Dirty muzzle

[Jan and Jake]

Jake is like every little boy -- his face is always dirty. I've tried brushing, combing and a wet washcloth. How do you keep your doodle faces clean?  Thank you!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Could be but it could be allergies or something else.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Red yeast, which is the type of yeast that's been mentioned in this discussion, is a type of fungi also known as ptyrosporin and can overgrow in the beard area of a doodle due to it being wet a good amount of time (especially for the messy drinkers!). Its most obvious on light colored dogs and appears rusty-red colored. I'm not sure if this particular yeast causes itching of the face, as my 2 doods have had it in the past and never had any itchy symptoms. Certainly, there are other forms of yeast infections that do cause itching (my Lucy had a yeasty skin infection in her groin area that was quite bothersome for her, which required an antifungal... which, btw, also got rid of the red yeast in her beard!). Oscar, my 10 mo. old doodle, came home with red yeast in his beard the day we brought him home from the breeder (at 8 weeks old). When he was about 6 months old I took him to my vet and asked about having it treated. She had never heard of red yeast! She had to go research it. She wasn't real sure on how to treat it, either. She suggested Angel's Eyes, an OTC supplement formulated specifically for the problem. It required giving the dog the supplement every day, however, and that wasn't acceptable to me. I ended up giving her the names of the drugs that had worked on Lucy (which had been prescribed through another vet's office) and she agreed to prescribe them for Oscar. It worked! Its taken all of 4 months for his beard to grow out (and many grooming visits to get all the stain cut off), but all evidence of the red yeast problem is now gone. Here's a picture of Oscar several months ago to give you an idea of what red yeast looks like:

[F, Calla & Luca]

I agree. I don't like the idea of Angel's Eyes.