Holly's nose is turning brown...

[Richard Crowe]

Holly's nose was once a dark black however over the last few months it has been turning a lighter brown color (Holly is just over two years old).  Her coat is also getting lighter in color.  When she was a puppy, her coat was a golden color but, now it is a light buff with areas that are almost white.

 

I have noticed that there seem to be many doodles who have brown noses so I don't think the change in color is anything to worry about but, I'm just a worrisome daddy.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Richard, we've had several discussions about this here. The consensus seems to be that it's "snow nose", and many of our dogs seem to have it. Their noses get darker again in warmer weather, but never as black as they were. It seems to be related to recessive genes for color.

[Richard Crowe]

That could be. I know that when we showed Maltese, their noses would get darker if we let them out in the sun for a while. However, it's pretty temperate where we live in Southern California (high is 59 and low is 45 today) and Holly is usually outdoors for four or five hours a day on our fenced acre.

She really gets antsy when it rains for a couple of days and we have to restrict her activity so she doesn't get muddy. However, she was with us on our motorhome trip for over a month and we had her on leash the entire time and she never seemed to get antsy.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a recent discussion we had here on DK about this. We had a huge response- over 70 replies- with photos and lots of links to more info.
http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/big-black-button-nose-is

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

Your dog may have a lack of pigmentation caused by a recessive gene carried by his parents however you can see this in dogs who have strong pigmentation as well.

One cause is lack of sun and or vit D. In the winter you can use full spectrum lights in your home and leave the main light on for at least 8 hours to simulate summer sun.

Another cause can be a bacteria that hides in plastic drinking dishes~ I had a brief discussion with a vet once who said this was the cause. I have 1 dog who has a snow nose and we never use plastic in our home so I do not know that I buy this one.

[Richard Crowe]

We use either ceramic or stainless dishes and, although the sunlight is reduced at this time of year, she does get sun during her outside time in the mornings.

My Golden Retriever-German Shepherd-Wolf cross developed canine Lupus which is a less virilent condition than human Lupus disease. Her nose became blotchy and lost color in patches. Then her nose became dry and scabby. We were able to control it with daily application of Vitamin E oil. Actually, Lupus is what scared me about Holly's nose. I am glad that it seems to be a fairly common condition that doesn't seem to negatively impact the dog's health.