Home / Breeds / Great Pyrenees / Health testing
The recommended tests for Great Pyrenees 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 Great Pyrenees 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 Great Pyrenees, the breed behind this site's Pyrenean Mountain Dog profile, has a parent club list of just two items as the AKC publishes it: a patella evaluation and a hip evaluation. For a giant livestock guardian, the brevity surprises buyers, but the two chosen screens are well aimed, and the second of them does most of the work.
Hip dysplasia screening in a dog bred to weigh 100 pounds or more and to work outdoors in all weather is the core of any honest program for this breed, graded finally at two years. The patella evaluation is less expected in a giant, which is exactly why its presence on the list is worth respecting: the club recorded slipping kneecaps in the breed and acted on it. Two required items means there is nowhere to hide; both should be on file, graded and recorded, for both parents.
Beyond the club pair, the AKC DNA recommendations page lists a DNA test for Glanzmann thrombasthenia for this breed, a platelet disorder affecting clotting, with a neuronal degeneration test listed as optional and degenerative myelopathy identified in the breed. None of these replaces the hip films or the patella grades. They are the additions to ask about once the required pair is in hand, and a breeder who runs them can show you laboratory reports.
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, the central structural risk of a giant working breed. | Final OFA grading at 24 months or older. |
| Patellar luxation evaluation (OFA) | Kneecaps that slip from their groove, graded by severity on a hands-on veterinary examination; recorded in this breed despite its size. | In the adult dog before breeding, from 12 months or older. |
| Glanzmann thrombasthenia DNA test (listed for the breed in the AKC recommendations) | An inherited platelet disorder in which the blood's clotting cells cannot grip properly, so affected dogs bleed more than expected after surgery or injury. | Once in a lifetime, at any age. Reports clear, carrier or affected. |
| Neuronal degeneration DNA test (optional, listed in the AKC recommendations) | An inherited progressive degeneration of the nervous system identified in this breed. | Once in a lifetime, at any age. Reports clear, carrier or affected. |
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 required pair costs an estimated $235 to $525 per parent. For a giant breed, that is a small, entirely standard bill, and both items should be present and recorded for every breeding dog.
Hip grades and patella results sit in the free OFA database under each parent's registered name. Confirm the hip grading was final, at 24 months or older, in a breed that matures slowly, and that the patella evaluation is recorded rather than remembered. DNA additions should arrive as laboratory reports naming the condition tested.
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 Great Pyrenees profile for size, temperament, costs and care.
The parent club list published by the AKC is a hip evaluation and a patella evaluation. The AKC DNA recommendations also list a Glanzmann thrombasthenia DNA test for the breed, with a neuronal degeneration test as optional.
Slipping kneecaps are usually a small breed problem, but the parent club recorded them in this breed and put the hands-on evaluation on its list. A required item is a required item, whatever the dog's size.
It is an inherited platelet disorder: the platelets are present but cannot grip together properly, so clotting is impaired and affected dogs can bleed excessively after surgery or injury. A DNA test reports clear, carrier or affected status.
OFA final grading happens at 24 months or older, and this slow maturing giant breed is still filling out then. Earlier results are preliminary only.
Search the free OFA database by both parents' registered names for the hip grade and recorded patella results, and ask for laboratory reports for any DNA tests the breeder mentions.
Last updated: November 2026. Every test listed on this page comes from the sources above. How we work: our methodology.