Health
What does Grade I to VI mean for a heart murmur?
It's a loudness scale vets use, from barely audible (I) to felt through the chest without a stethoscope (VI), that helps guide how urgently imaging is needed.
← Back to breed profile
Old English Sheepdog Heart Murmurs: What That Sound Actually Means
Quick answer
What does Grade I to VI mean for a heart murmur?
It's a loudness scale vets use, from barely audible (I) to felt through the chest without a stethoscope (VI), that helps guide how urgently imaging is needed.
A murmur is your vet's stethoscope describing a sound, not naming a disease, and in a dog covered in a foot of shaggy coat, even getting a clean listen takes real effort first.
Owners who've just had a murmur mentioned for the first time at a routine exam and aren't sure whether it's an emergency, a footnote, or something in between, and anyone whose dog's heavy coat has made past physical exams feel rushed.
Important reminder
This guide is not medical advice. If your dog shows pain, sudden behavior change, or worsening symptoms, consult a licensed veterinarian.
Some links may be affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only suggest products we believe are helpful for dog owners.
What this problem looks like
A heart murmur is the sound of turbulent blood flow through the heart, detected with a stethoscope and graded by loudness from I to VI. In the Old English Sheepdog, a murmur can range from a harmless quirk to the first audible clue of developing valve disease, and grade plus imaging, not the sound alone, determines which it is, though this breed's dense coat adds a real practical wrinkle to actually hearing one clearly.
Common triggers
- Innocent flow murmurs in growing puppies
- Early degenerative changes in an aging valve
- A rushed exam through unparted coat that muffles detection
- Anemia or other blood conditions that change flow dynamics
- Fever or excitement temporarily increasing murmur audibility
Murmurs are commonly detected across aging dogs of most breeds, and the Old English Sheepdog is no exception. They're frequent enough at senior wellness exams that a first-time murmur shouldn't be treated as unusual, but its grade and any change over time should always be tracked.
Why this happens
Breed factors
Nothing about this breed's body shape directly causes murmurs, but its genetics can carry the same inherited valve and structural traits seen across dogs broadly, and its famously dense double coat, bred for insulation on English pastures, adds a real practical barrier to a vet getting a clean stethoscope listen in the first place.
Environment factors
Excitement, fever, and even a stressful vet visit can temporarily make an existing murmur louder or more detectable, which is why vets often note the circumstances of the exam alongside the grade rather than treating one single reading as absolute.
What you can do at home (once it is not an emergency)
When to talk to your vet
Contact your vet promptly if a known murmur suddenly sounds louder, or if your dog develops a cough, rapid breathing, reduced stamina, or fainting alongside it. These combined signs suggest the underlying cause may be progressing and need reassessment sooner than the next scheduled visit.
At home, alongside your vet's plan
- Ask explicitly at every annual exam whether your vet heard a murmur, rather than assuming you'd be told automatically if something changed.
- Request that the coat over the chest be parted for direct skin contact during the stethoscope check, especially if your dog is due for a grooming trim anyway.
- Keep a written record of murmur grade and date from each visit so you and your vet can spot a trend over several years.
- Watch for real-world symptoms like reduced stamina or faster resting breathing rather than fixating on the murmur grade number alone.
- Follow through on a recommended echocardiogram promptly rather than delaying, since earlier imaging gives more treatment options if something is found.
More OLD English Sheepdog health & behavior issues
- Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Old English Sheepdogs
- Epilepsy in Old English Sheepdogs: Recognizing a Seizure
- Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) Type I in Old English Sheepdogs
- Old English Sheepdog Heart Conditions: A Full Overview
- Old English Sheepdog Heart Disease: DCM & Murmurs Explained
- Old English Sheepdog Heart Problems: Aortic Stenosis Explained
- Old English Sheepdog Kidney Stones: Causes & Warning Signs
- Old English Sheepdog Liver Shunts: An Uncommon But Real Risk
- Eye Problems in Old English Sheepdogs: Signs, Costs and What to Do
- Gastrointestinal Disorders in Old English Sheepdogs
- Genetic Predisposition To Obesity in Old English Sheepdogs
- Immune-Mediated Thyroiditis in Old English Sheepdogs
- Old English Sheepdog Hip Dysplasia Prevalence: How It Compares
- Old English Sheepdog Hip Dysplasia: Signs, Diagnosis & Management
- Old English Sheepdog Hypothyroidism: Signs & Lifelong Management
Heart Murmurs in other breeds
- Cocker Spaniel Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Dachshund Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- English Cocker Spaniel Heart Murmurs: Signs & Treatment
- German Shepherd Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Great Dane Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- Havanese Heart Murmurs: Signs, Lifespan & Treatment
- 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
See all OLD English Sheepdog health problems, which breeds are prone to heart murmurs, or the full OLD English Sheepdog breed guide for temperament, exercise needs and ownership costs.
What to expect, and how you know it is working
A single murmur finding is usually followed by an echocardiogram within a few weeks to clarify the cause. From there, monitoring intervals of six months to a year are typical unless the murmur is high-grade or symptomatic, in which case follow-up is much sooner.
Success looks like a stable grade over repeated exams, no accompanying symptoms, and a clear understanding from imaging of exactly what's causing the sound, rather than living with an unexplained murmur indefinitely.
How Vets Grade a Murmur
Veterinary murmurs are graded on a scale from I to VI based on loudness and how easily they're detected, with Grade I barely audible even to a trained ear and Grade VI loud enough to feel through the chest wall without a stethoscope at all. A young, otherwise healthy-sounding Grade I or II murmur is sometimes an "innocent" murmur a puppy can even outgrow as its heart finishes developing. A murmur that shows up for the first time in an older dog, or one graded III or higher, gets taken far more seriously and usually prompts a referral for an echocardiogram, because at that volume there's a real physical reason for the sound rather than incidental turbulence.
Why This Breed's Coat Makes the Exam Itself Harder
Before a vet can even grade a murmur, they have to get a clean listen through a dense double coat that was originally bred to insulate this dog against outdoor English weather, not to make a stethoscope's job easy. A rushed exam, or one where the coat over the chest hasn't been parted properly, can miss a soft murmur entirely or misjudge its grade. This is one reason owners of this breed specifically benefit from asking their vet to take an extra moment to part the coat and get direct skin contact with the stethoscope, rather than assuming a quick listen through a mat of fur caught everything it needed to.
What to do next about heart murmurs in Olds
If you think your Old has heart murmurs, the plan is three steps: write down what you have seen and when it started, book a veterinary appointment rather than waiting for the next flare, and take video of the behaviour or symptom before you go — the thing you are worried about rarely happens in the consulting room. Screening in the parents covers hip dysplasia, cataracts, hypothyroidism.
What the vet visit should produce is a diagnosis and a written plan, not just reassurance: what is being ruled out, what the monitoring interval is, and which signs mean you come back sooner. Ask what the treatment costs across a year rather than per visit, because that is the number that decides whether you are managing this condition or reacting to it.
Between appointments, keep a short log — dates, what you saw, what changed. It is the single most useful thing an owner brings to a follow-up, and for heart murmurs it is often what separates a clear pattern from a guess.
Chalk's First Murmur
Chalk, a five-year-old Old English Sheepdog in Richmond, had never had so much as a soft murmur mentioned at any prior visit, so when his vet paused mid-exam, gently parted the coat over his ribs, and listened a second time, his owner Owen braced for bad news. It turned out to be a Grade II murmur, soft and only audible with careful, direct listening through the fur. Chalk's vet recommended a baseline echocardiogram rather than waiting a year to see if it changed. The imaging showed very mild, early mitral valve thickening, not yet significant enough for medication, just six-month recheck imaging going forward. Owen started requesting the coat-parting step specifically at every future visit.
Key takeaway: A new murmur is a prompt to get an actual answer through imaging, not a verdict in itself, and in a heavily coated breed, getting that clean first listen is half the battle.
Frequently asked questions
My vet heard a murmur, does that mean my dog has heart disease?
Not necessarily. A murmur is a sound description, and low-grade murmurs, especially in young dogs, can be entirely benign. Higher grades or murmurs newly appearing in an older dog are more likely to reflect an actual structural issue and warrant further imaging.
Does this breed's thick coat make murmurs harder to detect?
Yes, in a practical sense. A dense double coat can muffle a soft murmur or slow down a thorough exam if the vet doesn't part the fur for direct skin contact with the stethoscope, so it's reasonable to ask that this be done carefully at every visit.
What does a murmur grade actually mean?
Murmurs are graded I through VI by loudness, from barely detectable to audible without a stethoscope. Grade generally correlates with how much turbulent blood flow is occurring, though grade alone doesn't confirm a specific diagnosis; imaging does that.
Can a murmur go away on its own?
In puppies, some low-grade "innocent" murmurs do resolve as the heart finishes developing. In adult dogs, a murmur caused by an actual valve or structural change typically doesn't disappear and instead needs monitoring or treatment.
What test confirms what's causing the murmur?
An echocardiogram, an ultrasound of the heart, is the definitive test. It shows the valves and chambers in motion and lets a cardiologist see exactly what's causing the sound rather than guessing from the stethoscope grade alone.
Should I panic if my dog's murmur got louder at this year's exam?
It's worth prompt follow-up rather than panic. A murmur increasing in grade over time can indicate the underlying valve issue is progressing, and your vet will likely want updated imaging to compare against the prior baseline.
Do all Old English Sheepdogs get murmurs eventually?
No, plenty live their whole lives without ever having one detected. It's common enough across aging large-breed dogs generally that annual stethoscope checks are worthwhile, but it isn't inevitable for this breed specifically.
Quick answers
View more answersHealth
Does a shaggy coat make it harder to hear a murmur?
Yes, a thick double coat can muffle a soft murmur unless the vet parts the fur for direct skin contact, so it's worth asking that this be done carefully.
Costs
How much does an echocardiogram cost?
Costs vary by region and clinic, but a full cardiology echocardiogram is a meaningful expense, commonly several hundred dollars, on top of the referral exam fee.
Living
Can my dog still play normally with a low-grade murmur?
Usually yes for mild, stable murmurs, but always confirm activity level with your vet once imaging results are back rather than assuming.
Behavior
Should I ask for a full stethoscope check at every visit?
Yes, request one even at visits booked for grooming or skin concerns, since this is often how new murmurs get caught early in a heavily coated breed.
Related DogBreedCompass guides
- myxomatous mitral valve disease details – Murmurs are frequently the first clue pointing toward mitral valve disease specifically.
- subvalvular aortic stenosis in the breed – A structural congenital cause of murmurs is covered on this dedicated page.
- overview of heart conditions in the breed – The full spectrum of cardiac issues in the breed is summarized here.
- Old English Sheepdog cost of ownership – Owners weighing ongoing vet costs should see the full cost breakdown for this breed.
- Old English Sheepdog coat and grooming needs – General breed traits explain why the coat complicates routine exams.
Bring the right questions to the vet
A one-page prep sheet for this condition: the signs, the questions to ask, what to get priced. Unlocks here.
You get: Vet visit prep sheet
No spam. One-click unsubscribe. See our privacy policy.
Preview page 1 before you decide.
Related guides
Cost
Old English Sheepdog Cost in Louisville, KY: A Real Budget
CostRead guide->
Comparison
Labradoodle vs Old English Sheepdog: Size, Cost & Temperament
ComparisonRead guide->
Cost
Old English Sheepdog Cost in Virginia Beach, VA: A Real Budget
CostRead guide->
Comparison
Bloodhound vs Old English Sheepdog: Size, Cost & Temperament
ComparisonRead guide->
Comparison
German Shepherd vs Old English Sheepdog: Size, Cost & Temperament
ComparisonRead guide->
Cost
Old English Sheepdog Cost in Houston, TX: A Real Budget
CostRead guide->