My bitch just had a beautiful litter of puppies. Two of them have pink noses and paws, the rest have black noses & paws. Will this pink color change or is there something wrong with these pups? Thanks for any help.

-- Mary Beierle (Barnwood@preferred.com), August 07, 2000

Answers

What breed of dog do you have? I have a Brittany Spaniel that had a pink nose when he was born/now it's light brown. My dad raised beagles and Brittanys when I was young and the ones that had pink noses as pups, had brown as adults. The ones that had black noses stayed black!!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 07, 2000.

Are the one with pink noses a lite color ? If so they may stay light . Give us more info .

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), August 07, 2000.

A (somewhat) related question: A lady brought two newborn purebred Australian Shepard puppies into my vet to be euthanized...because they had "too much white" on them. They were perfect in every way, and the vet staff was just sickened by her request. She insisted they be killed, and would not even let the vet-techs adopt them with a spay agreement. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? I'm just glad I wasn't there when it happened.

-- Shannon (Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary) (gratacres@aol.com), August 08, 2000.

we often have pyr. puppies that are born w/ pink noses thet turn black by 5 weeks. about the puppies w/ to much white ... i know breeders that will kill 1/2 a litter of hunting dogs if they can not cut their tails and end up w/ white tips,its greed talking. i give pups away that do not meet guide lines but i also never breed those 2 parents again. i have pups born w/ heart murmurs those are left here to live out their lives or given to people w/ out children and who understand the medical condition,the pups sometimes only live for 6 or 8 months.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), August 08, 2000.

Mary,

You didn't say what breed of dog you have. Pink noses and paws don't indicate something wrong, just that there is different pigmenting which depending on the breed may or may not conform to the breed standard. Many times pups will start out with pink noses, eyelids etc...and they will blacken up with age. I have a litter of farm collies now who are 8 weeks old. The ones with more white on their faces tended to have more pink although I have noticed that they are starting to fill in black. When my Pyr was a pup she had pink splotches on her nose (this would be considered a fault) but they filled in with age.

Amy

-- Amy (mstydale@aeroinc.net), August 08, 2000.

Thanks for all your responses. My pups are of the Heinz 57 variety. The best farm dogs in the world! They are all golden tan colored so that may answer the color question. They seem very healthy so perhaps there is nothing wrong as you all have indicated.

About the euthanaza question; I wouldn't have done it since there was no health reason for it, just the whim of the owner. I personally can't abide cruelty to animals, and I'm not a PITA advocate. I've had to put down animals and I know how hard it is, but it is only justifiable if there is a serious problem, in my opinion.

Thanks again for all your answers.

Mary

-- Mary (barnwood@preferred.com), August 08, 2000.

Many pups are born with pink or partially pink noses, most fill in however in in purebred dogs a dudley nose is a fault. It does not affect their health in any way. I can't imagine a breeder euthanizing pups for color faults. As a vet tech I have never worked for a vet who would kill a pup for color faults, it is not ethical, particularly if homes are available. Most DVM's I know would tell them togoelsewhere.

-- Dianne (yankeeterrier@hotmail.com), August 08, 2000.

re; The lady who wanted Aussie pups with "too much white" put down-- there is a genetic link in Aussies to deafness, blindness, and failure to thrive. I've heard of puppies dying sometime within the first year with no apparrant reason. Almost all reputable Aussie breeders will euthenize a pup with excessive white. By the way, that's a result of breeding a merle to a merle, either blue or red. The other pups in the litter aren't affected and can be bred with no worry of the excessive white gene showing up in their offspring. Merle to merle breeding will result in 25% excessive white puppies in each litter. In regard to white noses and pads, they can be expected to fill in, if they are going to, within the first year. The only drawback to white on the nose is the possibility of sunburn.

-- melina J Bush (goatgal1@juno.com), August 08, 2000.

My vet is the GREATEST! He would not have done it! He has a hard time when the animal is sick! When I Had to put my dog down he sat and cried with me!!!More vets need to be like this!But the almight $$$$ wins most of the time!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), August 09, 2000.

Hi, I work with an Aussie rescue group and the explanation and implications of the merle to merle breeding is correct. But how much white is too much? They say that over 50% white is too much for a confirmation dog. Usually it's 75% or more before the health problems are there. We've had them in rescue that are pure white and they are always deaf. I adopted one that is too white( about 50-60%) and he's wonderful! He also has a full tail! And that's a serious fault for the show ring. It's difficult to find people to adopt these white dogs but with patience there are special people out there that will adopt them and train them with hand signals.

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), August 09, 2000.

Same thing with catahoulas that are born with white heads or bodies. They're usually put down...I have a deaf catahoula but since I live on a ranch and she's deaf..she sees goats and tries to bay them up (goats aren't the most toughest stock in the world so...) I have her at a friend's house now..I'm trying to find a home for her w/o any livestock. If interested, contact me by private email. Alot of breeders would rather a deaf catahoula be put down because alot of people have run over their deaf dog sleeping on the dirt roads or have had their dogs bite kids (I've met literally hundreds of deaf dogs because I'm deaf myself but don't believe this but....) and stuff like that and if that gets out that you let a white catahoula be bought from you then you're shunned because your dogs are more of a liability than a working dog. I would say approximately 60-80 percent of the catahoula people use them for working stock and hunting so it's very important that the bloodlines be kept "clean" so to speak even though it's considered horrible but it's necessary in lots of ways.

Ted

-- Ted Hart (tedhart71@hotmail.com), January 13, 2001.