The Curious Case of Maya Brown Dog
About two weeks ago we started noticing something odd about our little 4 month old chocolate lab. As her fuzzy puppy hair was being replaced by her more adult coat, there were a couple white or gray hairs present. I didn't think much of it. Then other people started noticing. Over the course of two weeks, she went from having a couple white hairs, to hundreds of them.
The white hairs are most dense on her hind quarters but they are spotted on her legs, back, tail, and the back of her neck.
I kept meaning to Google it and when I finally did, I found nothing. I tried again a day later and finally found one mention here. It said that it was a recessive gene that caused the hairs to appear or else it could be an issue with excessive copper.
I wasn't too happy with this idea of a genetic defect. After all the health problems we had with the pooch (our previous lab and all time best friend), we specifically sought after a good breeder. Now this. I felt a moral obligation to contact the breeder since they often use Maya's daddy to sire their chocolate litters. First I wanted to talk to our vet.
Thursday Maya had an appointment for some shots. When the vet saw her, she said she had never seen anything like that before. Not really what you want to hear from any doctor. She took some pictures and said that she was going to contact another vet this week who might have some answers. She suggested I email our breeder to see if she had any idea why our labrador was going gray.
I emailed our breeder. The first email I got back said that she had never seen that before and had never heard of any of their other puppies having that issue. A few hours later I got another email from our breeder with this link that shows some common mismarkings on labrador retrievers. Way down at the bottom with a note attached that says the author of the page had never seen this before, was a picture of a black lab's coat that looked just like Maya's. Apparently discussion of this white flecking shows up in a book called "The New Complete Labrador" by Helen Warwick. The good news is that according to this website, Maya should go back to being an all brown dog by the time she is a year old.
For now, she will keep her distinctive look. Honestly, I think she is the bravest person I know. Most of us keep our faults all bottled up inside and try to hide them. She wears her faults on the outside for everyone to see.
She might look like she is prematurely old (and she is planning on returning to her youth later on in life), but she still saves time for her favorite activities. Like sliding...
and table dancing.
The white hairs are most dense on her hind quarters but they are spotted on her legs, back, tail, and the back of her neck.
I kept meaning to Google it and when I finally did, I found nothing. I tried again a day later and finally found one mention here. It said that it was a recessive gene that caused the hairs to appear or else it could be an issue with excessive copper.
I wasn't too happy with this idea of a genetic defect. After all the health problems we had with the pooch (our previous lab and all time best friend), we specifically sought after a good breeder. Now this. I felt a moral obligation to contact the breeder since they often use Maya's daddy to sire their chocolate litters. First I wanted to talk to our vet.
Thursday Maya had an appointment for some shots. When the vet saw her, she said she had never seen anything like that before. Not really what you want to hear from any doctor. She took some pictures and said that she was going to contact another vet this week who might have some answers. She suggested I email our breeder to see if she had any idea why our labrador was going gray.
I emailed our breeder. The first email I got back said that she had never seen that before and had never heard of any of their other puppies having that issue. A few hours later I got another email from our breeder with this link that shows some common mismarkings on labrador retrievers. Way down at the bottom with a note attached that says the author of the page had never seen this before, was a picture of a black lab's coat that looked just like Maya's. Apparently discussion of this white flecking shows up in a book called "The New Complete Labrador" by Helen Warwick. The good news is that according to this website, Maya should go back to being an all brown dog by the time she is a year old.
For now, she will keep her distinctive look. Honestly, I think she is the bravest person I know. Most of us keep our faults all bottled up inside and try to hide them. She wears her faults on the outside for everyone to see.
She might look like she is prematurely old (and she is planning on returning to her youth later on in life), but she still saves time for her favorite activities. Like sliding...
and table dancing.
posted by Annie and Greg @ 8:44 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
just like in knitting, there are no "mistakes" or "defects" if you will, only design features!
I love the part where you talk about Maya being brave and being open about our own faults. I am going to think more about this. Isn't it funny how there seem to be lessons all around us, all of the time? Avery was telling my mom and dad all about playing "hop scotch" (ie the number blocks) with Marcus and Will (which you say their names together, very quickly, as if all one word. She loves those boys. They are going to have a fun summer at the pool. I am putting you on my blog list. I will read!
Soo funny... table dancing. Love your posts!
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