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Bernedoodle health testing: what to ask your breeder
Hip scores, DNA panels, and eye exams explained, so you know what a breeder's paperwork should actually say before you pay a deposit.
Home / Bernedoodle Health Testing
Hip scores, DNA panels, and eye exams explained, so you know what a breeder's paperwork should actually say before you pay a deposit.
Our own choosing-a-puppy checklist tells you to ask for health testing on both parents. This page is the deeper version: what OFA and PennHIP hip scores actually mean, what a DNA panel result looks like for degenerative myelopathy and von Willebrand's disease, and how to tell a real certificate from a breeder's word alone.
The Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America lists hip evaluation, elbow evaluation, an annual eye exam, a cardiac evaluation, and a DNA result for degenerative myelopathy as the tests a Bernese Mountain Dog needs to earn a CHIC number, the health-testing credential issued by the OFA's Canine Health Information Center. A Bernedoodle's Bernese side carries the same hip and elbow risk, which is why both parents, not just one, should have current results.
Reads hip X-rays taken once a dog is 2 years old (24 months) and rates them excellent, good, or fair. Elbows are X-rayed the same day and rated pass or fail. A rating given before 24 months is preliminary, not an official OFA number.
Measures hip joint laxity using a distraction index, and can be run as early as 16 weeks. Research behind the method shows that measurement predicts a dog's odds of developing hip dysplasia later in life better than a single conformation reading does.
Some breeders use PennHIP instead of OFA, some use both, and either is a legitimate answer. A vague answer, or no answer, is not.
Degenerative myelopathy (DM) is a slow-progressing spinal cord disease caused by a mutation in the SOD1 gene. It is recessive, so a dog needs the mutation from both parents to be genuinely at risk, and it sits on the OFA's own recommended-testing list for both breeds behind a Bernedoodle: Bernese Mountain Dog and Poodle. A DNA panel returns one of three results: clear, carrier, or at risk. A carrier is not sick and will not become sick. A carrier bred to another carrier is the pairing to avoid.
Von Willebrand's disease (vWD) is a blood-clotting disorder, and on the Poodle side it is common enough that the Poodle Club of America's own health-screening guidance recommends a DNA test for it. In Embark's own tested-population data, roughly 98 out of 100 Standard Poodles come back clear. Most dogs test clear, which is exactly why the individual result on your puppy's actual parents matters more than a breed-wide reassurance.
A CAER eye exam (the current name for what used to be called a CERF exam) is performed by a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist and checks for inherited conditions like progressive retinal atrophy and cataracts. It is only valid for 12 months, so a breeder's eye clearance from three years ago is not current. Ask for the exam date, not just the word "tested."
A cardiac exam has two levels: a basic listen with a stethoscope, or an advanced echocardiogram read by a board-certified veterinary cardiologist. A congenital-disease clearance from either level is considered permanent. An adult-onset clearance is only valid for one year. Same rule as the eyes: the date on the result matters as much as the result itself.
Every OFA-tested dog has a public, searchable record. Ask for the dog's registered name and search it yourself at ofa.org rather than relying only on a screenshot or PDF a breeder hands you. A CHIC number is a shortcut: it confirms a dog has completed every test its breed club requires, not just the tests a breeder chose to run.
Our own care guide covers what to ask your vet once your puppy is home, including periodic hip and joint monitoring even when the parents tested clear. Health testing on the parents lowers risk, it does not remove it, which is also why our choosing-a-puppy checklist treats "no health testing records, or vague answers about them" as a red flag on its own, not a minor omission.
A CHIC number, issued by the OFA's Canine Health Information Center, confirms a dog has completed every health test its breed club requires, not just the tests a breeder chose to run. You can look up a CHIC number, or a dog's individual results, in the OFA's public database at ofa.org.
Neither is simply better, they measure different things. OFA reads a single X-ray taken once a dog is 2 years old and rates it excellent, good, or fair. PennHIP measures joint laxity with a distraction index as early as 16 weeks and is more predictive of a dog's risk of hip dysplasia later in life. Some breeders run both.
No. A clear DNA panel rules out the specific mutations it tests for, like the SOD1 mutation behind degenerative myelopathy, it does not rule out every possible health issue a dog could develop. Health testing lowers risk. It does not remove it.
24 months. A hip or elbow rating given before that age is a preliminary reading, not an official OFA number, so ask specifically whether a result is preliminary or final.
Yes. Ask for the dog's registered name and search it directly at ofa.org. A real OFA or CAER result is public. A breeder who won't give you a name to search, or who only offers a screenshot with no way to verify it, is a red flag on its own.
Every puppy on this site comes from parents with health testing. Ask to see it, and check the dates, before you pay a deposit.
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