18 Jul Health Testing at Club’s Champ Show & Autumn GP 2026

Posted at 06:45h in BHI, BMD Health by

HEALTH TESTING AT CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW AND AUTUMN GARDEN PARTY WEEKEND 2026

We are very pleased to again be able to offer health testing at our big week-end event, again with the kind assistance of Bernese owner and breeder, Veterinary Surgeon Dr Rich Irvine who many will remember from our previous events. We offer similar opportunity to last year and Dr Irvine  will be present from the late morning of the Championship Show on Saturday 29th August  and most and until the afternoon of  the Garden Party on Sunday 30th August to offer this testing. Thanks to a subsidy applied by the BHI from the health fund we will again offer reduced price health testing with no vet’s fees or postage costs (or the effort involved).

If you are booking either or both tests, please read the information below as by booking you will be deemed to have agreed to the conditions. Particularly please note the closing date for bookings.

Please note booking is now available  from the link below the details of the tests.

 

TITRE TESTING (all dogs)

  • This process checks your dog’s vaccine level for the three common diseases covered by the common DHP vaccine, namely: Distemper (CDV), Infectious Hepatitis (ICH) and Parvovirus (CPV) and Distemper (CDV). More information can be found at this link General Information about Titre testing
  • This is a very proactive form of health care planning and is slowly being taken up and used by more and more owners and vets and accepted by more organisations and boarding kennels, but you should always check in advance if this might be important to your arrangements.
  • Many vets now offer this service but prices do vary enormously.
  • We are offering this for the bargain prices of £45 per dog for Bernese and £55 for non Bernese, payable in advance.
  • As long as you are sampled early enough in the day, and stay long enough to collect it,  you will receive a certificate showing your dog’s immunity levels to each disease on the day of the test. Please remember to collect your result before you leave if at all possible. (If there is no time it will be forwarded afterwards).
  • No results will be published and will only be known by yourself and Dr Irvine.
  • You will be able to book and pay for this in advance using the link below.
  • This test is available for all breeds at our event.
  • You must book and pay for this in advance (via our web site) and BEFORE midnight on Thursday 13th August. There are two reasons for this necessity……
    • 1] Each test requires a kit which we have to purchase in advance so it is ESSENTIAL to pre-book to ensure that a test will be available for you as we will not plan to have surplus kits available on the day and, (learning from previous experience), we need to ensure there is sufficient time for ordering and delivery.
    • 2] We reserve the right to cancel all testing if demand is not sufficient by the time of the closing date for bookings, so please book as soon as possible to help ensure the testing takes place. (You will be informed and refunds will be given in the case of cancellation).

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HS TESTING (BMD only)

  • This test is only provided by French company Antagene liaising  with the breed’s Histiocytic Sarcoma research based in France and the USA.
  • The test is included in a ‘suite of tests, from one blood sample, described by Antagene as a “Dog Genetic Check-up”, specific to our breed, grouping together the predictive test for Histiocytic Sarcoma, the traditional test (gives clear – carrier – affected/at risk results) for the autosomal conditions  for our breed’s two DMs, SoD1A/Exon 2 and SoD1B/EXON1 and Von Willebrand’s Disease and likewise for 3 morphological traits: curly hair, polydactyly, shedding. So, not only will you get the ‘Histio’ result but both the DM results that apply to Bernese, a von Willebrands disease test result plus a comment on three standard canine genes that indicate your dog’s propensity to have, or pass on, a curly coat, have, or pass on, extra rear toes and dew claws and whether or not he or she is likely to excessively shed hair or pass this trait on to any offspring.
  • OK, let’s be honest, we don’t get excited about the last few tests 🙂  and the real relevance of some of these for our breed or individual dogs is questionable BUT if you are wanting to take ‘Histio’ AND both DM tests with your Bernese, as you should be if considering him or her for breeding, this is a good value test for that reason alone and treat the rest as a bonus.
  • Antagene offer this test for 168€ (approx £150, lab fee alone) but we are able to offer it at our event for £145, payable in advance.
  • This fee includes all costs, taking the test sample itself, equipment, veterinary cost, paperwork and shipping, which also includes arranging French Customs clearance. So the saving in a vet’s fee, your effort and inconvenience, not to mention the cost of mailing, only adds to the overall price reduction.
  • Vet’s fees for research or screening samples vary enormously but can be approaching £100, whilst others barely charge their regular clients,, but our all-in price represents a significant saving for many people.
  • This is a predictive test for assessing breeding options, it is not intended for use by dogs with no intention of being used for breeding. It is purely for dogs expected to enter progeny into the breed’s gene pool, or as a part of assessing IF a dog might be suitable for this. Although this might change as the research develops, here is currently no veterinary value for the individual dog or the breed, and it is an unnecessary expense for owners and our health fund, in testing dogs whose owners have no intention of using them for breeding.
  • If all your documentation is correctly prepared in advance, and your dog is relaxed and compliant with the vet, it should only take a few minutes for each test.
  • The certificate with all your test results, A, B or C will be subsequently emailed, by Antagene, only to you and, in this case, Dr Irvine, as the vet who took the samples, who of course maintains professional confidentiality. No results are shared with the club. No part of the club, not the BHI nor the Health CoOrdinator  nor anyone else helping on the day receives any record of your results as a part of this process. Opting to share them later, by whatever means you choose, will be entirely yours decision.
  • You do not have to make your dog  openly available for mating comparison on the database and can choose not to display it at all except at the time you are using it yourself. This option can be activated and deactivated by yourself once logged in.
  • Your dog’s microchip has to be checked and validated as part of this process, so you will need to supply proof of your dog’s identity featuring its microchip number, e.g. KC registration certificate, if the number is included, for the vet to check.
  • If this is your first dog utilising the Antagene system you will be required to sign a Memorandum of Agreement. This is not required for any further dogs submitted by you in the future..
  • As part of booking the test, on the Sumup system, you will be asked for an email address and more details and information requests will be sent to you, after booking. So please double check that your email address is entered correctly and clearly and please respond to the email to confirm your testing booking.
  • If you want to see more about what submitting dogs to the test normally involves for owners doing this privately, see our web site’s guide to using the test via this link
  • If you want to know more about using your HS result via the HSIMS database, and as a prospective breeder you should be aware of how it works, please see our web site’s guide to using HSIMS and interpreting the results via this link or ask for advice, or even a demonstration, on the day of the testing.

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HS TESTING SUPPORTING INFO

What is SH/HS and why the test?

  • Systemic Histiocytosis or Histiocytic Sarcoma remains by far the biggest single cause of death of Bernese Mountain Dogs.
  • The occurrence of SH is influenced by many things, some we do not yet understand, but there are a number of genes that have been identified as implicated. How these specific genes combine with any potential mate’s matching genes has been found to be useful as an indicator as to the likelihood of SH occurring in that specific mating’s offspring.
  • If enough breeders use the test and can use the results to positively influence choices the breed should begin to decrease the numbers of SH cases and over time reduce Bernese deaths due to SH.
  • Additionally it is fully expected that future developments to the testing, which you may have read about in recent club publications, will be backwards compatible and applied to existing tests.
  • Once you have your result you will be be able to include your dog on the HSIMS database and obtain specific predictions for the HS grading of any litters any specific mating between tested dog and bitches will produce, as long as their owners have allowed them to be accessed – which most do.
  • Your A, B or C result has little meaning in its own right as how your dog combines individually with any potential specific mate on the HSIMS online database is the meaningful part of this system.
  • If you are not familiar with this system it is planned to be able to demonstrate it on request at the event. (Exact demo possibly subject to signal issues).
  • You do not have to make your result openly visible on the database and can choose not to display it except at the time you are using it yourself. Most people however, select to leave their dogs visible all the time.
  • The test’s creators have always been the first to stress, and the club wishes to remind everyone, that the HS test, or to be precise any HSIMS result that leads from it, is just one criteria to include in breeding choices alongside all the other well documented factors, as included in the club’s Code of Ethics and  Breed Health and Conservation Plan.
  • The test’s creators have also always been keen to stress that Grade C dogs should not be automatically removed from the gene pool, only that more care should be taken selecting a mate.
  • An explanation of the test and demonstration of how to use your result will be available on request over the whole extended week-end..

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GENERAL TESTING INFORMATION (Both Tests)

  • If demand is low, or anyone books and cancels,  it might be possible to offer a limited amount of casual booking capability at the event, but only if you have the necessary paperwork or information present of course, please come and ask or listen for announcements. However to ensure you are accommodated it is essential to book in advance.
  • Bookings will close at midnight on Thursday 13th August  to allow planning and ordering of the required materials and test kits.
  • There is no limit to the number of dogs any one person can take advantage of these offers with but please be aware of the above comments about the purpose of the SH test and it being created for potential breeding dogs.
  • ON THE DAY TIMINGS – Please check with the BHI stand for advice but we have to work around the main events and it is not possible to delay any judging or events due to offering this test. We will be as flexible and accommodating as we possibly can be although this will be influenced by the numbers we are dealing with, but experience so far is that people naturally spread out their arrival for testing sufficiently for us to not need to issue specific times to dogs. However, there will have to be a cut off time each day so please try and attend for your test at earlier opportunities rather than leave it to the end of the day. Experience has also shown us that dogs are not traumatised or affected by this sampling and can undergo the testing at any convenient time, before or after they appear in the show ring or take part in other activities. Indeed some owners have rushed straight from the test into the ring!
  • Testing will only be undertaken after payment, even if possible to book on the day. (Card payment will be available on site).
  • We reserve the right to cancel this testing if demand appears too low to make it a viable exercise, which is another reason to book early and in advance. In this case refunds will be paid for the testing but this is another good reason to book in advance, to ensure the known numbers are high enough to make the testing go ahead.
  • We reserve the right to cancel dogs at our vet’s discretion if a sample cannot be obtained due to any dog’s uncooperative behaviour or any veterinary condition or physiology, in which case a test refund will be given. (Whilst just one or two dogs have been ‘challenging’ this has never been the case so far).
  • If the whole event has to be cancelled, due to inclement weather or ground conditions for example, then (obviously!) the sampling will not be able to take place and testing refunds will be given.
  • The BHI/club will provide a private, screened off area for the testing to take place.
  • Dr Irvine will not be shaving dogs to obtain the blood samples, but in the unlikely, and so far unprecedented, event that any dog did require shaving to facilitate taking the sample, this will only be done with permission from the handler presenting the dog and if not acceptable, a refund will be given.
  • Dogs taking both HS and Titre tests will only need to have one blood sample taken.
  • Owners will be able/expected to stay with their dogs for the sampling and assistance will be on hand if needed.

For any further queries contact  bhi@bernese.co.uk

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BOOKING A TEST

Booking is  available via the link below.

By booking either or both of these tests you will be deemed as agreeing to the conditions listed above, notably the club’s right to cancel the testing, en masse or individually if necessary.

After booking you will receive an acknowledgement email from the Sumup system and sometime after that a further email giving more information and requesting a few more details to assist our planning. PLEASE RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL AS DIRECTED.

The below link takes you to our online SumUp store where you should select “Explore Products” to access both tests or simply click on your (first) test choice.

Just to be clear …………….

– after selecting one test, click “Add to Cart”, and not “Buy Now” if you want to add a second test.

– if purchasing for more than one dog you only need to buy once and select the member of tests – not buy separately for each dog)

Link to the Booking & Payment for DHP Titre Testing and ‘Dog Genetic Check-up’ Testing 

 

I hope we get a good response to this opportunity to make it worthwhile offering this facility. Please do not assume it will be automatically be available every year as we also rely on the good will of Dr Irvine who may not be available after this year.

Thank you

Steve Green

Breed Health CoOrdinator

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FOLLOW ON COMMENT

DHP Immunity level testing

After being publicised on the club’s Facebook, there was a query about how often Titre testing needs to be done. This is a summary and slight update of the reply we gave.

The Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain – I don’t think there is a set figure and assessing it could largely depend on your history and particularly your last result. If you had any specific lower immunities then you should probably check again in a year but if all your immunity percentages were high for all three diseases tested then it is probably safe to leave it for a few years. If you are worried then, apart from the financial cost, there can’t be any harm in checking things. If you’ve had a couple of checks a few years apart and no levels have dropped in-between then it is fairly safe to say they are stable and will probably remain so.

On the other hand if you’ve had previous tests and the level fell from a previous one to the last one then common sense would say it would be best to check things haven’t continued to fall.

Another factor to assess would be how long ago the last vaccination was. If it is a good few years and the immunity is still high then it is unlikely to suddenly drop, however if the vaccination is still only a year or maybe two in the past you might want to make sure it has either fully taken effect or is established, by checking for a couple of years running.

Another factor could be any illness or medical condition affecting the immune system, if there is any history of such issues making your dog more vulnerable or potentially affecting his or her immune status then a precautionary approach and more regular checks might be the best advice.

Maybe an outbreak of one of the diseases in your area, for example,’parvo’, might mean you would feel better with a more recently confirmed higher immunity.

Another consideration might be, if your insurance or any kennels or facility you use, requires vaccinations or titre testing at specific intervals.

At the end of the day the only way to be sure is to check annually but experience has shown that many dogs keep their immunity high more or less for life. So for most, otherwise healthy dogs with no other situations to consider, every three years, just to make sure, is probably a happy medium.