Hi.

I have 3 year old brown and white collie bitch. Over the last few weeks I have noticed how heavily speckled her skin has become, especially on the legs. It is not showing through in the fur (the fur remains white), but when she is wet she looks like a dalmation underneath! I have done a little reading up on "ticking" but I'm not sure it is this because her fur has remained white, you can only see it on the skin when she is either wet or you pull back the fur.

Any ideas? Thanks

That's her natural pigmentation, which is often seen better when the coat is wet or in the summer when the coat is finer. Ticking is when the coat is coloured, not just the skin ;)

My moms 15yr old Lhasa apso x  has this,his fur colour is white+fawn but some parts of his skin have like a mottled effect. Its just their natural skin pigmentation and definitely nothing to worry about.

I agree.  This is not ticking at all.  It's just normal skin pigmentation.  My brown and white Border Collie boy is exactly the same.

My white dog is covered in black spots but you can only see them when he is wet. He is getting more and more as he gets older. My boyfriend was shocked the first time he came back soaked from a walk

Thank you all for the comments and for putting my mind at rest :-)