Pigmentation Problems

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92 – January/February, 2022

By William Given

At a recent conformation training class, I was sitting with one of my mentors discussing coat color genetics. One of the ladies new to the class (and fairly new to the sport) was working with her American Eskimo Dog when she stopped and asked a question. She wondered if we could suggest something to improve pigmentation. Now, I doubt if anyone, least of all myself, considers themself an oracle and an infallible source of information, but sometimes we are all able to come up with helpful advice and alternatives.

There are of course, various well-tried remedies, most of which appear to work on some dogs and not on others, and most of the things that work, do not necessarily provide a permanent fix; and may not be as effective on subsequent occasions as they were at first.

About twenty years ago, I had a colleague who bred and showed white Toy Poodles. One day, she shared how she was battling with pigmentation problem. So, I know how my new acquaintance felt. The problem seemingly falls into two categories. There are white dogs with what are known as butterfly noses and those with Dudley noses. The former is a black nose splashed with pink. The latter is a black or brown nose which is faded in places.

The Dudley nose however, can sometimes be improved if not always corrected entirely; and if improvement is seen, this usually includes a darkening of the eye-rims and lips.

Along with the first category, we often find eye-rims that are pink, or black broken-up with pink, and the same applies to the lips. There is nothing one can possibly do, certainly nothing that is legitimate (and I am not concerned with remedies that are not) that will change this type of de-pigmentation.

Fading noses

Click here to read the complete article
92 – January/February, 2022

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