Nose Color fading/pink nose ?

[Mike on Goldenpond]

Is their a dietary supplement missing from our pair of 6 year old golden boys diet who are getting pinky nose color ?

Cheers,

Mike

[johnwa]

Sometimes this condition reverses itself. Some people use a kelp supplement for it. Nevertheless, here is an article on this, if you wish to review it.

<a href = "http://www.awsaclub.com/healthgenetics/snownose.htm" target="_blank">Snow Nose?</a>

[GoldenLover]

One of my dogs had the pink nose all winter, but it's coming back to black again..She's young right now though. I've heard that kelp doesn't really do anything for snow nose. At 6 years old, not only will their noses lose the black pigment, but they might start to turn white in the face too...My other goldens turned white faced about that age.

[Mike on Goldenpond]

We will look into the kelp... They are already on Sea Meal , so perhaps the Vitamins...


Cheers,


Mike

[messano]

Nose colour in Golden Retrievers is dependent on how strong the black pigment is present in the dog. It is a fact that the paler the colour of a dogs coat, the stronger the black pigment will be present in the genetic inheritance of the dog, and therefore the blacker the nose, lips and eye rims. The dark gold coloured dogs seem to be the most unlikely ones to keep black pigment as they become older.

All Golden Retriever puppies are born with no pigmentation and the black gradually appears within a few hours or a few days. Those that develop the pigment within a few hours usually keep it for life.
We have had some pale cream dogs with pigment so black that their skin is also black under the fur and especially visible on the belly, these have always kept their pigment. The darker puppies that have the pink bellies have nearly always lost their pigment by adulthood.

I think that the jet-black pigment and dark brown eyes are two of the most appealing features of the breed and the breeders that have this strongly in their lines should always take it into account when choosing a stud dog. Once it is lost, it is very difficult to regain.

messano

[timberwolfe13ca]

Messano, could this be why some GR have black spots in their mouths? And is this a sign of more black pigmentation?

Clancy's nose turned pinkish, but is slowly coming back. We also traded his plastic bowl for stainless steel. I have heard that plastic turns noses pink, but wasn't quite ready to believe it. But i heard it from several sources in a short period of time so I felt it couldn't hurt. Also I hated the plastic for cleaning.

[Scorpio118]

<<<<All Golden Retriever puppies are born with no pigmentation and the black gradually appears within a few hours or a few days. Those that develop the pigment within a few hours usually keep it for life.
We have had some pale cream dogs with pigment so black that their skin is also black under the fur and especially visible on the belly, these have always kept their pigment. The darker puppies that have the pink bellies have nearly always lost their pigment by adulthood.>>>>

Very interesting..... My Maddie is lighter color (not cream - but light) - I happened to notice her nose this weekend - why? :204 musta been bored... :lol I did notice her nose was VERY black!! And her belly is also darker... I didn't think it was dark when we got her - almost seems to be getting a little darker as she gets bigger... guess I probably shouldn't scrub her too hard when giving her a bath :rolleyes

[messano]

< Messano, could this be why some GR have black spots in their mouths? And is this a sign of more black pigmentation?>

We have a bitch with a black spot on her tongue and she has excellent pigmentation. When I think about the other dogs I know with a tongue spot this is also true of them, so I guess that it is a good indication of pigmentation.
Incidentally, the sire of our bitch also has a black spot on his tongue and many of his offspring also have this ‘trademark’.

< We also traded his plastic bowl for stainless steel. I have heard that plastic turns noses pink but wasn't quite ready to believe it. But i heard it from several sources in a short period of time so I felt it couldn't hurt. Also I hated the plastic for cleaning.>

We have always used stainless steel water bowls and it does not seem to make any difference to the blackness of the noses. We have several dogs with ‘Dudley noses’ (a sort of purple colour), a few with almost pink noses which we have tried all the remedies on (kelp powder, elderberry extract etc) and this has not made the slightest difference.
We have 2 dogs with absolutely jet-black pigment (including body skin) that seems to be inherited from their parents, which is why my theory is that it is genetic in origin.

An interesting fact is that the two bitches with pinkish noses always get jet black noses when they have whelped a litter of puppies, this stays until the puppies are eight or nine weeks old and then gradually fades again. We only intervene if our girls have a problem when they are giving birth and this means that they sever the umbilical cords and eat the after-births of all their puppies. There is obviously something involved in the birth process that returns the pigment to their system (I know that human mothers sometimes also get excessive pigmentation when they are pregnant, such as the linea nigra that sometimes appears on the abdomen), if someone could isolate the constituent part and market it they would make a fortune!

messano

[messano]

< I didn't think it was dark when we got her - almost seems to be getting a little darker as she gets bigger... >

Dogs with black skin pigment do seem to get darker as they get older. The first puppy that we had with black skin concerned us enough to bring it to the attention of our vet, it almost looked like the blackening that occurs when a dog gets mange. It soon became apparent that it was perfectly normal and we are now very pleased to see the black skin because we know the nose pigment should always be present.
When a pale dog with black skin is moulting, it can look very strange when they are wet because it is visible under the coat.

We presently have a young dog with coal-black eye and nose pigmentation and dark-brown eyes, he looks like a typical ‘chocolate-box’ retriever, I will post a photo of his head later as an example.

messano

[ChicagoCanine]

The kelp may or may not help...
My Golden's nose color started fading when she was about 4 yrs. Before that, it was pitch black, as are her eye rims and other pigment. I thought it might be 'snow nose' (changes in the winter) but it started before winter... I tried switching to all metal bowls and using Seameal/kelp, but her nose just kept changing. Now, her nose is completely reddish-brown. The nice thing is that it matches her fur and eyes! I now call her my 'monochrome dog'.

Interestingly, we met another red Golden who looked a LOT like my Ginger and was very similar in color, and she also had a nose that was the same shade of red. Her owner told us that hers was also very black before.

Here is a photo of Ginger before her nose color changed:

http://www.chicagocanine.com/dogtemp/Ghed.jpg

Here is a photo of her from last week, with the other Golden I mentioned- Ginger is on the left. You can really see the nose color change here.

http://www.chicagocanine.com/dogtemp/ginjen2sm.JPG

[Trixiego]

Ginger is beautiful. She and the other dog have the exact same coloring as my male, Boomer.

Boomer's nose changed color years ago, he is almost 12 now. It changes with the weather from dark to lighter and he has now a black spot on his tongue which happened about three years ago. Despite different supplements, nothing changed so we just expect that when the seasons change so does his nose color :-)

[KalPalerTins]

Does anybody have a golden whose nose turned pink???

::edit::This was edited into this forum without searching

[GoldenBlaze]

Blaze still has a black nose but I read that in the winter they can get snownose and it goes pink :)
This will be his first winter, kind of hope it stays black though.

[KalPalerTins]

i hope Blaze enjoys the winter. Kali was born with a black nose but when she was about 6 months old it started to turn pink. We live in Florida so there is not too much of a winter here.

[spindog]

Florida sounds great right now! We lived in St Augustine at one time! We are pulling out all the cold weather gear & the change in temps will soon bring us snow I'm sure.
Never heard of a Goldens nose turning pink. :confused:

[Andi]

Porter's was really black until last winter....the top half turned pinkish and has never turned back. :confused: But I still like to kiss it! :032

[Cassidy'sMom]

When Cassidy was younger, she scratched her nose on the cement outside. It formed a scab that was black. I would never have even noticed the scab had I not seen the initial blood when she scraped it. Anyway, when the scab finally fell off it left fresh PINK skin in its place. The new skin eventually turned back black after a month or so.

I'm not sure if this helps you. This is the only time one of my goldens ever had a "pink nose".

[angenbear]

If you do a search for pink nose or pink, i'm s ure you'll find a t hread on it. I remember reading it at one time. I think it's cute to have a dog with a pink nose!

[GoldenBlaze]

i hope Blaze enjoys the winter. Kali was born with a black nose but when she was about 6 months old it started to turn pink. We live in Florida so there is not too much of a winter here.


This is Blazes first winter and we had some snow last week for a few hours and he loved it. We played with the snow as I would throw the snowballs Blaze would run and try to find them, he loved it and can't wait for more snow, next we make a snowman.As for his nose I really really hope it stays black! It suits him I think. I love all goldens no matter what colour of their nose. Enjoy the warm weather in Florida. :)

[BabyDiego]

Hi Everyone,
I am just new to this site, workin my way around. Learning lots and realizing that Goldens are a lot alike in many ways.
Our Golden boy is 1 1/2 years old. We are noticing that his nose is turning pink as well. It is reassuring to know that there are other ppl out there wondering the same things as I am.
I will do my homework on "Snow Nose" and see what I can learn. Since Diego is only 1 1/2 yrs old and this is only his second winter, we are not sure if his nose will return back to black or not.
Thanks for all the great info!
Amber & Diego
(I will post a pic when I can figure out how!!!) :204

[Stac&Syd]

Our golden is 4 years old when she turned 1 is when her nose started turnging pink, it has never went back to black and we have been told it is nothing to be alarmed about. We just consider her to be unique.

[leopard420obx]

Out of my 5 goldens, the 2 oldest, 14 and 11 and the female 4 yr. old all still have black noses still. The male 4 year old's nose has turned really pink this year and the 2 year old's nose is starting to turn as well. I just tell them it is because their mom kisses them so much she has kissed all the black off! :029

[maine-girl]

Wow, five goldens..... my idea of heaven. It must be beautiful when they are all running with the wind. I only have 2 and am very jealous of you. jugglex1

[Snowball]

Our golden had a very black nose as a puppy. Now she is 2 years old and last winter it got pink but turned back to black in the summer (not as black as before) and this winter it has turned pink again so we will se if it turns back in the summer again. The same thing has happend with our other dog who is not a golden (he is an all white dog and also had a very black nose as a puppy). I had wondered about it but the vet had told me it was normal last year.

[Andi]

Porter's used to be black and now it's pink but I don't care....

[diiorio]

The pigmentation issue cna be from so many things. Some rub their noses and cause blood flow changes that change the pigment to pink. Some dog's loose pigmentaion from genetics. Some coem and go from oen minute to another.

It's a touh subjet since so much affects it, and alot of peope lhere go it right one way or another.

[flowerpup]

My dogs nose turned pink this winter and he's not quite a year but now that spring is here it's looking darker every day. During the winter here we get tones on snow, the ground and dirt is nowhere in sight, but as soon as we had mud and he's been getting it on his nose it's beeen getting darker (even when it's clean :) ) Makes me wonder if it's not something in the dirt that's doing it?

Any othere thoughts on this theory, anyone else notice a connection between dirt and nose colour?

[mybuddy]

In a certain country in Asia, my friend from Canada took his golden into a vet and asked about this...why his dog's nose was fading to a pink color and no longer black...this is the response he got..... Your dogs nose is becoming pink because he must be dragging his nose on the ground hence, scraping off the black color....sooooo, should you see any black stains on the roads, you just KNOW it is the noses of our goldens! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[rthomas]

It's called snownose and happens in the winter. Don't know why but it's in all the books I've read about goldens. :dogbark

[missinbeau]

Yep, Beaus nose was very black all summer but in later fall till mid-spring his nose was brownish. I asked my vet he said he didn't think this could happen so I had him write down in Beaus chart what color his nose was in Jan and again in July. Then he believed me, why do they somtines think we don't know our goldens? :confused:

[Roxy]

Here's a pic of Nick. You can see at 13 his nose was light colored. I'll check for a few summer pics to see if his nose changed.

[hgatesy]

In regards to snow nose, I have a few questions. A family member is upset/concerned with the fact that Parker is beginning to develop a brownish tint to his nose. Andy and I both assumed it is snow nose or winter nose, seems how his nose was jet black. This family member has agreed that this is what it is. However, they are suggesting we contact our breeder and confront him about not disclosing the genetic information that would have told us that Parker would have a brown nose.
Now, I'm a bit confused by this. Is snow nose genetic, or how does this come about? I've read it is brought on by the reduction in sunlight... so how can this be genetic? Just curious if someone can fill me in a bit on this.
Quite frankly, I'm not very concerned about his brown nose or contacting his breeder. I was under the assumption it is not genetic and that it happens to many dogs. I've read it will once again turn black in the summer, and to be honest, I think it's rather cute.
Any information on this would be helpful!

[CaynCher]

Fading nose could be snow nose which is seasonal & not hereditory. If the faded nose becomes permanently faded it is called a dudley nose. This is found mostly in white breeds.
If the nose loses its color, it may be from other causes which include Vitaligo where the lips & nose turn brown. This syndrome is hereditory. The fading could also be Plastic dish dermatitis from the use of rubber or plastic water/feeding dishes. I believe hypothyroidism may cause it as it affects the immune system. Other than being faulted in the show ring as a dudley nose, in many cases should not cause any long-term problems. Some people try to treat it with Vit. E or Castor oil which works for some dogs with the condition.

:dogbark :reddogx

[Gryffyndor]

There is a difference between a permanent brown nose and a permanent pink nose - a permanent pink nose (lack of pigment) is a fault in the show ring, while a brown nose is perfectly acceptable. Gryffyn's nose started out black also, but gradually turned a dark brown. Originally I thought it was snow nose (turns to a lighter color in winter), but it never returned to black - but we still love him to bits :) The brown nose is hereditary. I don't know if the pink nose is, but I would guess so.

[hgatesy]

Thanks for the info! I can now inform the "informer" so to speak.
I guess we'll have to just wait to see if Mr. Park Ranger's nose turns back to black. Even if it doesn't, I don't mind. He's cute as a button regardless of what color is nose is.

[lammer29]

Over the past two weeks, just like last year my golden's nose is now light brown to pink(I don't know if it's finished yet). In the warmer months it gets much darker and then in the cold it lightens up. I remembered that the previous owner told me that the day we picked her up, and I thought he was nuts, but in fact it has happened again this year! Anyone else's dog's nose dog doing the same thing? dog9

[KATERINA & TSOUFI]

yep...Tsoufis nose turns pink in the winter and black in the summer.
Keagan on the other side has a black button nose all year round.

Katerina

[Rustysmom]

Add us to the list :D I noticed last night that Rusty's nose was starting to lighten. We have been having winter weather since Halloween.

[Seamus' Mom]

Same here....Seamus' nose is starting to go pink, too.

[Soda]

Rusty is still totally shiny wet black nose.....been warm here though. This is the first full winter for Rusty so we'll see. my other dogs usually turns pink during the winter.

[Daniela (UK)]

Molly's nose is starting to go pink.. I wonder if it goes back to black in the summer
all her other pigment (mouth, eyes) is still black

[Jo Ellen]

I've read that it can be from diet or a deficiency of some sort but I don't believe that. I think it's genetic. Daisy's nose is always black, even in the dead of winter when it's below freezing for months.

:003

[ChicagoCanine]

Ginger's nose never turned back to black/dark color again after it changed years ago... It's funny because before it started going lighter her nose was really pitch black! Our vet said it could have been the result of some type of infection or something like that. I think some dogs' noses just do that :P Her lips and the skin around her eyes are all very black though.

However I think Ginger looks very pretty with a reddish-brown nose since it matches the rest of her coloration: her eyes, fur, and nails are also reddish colored!

http://www.chicagocanine.com/dogtemp/ginseye2cros.jpg

http://www.chicagocanine.com/dogtemp/gingerlazysm.jpg

[dssxxxx]

Bubba is a Canadian Golden - when he is not dirty, he is almost pure white. He is 5 1/2 yo and you can see his black nose.

[blondebombshell]

Harold,
Your dog has a beautiful head from what I can see, how about a shot with out the newspaper so we can get a good look at him?

[dssxxxx]

Picture does not do them justice.....:-)

They have their happy smiles and when they do that, their ears lie flat..... :confused:

Murphy (Hank's little baby) is on the left and Bubba is on the right. You ought to see how difficult it is to get Wrigley in the picture. :eek:

[Daniela (UK)]

so I tried to take a pic of Molly's nose.. just after she stole my sock :D
I think you should be able to tell how pink it is getting ... isn't it cute? :p

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m170/danielav5/Molly%20Oct-Nov%202006/DSC09893.jpg

[Janet]

Daniela, What an adorable picture of Molly...pink nose and all! She looks fully engaged in enjoying her teddy and your sock. :)

[Seamus' Mom]

I was just noticing today that Seamus' nose has turned back to being all black again. I guess I can chalk that up to the summer.

[tasha5]

Tasha's nose turned pink around 1 1/2 yrs old and never went back to completely black. It isn't completely pink but more of a "pinkish black." KWIM?

She is also a blond color with light skin so I don't know if its completely true that the darker the dog, the lighter the nose.

[Soda]

Hmmm, Rusty is dark golden and Tally is very light. Both have very black noses that have never faded with the seasons. Who "nose"? (sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun)

:)