Health
Is a grade two murmur in a Bernese puppy an emergency?
No. A soft murmur in a young puppy with normal energy, normal growth and no fainting is usually monitored at the next scheduled visit rather than investigated urgently.
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Heart Murmurs in Bernese Mountain Dogs: What the Grade Means
Quick answer
Is a grade two murmur in a Bernese puppy an emergency?
No. A soft murmur in a young puppy with normal energy, normal growth and no fainting is usually monitored at the next scheduled visit rather than investigated urgently.
Your veterinarian said the words heart murmur and the rest of the appointment went past you in a blur. Here is what actually happens next.
Owners who have just had a murmur mentioned at a puppy visit, a pre-anesthetic exam, or a senior wellness check, and who need to know whether this is a wait, a referral, or a reason to cancel a procedure.
Important reminder
This guide is not medical advice. If your dog shows pain, sudden behavior change, or worsening symptoms, consult a licensed veterinarian.
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What this problem looks like
A heart murmur is the sound of blood moving turbulently through the heart, graded one to six by how loud it is. In Bernese Mountain Dogs murmurs arise from three broad situations: normal puppy circulation, a congenital valve or outflow defect, and acquired change in an older heart. The murmur itself causes no symptoms; what matters is which of the three is producing it.
Common triggers
- A routine puppy vaccination exam, the most common discovery point
- A pre-anesthetic check before spay, neuter or a dental
- A senior wellness exam where a new sound appears
- Anemia or fever, which can create turbulent flow in a structurally normal heart
- Excitement during the exam, which can make a soft murmur temporarily louder
Murmurs are found in dogs of every breed and most turn out to be either innocent or mild. In large working breeds like this one, the murmurs that matter most are congenital outflow defects picked up in puppyhood. Reputable Bernese breeders screen for them, so an owner buying from a health-tested line is starting from a lower base risk than the general population.
Why this happens
Breed factors
Two features of the breed shape how murmurs behave here. First, congenital narrowing of the outflow tract below the aortic valve occurs in large working breeds and produces exactly the kind of loud, early-life murmur that needs investigation, and it clusters in family lines rather than appearing randomly. Second, the Bernese chest is deep and heavily muscled for a draft breed built in Switzerland to pull carts, which physically distances the heart from the stethoscope and can make an important murmur sound softer than it is.
Environment factors
Environment does not create murmurs, but it changes what you hear. A hot examination room raises a heat-sensitive dog's heart rate and can make a mild murmur audible when it would not be on a cool morning. Excitement does the same. Severe anemia from parasites or blood loss, and high fever from an infection, both produce genuinely new murmurs that resolve once the underlying problem is treated, which is why bloodwork often accompanies the first murmur workup.
What you can do at home (once it is not an emergency)
When to talk to your vet
A murmur on its own is a scheduling matter, not an emergency. What turns it urgent is company: any dog with a murmur who faints, collapses, has bluish or very pale gums, breathes hard while resting, or becomes suddenly weak needs to be seen the same day. In a puppy, a loud murmur combined with poor growth, tiring far faster than littermates, or reluctance to play is also a same-week priority rather than something to raise at the next vaccine visit.
At home, alongside your vet's plan
- Write the grade, the date and the vet's name in a note on your phone after each exam so you have a trend rather than a memory.
- Record a short video of your dog on a normal walk while the murmur is still unexplained. It gives an objective baseline for exercise tolerance.
- Keep the dog cool and calm on the way to a recheck. A hot, excited dog produces a less useful auscultation.
- Ask the practice to send you the record copy rather than summarising it. Grades get remembered wrong surprisingly often.
- If you bought from a breeder, ask whether the sire and dam were cardiac screened and what the results said.
More Bernese Mountain DOG health & behavior issues
Start here: Bernese Mountain Dog Most Common Genetic Disorders
- After GDV Surgery: Recovery for Bernese Mountain Dogs
- Bernese Mountain Dog Acute Disc Herniation: Emergency Guide
- Bernese Mountain Dog IVDD: What It Is and What It Is Not
- Bernese Mountain Dog Kidney Disease: Signs and Monitoring
- Bernese Mountain Dog Pancreatitis and Diabetes: The Link
- Bernese Mountain Dog Pancreatitis: Triggers and Warning Signs
- Bernese Mountain Dog Allergies: Itch, Ears and Skin Infections
- Bernese Mountain Dog Immune-Mediated Thyroiditis Explained
- Bernese Mountain Dog Obesity: Why the Coat Hides It
- Bernese Mountain Dog Patellar Luxation Surgery and Recovery
- Bernese Mountain Dog Separation Anxiety: A Real Training Plan
- Contact Skin Allergies in Bernese Mountain Dogs: Paws, Belly and Lawns
- Does the Bernese Mountain Dog Have Brachycephalic Features?
- Noisy Breathing in Bernese Mountain Dogs: What It Is If Not BOAS
- Skin Infections in Bernese Mountain Dogs: Signs, Costs and What to Do
Heart Murmurs in other breeds
- Jack Russell Terrier Heart Murmurs: Signs & Treatment
- Labradoodle Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Maltese Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Miniature Schnauzer Heart Murmurs: Signs & Treatment
- Poodle Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Rottweiler Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Standard Schnauzer Heart Murmurs: Signs & Treatment
- Yorkshire Terrier Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Akita Heart Murmurs: What a Diagnosis Actually Means
- Australian Shepherd Heart Murmurs: What the Sound Actually Means
See all Bernese Mountain DOG health problems, which breeds are prone to heart murmurs, or the full Bernese Mountain DOG breed guide for temperament, exercise needs and ownership costs.
What to expect, and how you know it is working
The uncertainty phase is short if you push it. Most owners can get an echocardiogram booked within two to four weeks of a referral, and the result is usually definitive on the day. After that the timeline splits: innocent murmurs need nothing, mild structural findings get a recheck in six to twelve months, and significant defects move into an ongoing management plan with its own schedule.
Success is knowing. A murmur with a name attached stops being frightening and becomes a number on a chart that either changes or does not. For most Bernese owners the successful outcome is a mild finding, a recheck interval, and a dog who lives an entirely normal life while carrying a sound that never means anything.
Reading the grade your vet wrote down
Murmurs are graded one to six by loudness. Ask which grade your dog was given and have it written in the record, because the trend between visits carries more information than any single number.
- Grade one is barely audible and takes a quiet room and patience to hear at all. Often innocent, especially in a young dog.
- Grade two is soft but consistently audible. Still frequently innocent in puppies, but worth rechecking at the next visit.
- Grade three is clearly audible without effort. In a Bernese this is the point where imaging usually stops being optional.
- Grade four is loud. It carries across the chest wall and reliably indicates a structural problem worth investigating.
- Grades five and six can be felt as a vibration through the chest with a flat hand. These are always significant findings.
- Grade alone does not equal severity. A moderate murmur from a serious defect can matter far more than a loud one from a mild leak.
The murmur found before a spay, neuter or dental
This is the most common way a Bernese murmur is discovered, and it is also the moment when owners feel most pressured to decide quickly. The honest position is that a newly discovered murmur is a good reason to pause an elective procedure, and not usually a reason to cancel it forever.
Anesthesia lowers blood pressure and changes how hard the heart has to work. A heart with a structural defect has less room to absorb that change. Knowing what the murmur represents lets the anesthesia protocol, the fluid rate and the monitoring be adjusted before rather than during the procedure.
For an elective surgery, most veterinarians will recommend imaging the heart first. For a genuinely urgent procedure, the calculation changes and the team may proceed with extra monitoring. What you should ask directly is whether the procedure can wait a few weeks, and whether the practice can perform or refer for a cardiac ultrasound.
One breed-specific note: Bernese Mountain Dogs are large enough that anesthetic drug volumes and recovery times already differ from what a general practice handles daily, and the breed's heat sensitivity makes a long warm recovery period less comfortable than it would be for a short-coated dog. Both are reasons to want the cardiac picture clear beforehand.
The murmur that postponed Hugo's neuter by five weeks
Hugo was seven months old, 78 pounds and booked for a routine neuter. At the pre-anesthetic exam the vet paused, listened again on both sides of the chest, and put a grade three next to his name. His owners had never been told about a murmur at any earlier visit. The practice recommended postponing and referred him for imaging. The cardiologist found a mild outflow narrowing, well within the range that needed no medication and no exercise restriction, but enough that the anesthetic protocol was adjusted and blood pressure monitored more closely. Hugo was neutered five weeks later without incident. He is four now, walks a normal amount, and has an annual recheck that has shown no change in three years.
Key takeaway: A murmur discovered before anesthesia is a piece of luck, not a disaster. The delay it causes is usually measured in weeks, and the information it buys shapes the safety of every procedure your dog has afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Do Bernese Mountain Dog puppies grow out of murmurs?
Some do. Innocent flow murmurs are common in growing puppies, usually soft, and typically gone by around four to six months as the chest and circulation mature. A murmur that persists past six months, or that gets louder rather than quieter across visits, is not being outgrown and should be imaged.
What test tells us what the murmur actually is?
An echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart, usually performed by a cardiologist or a trained sonographer. It shows the valves, the chamber sizes and the direction of blood flow. Chest radiographs and blood tests add context but do not identify the cause of a murmur on their own.
Can a murmur appear in an adult Berner who never had one?
Yes, and a new murmur in an adult or senior dog is generally more concerning than one found in a puppy. It suggests something has changed: a valve has begun leaking, a chamber has enlarged, or in some cases severe anemia or fever is producing turbulent flow. It deserves investigation rather than annual monitoring.
Does a murmur mean my dog will develop heart failure?
No. Plenty of dogs live full lives with a stable, mild murmur that never progresses. The murmur is a signal to find out what is underneath. Once you know that, your veterinarian can tell you whether the realistic path is monitoring, medication, or nothing at all.
Should I breed a Bernese Mountain Dog with a murmur?
Not without a cardiologist evaluation first. Congenital defects that cause murmurs in this size of dog have a heritable component, and passing them into a breed already carrying a short lifespan and a heavy health load is a real cost. Responsible Bernese breeders screen breeding stock for exactly this reason.
Will the murmur change how I exercise my Bernese?
Not until you know what it is. Restricting a large growing dog's activity on the basis of an unexplained sound costs him muscle and joint conditioning that this breed genuinely needs. Get the imaging, then set the exercise plan from the finding rather than from the sound.
How much does a cardiac ultrasound cost?
In most regions a specialist echocardiogram runs several hundred dollars, more in large metro areas or if sedation and radiographs are added. It is a one-time diagnostic in many cases, and it often prevents repeated uncertainty and repeated visits, which is worth weighing against the sticker price.
Quick answers
View more answersHealth
Should I cancel my dog's neuter over a new murmur?
Postpone rather than cancel, and ask for cardiac imaging first. An elective procedure can nearly always wait a few weeks for a clear answer.
Living
Can I hear a murmur at home?
Usually not. Only the loudest grades produce a vibration you can feel through the chest wall, and a Bernese double coat makes even that harder to detect than in a short-coated dog.
Health
What should I ask my vet when a murmur is found?
Three things: what grade is it, where on the chest is it loudest, and does it need imaging now or at the next visit. Get the answers written into the record.
Costs
Does a murmur affect pet insurance?
It can. Once a murmur is documented, related cardiac conditions may be treated as pre-existing by a new policy, which is why insuring a Bernese in puppyhood is worth more than insuring one later.
Related DogBreedCompass guides
- Bernese Mountain Dog heart disease – A murmur that turns out to be structural leads directly into the heart disease picture.
- congenital heart problems in Bernese Mountain Dogs – Congenital aortic narrowing is the classic cause of a loud puppy murmur in a large breed.
- Bernese anesthesia sensitivity – Murmurs are often found during pre-anesthetic exams, where sensitivity to sedation matters.
- Bernese Mountain Dog breed guide – Readers who find a murmur usually want the whole breed health checklist.
- Bernese Mountain Dog cost breakdown – Specialist imaging is a significant one-off expense worth planning for.
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