Guest Anonymous Posted January 7, 2003 Posted January 7, 2003 My yellow lab used to have a black nose. It has now turned pink and I don't know why. Any input? Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 Is it all pink or just a bit at the end? My JRT had a black nose before but the color seem to have wore of now. (she's 13) Quote
Carolk9s Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 Candy has snow nose. It has lightened up quite a bit from the summer. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 Carol I found this at on a great Lab site. Pretty interesting. (the whole site is actually) Why do the noses of some yellow Labs turn pink during the winter? Yellow labs are really black or chocolate dogs. Well, they would have been if they hadn't inherited a recessive gene from both their parents which is called the "epistatic" gene. This "ee" gene masks the expression of the black or chocolate coat color, but it does not mask pigmentation. That's why even though the dog is yellow, he will still have a black or chocolate nose (the latter of which is not preferable in a yellow dog). Now, although a yellow Lab's pigment will be black, it will fade more easily in response to environmental and physiological changes such as temperature, hormonal changes, and even medications. The reason for this is that even though the yellow genes do not mask pigmentation color, the presence of the yellow epistatic genes result in a mutant form of the cells which produce pigment. The ability of these mutant cells to produce black pigment is temperature dependent and may also be inhibited by fluctuations of hormones or other chemicals in the bloodstream. When the environment becomes cold, these cells stop producing black pigment. As a result, the color fades. If a yellow Lab has received a black gene for coat and pigmentation from each of its parents, that dog will have very dark, black pigment which will fade more slowly. If the yellow dog has received a black gene from one parent and a chocolate gene from the other parent (black is dominant to chocolate, so whenever a black gene is present it will cover up chocolate expression), fading will be more evident Here is the link to the site. http://www.labbies.com Quote
Carolk9s Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 And I thought it was just fairy magic! 8) Thanks for the info Jacsmom! Quote
yellowlabsrule Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 Winnie's nose is pink now! :D (don't like it as much as her usual chocolate nose, yep chocolate! :lol: ) Quote
Kiger Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 Is that true about plastic? My dogs have always had plastic bowls and I've never seen the pink nose thing. I guess I need to get a different kind. Quote
Carolk9s Posted January 8, 2003 Posted January 8, 2003 You can, if needed, sterilize stainless steel by boiling. You can get it cleaner with normal hot soapy water too as plastic tends to develop little pits after a while. Jesse BSD has a plastic bowl because he refused to eat out of a metal one years ago. He had two front teeth, one upper and one lower, the stuck out enough to hit on the bowl when he ate. It freaked him out. Now that's he's lost those two teeth, he might eat from a metal bowl, I'm not sure. Quote
Hobbit Posted January 9, 2003 Posted January 9, 2003 [quote name='Jacsmom']Carol I found this at on a great Lab site. Pretty interesting. (the whole site is actually) Why do the noses of some yellow Labs turn pink during the winter? Yellow labs are really black or chocolate dogs. Well, they would have been if they hadn't inherited a recessive gene from both their parents which is called the "epistatic" gene. This "ee" gene masks the expression of the black or chocolate coat color, but it does not mask pigmentation. That's why even though the dog is yellow, he will still have a black or chocolate nose (the latter of which is not preferable in a yellow dog). Now, although a yellow Lab's pigment will be black, it will fade more easily in response to environmental and physiological changes such as temperature, hormonal changes, and even medications. The reason for this is that even though the yellow genes do not mask pigmentation color, the presence of the yellow epistatic genes result in a mutant form of the cells which produce pigment. The ability of these mutant cells to produce black pigment is temperature dependent and may also be inhibited by fluctuations of hormones or other chemicals in the bloodstream. When the environment becomes cold, these cells stop producing black pigment. As a result, the color fades. If a yellow Lab has received a black gene for coat and pigmentation from each of its parents, that dog will have very dark, black pigment which will fade more slowly. If the yellow dog has received a black gene from one parent and a chocolate gene from the other parent (black is dominant to chocolate, so whenever a black gene is present it will cover up chocolate expression), fading will be more evident Here is the link to the site. http://www.labbies.com ....and: The tyrosinase enzyme responsible for producing the dark nose pigment is unstable at low temperatures. Low temperatures causes the tyrosinase enzyme to stop the chemical reaction, and tyrosine conversion to eumelanin in the skin will occur at a much slower rate. Thus, pigment will fade. Quote
Hobbit Posted January 9, 2003 Posted January 9, 2003 :lol: what Jacsmom said......that's good English. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 I never knew that!! Thanks for the info on the nose dilemma. I have never had a yellow lab before. I knew she was sensitive but now you can see it!! :D Quote
eric Posted January 16, 2003 Posted January 16, 2003 My German Shepherd has this right now. Big pink strip running down between his nostrils. My black lab/shepherd cross doesn't go through this for some reason. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.