Home / Breeds / Giant Schnauzer / Health testing
The recommended tests for Giant Schnauzer breeding dogs, what each test screens for, when it is done, and the questions and red flags that separate careful breeders from the rest. Full profile: the Giant Schnauzer breed profile.
This page is general information drawn from the published guidance of the organizations listed under Sources below. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace your own veterinarian, who knows your dog. If your dog is unwell, contact your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 for urgent concerns. A consultation fee may apply on the helplines.
The Giant Schnauzer parent club list, as the AKC publishes it, is four examinations: hip and elbow evaluations, an eye examination and a thyroid evaluation. This is a big, powerful working breed, and the list is built accordingly, starting with the joints that carry a dog bred to pull, guard and work all day.
Hip and elbow films are graded finally at two years, and in a breed of this size and drive, dysplasia is not an abstract risk: it is the difference between a dog that works comfortably into old age and one managed on pain relief from middle age. The eye examination covers inherited eye disease, the thyroid evaluation screens for the autoimmune thyroid trouble recorded across the schnauzer family, and both repeat through a breeding career because both can change with age.
The AKC DNA recommendations page adds optional DNA tests identified for this breed, including a dilated cardiomyopathy variant listed for schnauzers and progressive retinal atrophy tests, one of them a Giant Schnauzer type PRA. They sit beyond the club's four required screens, and a breeder running them can show laboratory reports. Judge the file in order: joints, eyes and thyroid first, DNA additions second, and be suspicious of any file that inverts that order.
These are the tests the sources listed at the foot of this page set out for this breed. Tests are done on the parents before breeding, not on the puppy you take home, and the point of every one of them is the same: to lower the chance of puppies inheriting a condition that testing could have flagged.
| Test | What it screens | When it is done |
|---|---|---|
| Hip evaluation (OFA or PennHIP) | Hip dysplasia: poor fit of the hip joint and the arthritis that follows, a major welfare issue in a large working breed. | Final OFA grading at 24 months or older. |
| Elbow evaluation (OFA) | Elbow dysplasia, developmental faults of the elbow joint causing front leg lameness and early arthritis. | Final grading at 24 months or older, usually filmed with the hips. |
| Eye examination (CAER, by a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist) | Inherited eye disease, including cataracts and retinal problems recorded in the breed. | Before breeding and repeated while breeding; certification runs twelve months. |
| Thyroid evaluation | Autoimmune thyroiditis and low thyroid function, screened with a full blood panel including thyroid hormones and antibodies. | In the adult dog before breeding, and repeated periodically while breeding. |
| DNA tests identified for the breed (added by careful breeders) | A dilated cardiomyopathy variant listed for schnauzers and progressive retinal atrophy tests, including a Giant Schnauzer type PRA, per the AKC recommendations. | Once in a lifetime, at any age. Reports are condition by condition laboratory results. |
The breeder pays for testing, not the buyer, but the bill explains why a missing test is a choice rather than an oversight. The ranges below are estimates, not quotes: typical US ranges modeled from published clinic and breeder health clinic price lists and OFA registry fees, checked in November 2026. Prices vary by region, and breeder health clinics at shows often sit at the low end.
The club program costs an estimated $425 to $875 per parent to set up, with eye and thyroid checks repeating. For a breed sold on working soundness, the joint grades are the heart of the file and the first thing to request.
Hip grades, elbow grades, eye records and thyroid results all belong in the free OFA database under each parent's registered name. Confirm both joints were graded finally at two years or older, the eye certificate is current, and the thyroid result is a dated panel rather than a verbal assurance. DNA additions should arrive as laboratory reports naming each condition separately.
Two habits protect you in every breed. First, match names: the dog on the certificate must be the registered parent of the litter, permanently identified, not a relative with a similar name. Second, respect dates: joint grades have minimum ages, eye certificates expire, and heart results in at risk breeds age quickly. A result that was true three years ago may say little about the dog being bred today.
None of this replaces meeting the dogs. Watch the parents move, breathe and settle, ask how long their parents and grandparents lived, and take the paperwork home to check before money changes hands. A careful breeder expects exactly that. Back to the full Giant Schnauzer profile for size, temperament, costs and care.
The parent club list published by the AKC is hip and elbow evaluations, an eye examination by a board certified ophthalmologist and a thyroid evaluation.
Autoimmune thyroiditis, in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, is recorded across the schnauzer breeds and causes low thyroid function. A blood panel catches it before breeding and is repeated because status can change with age.
OFA final hip and elbow grading happens at 24 months or older. Large working breeds mature slowly, and earlier results are preliminary only.
The AKC DNA recommendations identify tests in this breed, including a schnauzer dilated cardiomyopathy variant and progressive retinal atrophy tests. They are additions beyond the club's four required screens.
Search the free OFA database by both parents' registered names for the hip and elbow grades, dated eye records and thyroid results, and ask for laboratory reports for any DNA tests claimed.
Last updated: November 2026. Every test listed on this page comes from the sources above. How we work: our methodology.