Big Black Button Nose is Turning Brown

[Pat & "Tucker"]

I noticedin the past month or so that Tuckers nose (so cute) is turning brownish right in the middle. It use to be so so black and cute. Is this normal? He is cream GD.

[Nugget's Family]

Hi!

Do you and Tucker live in an area where he is not able to get out in the sun as much in the winter as he does in the summer? If so, this may explain it. I have read that the blackness of the nose has to do with time out in the sun in some dogs. Our apricot cream doodle is outside with us a lot but I notice if the weather is grey without any sun for a week or longer her nose gets a little lighter in color. But as soon as she's out in the sun again, it darkens up.

Susan

[Kathy Spyker]

That is so funny!! My Lilly's nose is doing the same thing. She will be 2 next May and I always LOVED her black nose and now most of it is light brown. I don't know if this is normal or not.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've heard it called "snow nose"...Jack has it, too. His black nose faded to a kind of brownish/rose in the center, and it's more pronounced in cold weather, especially when he's outside. I don't know why or what causes it, and I never heard of it before I got Jack. Maybe some of the breeders can tell us.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Interesting- certainly he is having less sun exposure and terribly cold weather. I hope the breeders chime in.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If you do a Google search for "snow nose", you get a lot of articles. Here's one from a veterinarian; the photo is much more extreme than what we're seeing, though:

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionsfaqs/f/snow_nose.htm

[Pat & "Tucker"]

I just searched for "snow nose" and sure enough- lack of sun an/ or lack of Vitamin B. I just changed food 2 months ago. Here is one for you Karen......... http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/snownose.htm

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I also think that some of them just have a more diluted black pigment...even in summer, Jack's nose is more of a faded black than it used to be. My poodles all had jet black noses that never changed color, regardless of season, and Jack eats a much better diet than they did!

[Cheryl & Matey & Checkers]

Matey's nose has also turned brown fading to a rosy color in the middle. He is not getting a lot of outside time lately due to freezing weather and snow. Mr. Checkers has a rose nose and it has not changed.

[Debbie and Thomas]

They call this a liver nose. Here is a small articles I found about it. Looks like it is based on the amount of sunlight and yet some dogs GR's noses stay black no matter how much sunlight they get. My brother has two yellow labs and they get the same amount of sunlight; one has a black nose the other one is only 8 mths old and his nose is turning brownish pink. Go figure
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Labrador-Retrievers-2374/pink-nose-liver...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Actually, that article isn't accurate. Liver noses are brownish from birth, and have to do with the genetic background. Here's a good explanation from a labrador retriever breeder's site:
http://greenstonelabradors.com/labrador-pigment/
There are quite a few doodles with liver noses, but they start out that way. It's the ones that are born with black noses that fade or lighten that are affected by the sun.

[F, Calla & Luca]

In fact they mostly all have light noses until they are a few weeks old. The pigment starts showing up in the first few weeks and starts filling in if the noses are going to be black.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In poodle puppies, dogs with black pigment are born with black pigment. And black doodle puppies are born with black noses. If anyone has a picture of a black dog of any age with a light nose, I'd love to see it.

Here's a photo of April's new litter. You can see the blacks and blues have black noses: