About 5 months ago, my male 18 month old Weimaraner began to exhibit small white patches on his coat. They are between 1 and 2 cms in diameter. They are on the face and back and flanks. They fade with time but new ones appear. We thought at first that it might have something to do with some foot and mouth dip he had to go through at a farm when we were out shooting last October. But the fact that new patches have appeared since then seems to preclude this. His diet has not changed and he is healthy in all other respects (apart from his obvious Weimaraner mental defects!).
Any advice as to what these might be and how we might get rid of them would be very gratefully recieved - I can't have my future Field Trial Champion with these markings!

Hiya,
I am a Weimaraner owner, breeder.
That does sound interesting. I have to ask do the
area's go bald at all? My first thought was ring worm,
or fungal infection. But if it is just white marks appear
as healthy, then I do not know. I certainly have never
had any thing like this. Scars or wounds will turn white.
White marks will appear in places other than on the chest,
but normally not lots of them as you suggest. How many
are their exactly? Also white hairs will come on the tail,
some people used to say that it was because the tail was
docked, but I have seen long haired Weimaraners with white
hairs on their tails, so this is not true.
You are sure this is a true bred Weimaraner? No cross breeding
in it. As someone local to me had a Weimaraner cross and was
told it was a chocolate Weimaraner, just to look at the dark
chocolate patches on it was obvious it was not a true bred dog.
For more advice get in touch with the Weimaraner club of
Great Britain as someone may be able to give you some advice.
See their web site. Also another Weimaraner owner comes on
this site, she may have the answers you want.
I hope you get to the bottom of the problem.
If you do not find the answer you are looking for I will ask some
breeder friends if they have come across anything like this.
Keep us posted.
Nutkin

Hi Nutkin - Weims is on holiday this week so will not reply till the weekend probably
(infact she is coming to my neck of the woods and going to visit me while she is around :D)
Sara

hi there is the discolouration just on the surface or tip of the hair or all the way to the root?
if it is just on the surface it is likeley to be contact related if it is from the root then it will probably be internal.
White patches are not uncommon in dogs that are worked and have caught their skin on something.
If you would like to e mail me privately with his/her pedigree we may be able to help further

Hi, My eldest weim (3) has a 'white' patch at the end of her rib cage, it started off as a small lump, (about the same age as your weim) then the lump went and the hair turned colour (it is actually off white) so she has a patch about the size of a 2pence. I don't show her and the vet did not seem worried about it, (he saw it as a lump and then subsequently as the discoloured patch) and it has never bothered either the vet or my dog so I don't worry about it. Just put it down to one of those things. She is a pure bred and her Ma and Pa never got them (I checked with her breeder). I did see a similar post on another board (ped dogs) a long time ago although I don't remember a conclusion ever being reached there either, so perhaps it may be more common than people think.

Good luck with your quest as the owner of the future Field Trial Champion though - patches or no!!