This is a question that has been bugging me for ages. Mac had a black nose until he was about 2 and then it went pink, when I say pink I mean light brown,with a few bits pinky. I was told once it was poor breeding if they have a pink nose, but I know he is very well bred so I don't understand. Anyone know? :)

Sam

Sounds like the pigmentation is not as good as it could be. But that could be a rather simplistic answer! Quite a few dogs get what is known as a "Winter Nose", A temporary loss of pigmentation sometimes when feeling a little "Off Colour", sometimes without you ever finding the reason!

Silly question but are you using a plastic food or water bowl?

Regards, John

or plastic toys!

Christine

No Plastic water bowls. The occasional plastic toy which lasts ummmm.........5 minutes before it is destroyed!! He has a fancy for my plastic washing line pegs though :)
It is not temporary i don't think as it has been this way for a year or so now.
I was wondering if maybe it was his food but have changed that too.

Sam

John I stopped using plastic water bowls because I posted a few months back that Barney had a reddish mouth and our little black and white shih tzu had a 'pink' face from always sticking it in Barney's mouth!! :D Didnt realise about the food bowls though so will stick to the china ones from now on. Molly wont eat out of stainless steel, plates with a green rim or bowls. Everything has to be on a white plate at the moment!! Changing tack a bit (I'm good at that :D )

Gina x

It's actually the plastic its self that seems to affect them rather than the colour, strange though it may seem! I don't know the reason but just the fact that it does happen. If you don’t use one then that idea's out. Unfortunately good breeding is no guarantee though I'm afraid. One of my labs was on paper a wonderful breeding but she had a terrible nose. In her case I blamed a choc Lab in her background. I must say I did threaten her with rubbing boot polish in the bottom of her food dish ;) but at the end of the day just had to live with it.

Regards, John

Why not ask your breeder, they should know because I vaguely remember something about this in Golden circles when we used to have Goldens. I think certain "lines" of goldens had some pink pigment and I do remember some goldens noses turned browny/pink during winter and returned to black in the spring.
It wasn't regarded as a fault or bad breeding in goldens. Something makes me think it was more the working strains of the goldens that it happened to. Sorry I can't be more help but do ask your breeder.
Dot

It is whats called a snow-nose, it usually gets pinker in the winter.
It has nothing to do with poor breeding.
Some dogs are prone to it but I have found the diet makes a huge effect on the pigmentation, my last litter of puppies 3 were fed on tripe and the others were fed complete and all the pups on complete food have not got as blacker noses than the others.
Kelp tablets can help with a snow-nose.
If you do a search for 'snow-nose' there should be other peoples remedies for it HTH emma xxxxxx