The term “furnished” refers to the long hair on the extremities of dogs including head and tail (i.e. mustache, long eyebrows, etc.). A mutation on the RSPO2 gene has recently been identified as being responsible for the “furnishings” found on certain breeds. Furnishings are a dominant trait, meaning that a dog only needs to have one copy of the furnishing gene from either parent to show the physical trait. Bernese Mountain Dogs are an unfurnished breed while the Poodle is a furnished breed. When a Bernese Mountain Dog is crossed with a Poodle, the resulting puppies are F1 Bernedoodles, 50% Bernese Mountain Dog and 50% Poodle. All F1 Bernedoodles are furnished as you can see from the chart below – Bernese Mountain dog (-/-) X Poodle (+/+) results in 100% of offspring with furnishings.
Reverse F1B Bernedoodles (75% Bernese and 25% Poodle) are a cross between an F1 Bernedoodle and a Bernese Mountain dog. While F1 Bernedoodles will always be furnished, a cross with a Bernese Mountain dog can result in either furnished or unfurnished offspring. This is due to the fact that the F1 Bernedoodle can be heterozygous for the furnishings gene from their Poodle parent, meaning that they carry only one copy of the dominant furnishings gene (+/-). When crossed with a non-furnished Bernese Mountain Dog (-/-) this results in both furnished and unfurnished puppies.
The reverse F1B Bernedoodle puppies in our breeding program are genetically tested for the dominant furnishings gene so that we can inform you which puppies will be furnished and which will be unfurnished prior to the selection of your puppy.
Furnished F1 and reverse F1b Bernedoodles
Unfurnished reverse F1b Bernedoodles