My yellow 6 month old labs nose is starting to turn brown. any ideas why this happens.

Is there any Chocolate in the pedigree? Often dogs carrying the choc gene pass on poor pigmentation. My Bethany was out of a Choc bitch and had a brown nose and lipstick ;) Some dogs with otherwise good pigmentation occasionally get a brown nose (known as a winter nose) One other thing, there is a story around that plastic food or water bowls can exacerbate the problem. I used one for Bethany but never before or since and she was the only "Brown nose" I've ever had!!!!

Regards, John

Hello John
Thank you for your reply,No their is no choc as far as i know, going back 3 generations to Hawksmoor webster if that means anything to you.No plastic bowls are used.Maybe as you say winter nose,Oh well i could always get the cherry blossom out.
linda

you will have to get the boot polish out:D

Is there any Chocolate in the pedigree? Often dogs carrying the choc gene pass on poor pigmentation. My Bethany was out of a Choc bitch and had a brown nose and lipstick ;) Some dogs with otherwise good pigmentation occasionally get a brown nose (known as a winter nose) One other thing, there is a story around that plastic food or water bowls can exacerbate the problem. I used one for Bethany but never before or since and she was the only "Brown nose" I've ever had!!!!

Regards, John

Honey (yellow) started with a really dark brown/black nose. It started to go lighter from about October and is now slightly pink round the top. I'm hoping it will go dark again now that Spring is here.
Her mum and dad are black but mum carries chocolate. She has got the lovely black 'eyeliner' look though!
Lorna

my white GSD gets a brown nose in winter ... and he darker bits (fir colour) go darker too

and then her nose goes back to black when it warms up and here coat gets whiter ..if ya know what i mean ...must be the weather ..lol
jo x x x

I have heard that supplements containing seaweed/iodine helps a brown nose/retain pigment - anyone know if its true?

Snap was just going to post that WL :)

Hi all, don`t know whether this will help but I`ll tell you what I`ve found happened with my lot. When I first started feeding them raw meat/cooked grain food they had a daily supplement of *healthy powder*& one of the ingriedients was powdered kelp. After about 6wks the pigmentaion on 4 of my dogs had gone back to black! When I changed them to raw food totally with no grains I stopped the healthy powder but still supplemented several times a wk with kelp tablets but a short while ago the same 4 dogs have got winter nose back!!!! So definitely think kelp helps but don`t know whether or not it`s better powdered/given daily/with cooked grains/mixed with the rest of the ingriedients or what! What do you think?? :)
Christine, Spain.
ps this is only the second time the pigment has changed & it`s only on 4 of them to varying degrees, with the worst being on my 6yr bitch who`s also in season, does anyone think that plays a part, although saying that 2 of the dogs are males!!

My two year old white GSD had a lovely black nose as a pup, it started to fade at about six months and now is totally pink, nothing I have tried has brought the pigment back unfortunately, sometimes its in the genes, Merlin's dad had bad pigment and I think he passed it on! Did you see both parents of your pup and did they both have black noses?
I know this is a common situation in pale coloured dogs.

Hi Bear
I meet the pups father at crufts who is black and the mother is yellow.To be truthful i dont think i took much notice of their noses.Maybe yellow and black parents can produce the brown pigmentation.Shame i would love her to keep her wee black nose.
linda

Don't give up yet! You might be lucky - try the kelp or elderberry supplements, also try a zinc tablet daily, feed from ceramic or metal bowls, and I have also heard that tap water can affect pigment ( don't know if this is true though ) so maybe try giving spring or mineral water.
I know how you feel though - my Merlin is a lovely looking big shaggy boy, until you see his 'pigs snout' nose!

Hi Linda
having just spent the shooting season working my dogs most yellow labradors i met had brownish noses. Very few working lines carry chocolate genes, if Black X Yellow matings in Labradors produced Brown pigmentation then brown noses would crop up in Black Labradors ? i think it goes with the colour Chocalate and Yellow are both Recessive genes to Black in Labradors (trying not to be technical ) two Black Labradors can produce Yellow puppies
But two Yellows Cannott produce Black puppies , Not sure if this helps

Dave

Hi Dave
Your post was very intresting,I will just have to wait and see if it turns completely,hope not as i do like a black nose
on the yellows.
linda