About the Bernese Mountain Dog

Malformation of the hip and/or elbow joints causing pain, lameness and early arthritis. OFA's own published statistics have long placed this breed among those with the highest rates of hip dysplasia it tracks. In Swedish screening of 3,921 young adult Bernese Mountain Dogs (2007 to 2016), about one in five had hip dysplasia graded mild or worse (FCI C to E) and about one in six had elbow dysplasia; about one in twelve had moderate or severe hip changes and one in fifteen moderate or severe elbow changes.

An aggressive cancer of white blood cells that is dramatically over-represented in this breed: peer-reviewed studies put lifetime incidence at roughly a quarter of all Bernese Mountain Dogs, against well under 1% in dogs generally, and it accounts for around half of the breed's own unusually high (about 50%) overall cancer rate. Genome-wide studies have found real risk regions (near MTAP/CDKN2A, and a breed-specific FANCG variant), confirming a heritable component, but median survival after diagnosis is measured in weeks.