at club last night my friend was upset as she may not be able to show her dog anymore as it has developed a white toenail,
and in her breed standard black toe nails are a must as she said,

she asked if any supplement could be given to make its nail go back to black,

someone suggested painting it, and someone else said hoof oil, she is going on the net today to do some research,

i was wondering could it of gone white through damage, and could she give a supplement like you do to bring back nose pigmentation.

If the dog is otherwise a good example of the breed why not give it a go?   She'd soon find out whether one white nail would be a problem.   There are far worse faults in a dog in any breed IMHO ;)

I've been querying this for years and have yet to find an answer or solution I'm afraid!  Remy's nails started going white years ago - now almost all of them are white.

I read somewhere that adding kelp[seaweed] to the diet helps to improve pigment even nail colour but never had a need to try it as all my lot have good pigment.

I can't see why one white nail would be a problem, if she keeps it short it may not be obvious, how old is this dog?   Not known of pigment change in an adult dog, could the nail bed have been damaged resulting in the white nail?

In pups white bits where there shouldn't be are called "minus factors", the colour hasn't reached all the bits it should, like a sponge which you put into water but there wasn't enough to wet all the sponge, minus factors are permissable but not desirable in the my breeds standard.

> she may not be able to show her dog anymore as it has developed a white toenail

I've never showed an animal, but surely a white nail doesn't stop an animal being shown, I'd also be suprised if one singal white nail would stop an otherwise fab dog of winning.

Here's a snippet from the Mastiff breed standard re. faults (nails should be black according to the standard).
Faults
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog and on the dog's ability to perform its traditional work

I don't know what breed your friend has, and am not sure of how other dogs are judged (as the Mastiff is one of the 'high-profile' breeds, health & welfare seems to be of more importance than in the non-high-profile breeds), but surely a singal white nail is a miniscule cosmetic 'fault' that will not stop the dog being a good example of the breed that it is????????

Could it be a fungal infection as with people?  I think it's disgusting though that in this day and age with health problems that one white toenail would stop a dog being shown. 

Let the dog play in the dirt ( like mine do :-) ) and when bathing for a show dont be quite as vigourous washing that particular nail.
If my youngster is anything to go by, I have to scrape the caked on muck from her nails after a game of 'whacky races'...so just dont be quite as keen with that one.

Before anyone says this is cheating...... if any good and healthy example of a breed is over looked because of one nail!! Well I ask you, this is taking the standard to extremes.

Just remember there is not such thing as a perfect dog and if the only problem this dog has is one white nail he will sweep the board. With the current wet weather I can't see it being a problem anyway and stood on grass it is not going to be all that obvious anyway.

Truth be told he probably has many other faults that the owner is not aware of and if he does not do too well will blame the nail but I would not mind betting it will be something else.

> stood on grass it is not going to be all that obvious anyway

I suspect its a Pug and will be seen on the table where they will check nails.

Still not the end of the showing world unless none of the Pug judges have any sense, one white toe nail is not a problem concerning type, conformation or movement so it would have to be an amazing class for the one nail to cause much difference in the dogs placing. True if it is up against another of similar merit the nail may count but I would hope otherwise it would be insignificant.

Mind you the judging of some breeds never cease to amaze me as you will see a dog rejected for some cosmetic reason and a dog with slipping patella awarded a place.

spoke to her last night and she said that she has read in the breed notes and a lot of judges are complaining of white nails creeping into her breed and yes it is a pug and she is worried that it will be mentioned in the notes if she has a win, he is a lovely dog, and i told her to just show him and have fun i think she may carry on with him and see what happens she is just new to showing and said she did not want to make a mistake.

To be honest if she is new to showing then he is a perfect dog for her to learn the ropes with, a good quality dog that may not hit the very top - as a beginner who could ask for more.

The standard calls for black nails but if that is the dogs only real problem then you have before you an excellent dog no judge would be so transfixed on the nail colour to ignore a good dog because of that one fault when others will have far worse constructional faults or deviate more from the required cosmetic standard.

Tell your friend to show her dog one white nail is not going to stop it. I had a white nail on my late boy and he managed 4 CC's and 16 RCC's.
In 9 yrs of showing him I got one judge comment on it and that was in a breed club veteran class.

There are no disqualifying faults in the standard so the only reason she may not be able to show him or be excluded from the ring are ill health or agression. All faults should be taked into consideration and placing made depending on how the judge sees them. Some will have a thing about nails some will not it's the luck of the draw as to how serious the judge thinks one white nail is.
Have a go, enjoy and just accept that some will not like it and some will not worry.
Aileen

All faults should be taked into consideration and placing made depending on how the judge sees them.

And lets face it judges of any sense will see faults that effect the dogs health or ability to work as the most serious followed by those that cause the dog to lack type, any other sort of fault would only come into consideration should the judge need to make a splitting hairs choice when they may choose between a white nail and a slightly crooked tooth.