Hey all :)

My 11 week old yellow lab has, in my novice opinion... *wink* ... very good pigmentation ~ black nose, lips, pads, belly and eyeliner. Now, last week however she was snapped at by my older lab (9) who had just about had enough of her constant midering, you know, the yapping and biting that pups do. Pup only wanted to play, but older girl didn't want to and pup wouldn't take her growls as no, so older girl turned her head and unfortunatley caught pup across the top of her muzzle... :( (I don't blame older girl one bit, pup grabs us by our legs as we walk across the room, but we are improving that slowly.)

Anyway, what I am getting to is that right behind pups black nose, not on nose but just back from it, in the very short fur (where there is still dark pigment, fading into yellow hair) there is now a small pink hairless mark. The *accident* happened about 7 days ago.

Two questions..... does anyone think this mark wil go back to black or stay pink?

and.. if it does stay pink, will judges mark her down because of it?

Am I paranoid?

I know, that's three questions... :p

~ Sharon ~ who sat down the other night and spent two hours here going back through the old threads in this forum, very interesting and informative. I learnt a lot! Thankyou

:)

Labs are not my bred but I would think that the hair will grow back but may not be right until she moults. Anyway I would not worry most judges would know a scar from bad pigmentation and would not even consider it when making an assesment of your bitch. Relax and enjoy your youngster she will grow up all to soon. Jackie H

The short answer is that it may, or it may not! (How’s that for sitting on the fence!) If it is just a scrape of no depth then it will almost certainly disappear quite likely before even the first moult as the puppy grows and the coat fills in. If it is deep enough to form scar tissue then it will always be there. Although from the way you describe it I would say it's of no depth'

As far as small scars like this affecting showing, the answer there is again almost certainly no. Labradors are gundogs and as such would be expected to go into cover and by so doing pick up the occasional scar. If a judge threw a Labrador out for a mark on the nose like that then to me he has no place judging a gundog!

One thing I must say though to anyone getting a second dog. Puppies, and particularly Labrador puppies do chew and the only way another dog can stop it is by using its mouth. Really it is up to you to provide protection for the older dog and if you don’t then it has no option but to try and protect it's self.

Regards, John

I agree John whatever the breed you must provide a bolt hole for the older dog(s) to escape to when they have had enough of the youngster. Jackie H

Chances are the hair will grow back normally and the pigmentation will return to normal too in a few weeks. My Orange Roan Cocker developed a pale patch on his lovely dark pigmented lower eyelid - probably caused by the boys being playful;-) - I was really worried but it returned to its proper colour and now there's no sign at all. Fingers crossed all will be well.

If its an obvious mark in a pigmented area then I would expect a judge to note it and mark accordingly - but if she is very strong in other areas it may still see her through.

hth

Pam n the boys

I hope you are all right and it goes away. I was devastated.. I saw all my plans for pup go up in smoke, hubby said I was over-reacting... he is probably right.

As for providing a bolt hole for the older girl, she only wants one place, that's under the radiator in the kitchen where she has had her bed for the last 9 years. We tried to get her to move to another part of the house even before we had the puppy, but she wasn't having any of it... and where she wants to be is the only safe place for pup while house training and in chewy mode. ( We are making the kitchen bigger soon, with open plan arches everywhere... to dining room and living room so I can see a crate coming on the horizon... :p ) So, they seem to have sorted themselves out, when black dog growls, yellow dog stops her midering.. and moves away a bit quicker, which gives black dog peace again.

I am enjoying her, especially when like today I took her on the school run to get daughter... all the mums where cooing over pup like she was a new baby!!!!! :D :D (Which to me she is, hence my over-reacting.... :rolleyes: <--at my hubby.)

Thanks for reassuring me. :)

Perhaps you could put a barrier around your adults bed with an entrance too high for the pup to manage. Jackie H

Your Older Lab is putting the pup in her place and should be allowed to do that but you need to make sure the pup does not overdo the rough play with the older one it will be a big step for her to suddenly have a young pup around Im going through a similar thing here.
Deep Scars in my experience dont disapear but as a Judge of labradors Myself I would never penalise a scar on a labrador.

i have two labs - choc and yellow - my yellow boy also has the black nose and black eye liner, and he managed to scratch his eye - and where the scab fell off it left a long pink scar. I was worried that his beautiful eyes would look silly if they didnt go back to black, but i left it to heal naturally and it went black in a matter of weeks, so dont worry im sure everything will be fine, babyflannel

I know this is changing the topic a bit, but I just wanted to say that my older lab actually PLAYED with the young'un today! She had picked one of those rope *bones* and brought it to me, I threw it for her and when she went to retrieve it, pup follwed and on the way back pup was in front of her, so big girl stopped, lowered her head and pup grabbed on... I held my breath and was delighted when they had a little game of tug o' war. Don't all shout at me at once please, puppies teeth! I KNOW! :D I was just so happy to see them interact... Mind you older girl was growling while playing, very noisily, but her tail was wagging and pup had a good growl back at her.

When I came back from Ring craft with pup, big girl greeted her nicely too, so I think she has accepted her now.

Just thought you'd like to know...

~Sharon :)

Just had to tell you all..... the scar is going back to black!! I am sooooooo happy...... ok back to my glass of wine. :D

hooooooray :)

Smashing! :)