good physical exam. It may be possible to palpate an undescended testicle in the inguinal area. Abdominal ultrasound can detect them and serum testosterone levels may help too. A monorchid dog would have abnormally low testosterone levels, in most cases.
The reason you'd want to know is because neutering is the treatment of choice and the surgeon might have to go into the abdomen to remove the undescended testicle or testicles. There is a slightly higher risk of testicular cancer in dogs with undescended abdominal testicles and it's trait you don't want passed down to another generation so neutering is the treatment of choice.
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