I am a first time owner of a happy and healthy 14 week old purebred dark chocolate lab. Cooper has started sprouting random white hairs all over his body. It started with a couple random hairs on his back, and now it has spread down his legs. I don't know what this means and will it get worse?
Hi there and welcome to the forum. White hairs aren't uncommon and are acceptable in the breed standards (although I believe fewer is better as far as showing is concerned). My black, working lines, bitch has two white hairs on her body (one on her chest and one on her shoulder) and a couple between her pads. It doesn't mean anything per se. Just that there's a bit of that in his genes. There's a thing called "Bolo spots" in many labs, which is white spots on the feet, dating back to a particular dog called Banchory Bolo who lived in the early 20th Century. He was very famous as he was the first dog to become a show champion and a field trial champion. So, white bits here and there aren't all bad Other Labs will have white patches on their chests, or just some random hairs. It doesn't make them any less pure or loveable!
Hi and welcome to the forum It's a bit unusual but definitely not unheard of to have white hairs sprouting on the body in places other than the chest and feet (though obviously this happens with age). If it's started with a few hairs and has increased then it's hard to say how extensive it'll end up being, but I'd be pretty surprised if it went beyond a random sprinkling. Maybe you could ask the breeder if they've experienced this before in other pups? How closely related are your pup's parents?
Seems strange that he is sprouting white hairs all over his body, may be worth a check up with the vet?
Thank you for your help. I will definitely not love him less!! It just seems that every week he has new areas with sprinkling. I will contact the breeder just in case she has seen this with her other labs. Thank you again for your help.
I did have him to the vet and the vet seemed unconcerned about his white hairs. The hairs have since increased so maybe I will have her check him again.
don't forget he's only little so he will moult out and change his coat a few times before you know what his adult livery will be. He may have lots of white some do
you are right. he is only little and will change according to the seasons. Our biggest challenge came the other day when my baby fractured his elbow at the growth plate. He was running down the stairs with our golden retriever so we are not sure what he did. Try to keep a 14 week old puppy on bed rest for 2 weeks. Yikes! he must have a splint on for a month and then X-rays every 2 months until he is 1 year old. Any ideas on how to keep him occupied while in his kennel for 2 weeks??
Thank you everyone. Cooper is doing ok! Kennel rest has been ok for the first week, but now Cooper is feeling better and he is very restless. We have one more week of kennel rest and then I'm sure he will be on light activity, maybe confined to the kitchen only. At 4 weeks, they will do another X-ray and then I guess go from there. I'm truly hoping for no more kennel rest. It's very difficult for all of us. One of the vets at his clinic is an ortho surgeon so I'm sure he is getting the best vet care.
Hi! I hope Cooper is all well now! Sending him our best! A sick furbaby can be even more stressful than a human one sometimes. Sorry - I don't have the answer to your question but just wanted to let you know we have a similar situation. I have a chocolate lab too and we adopted him at 7 months. By then he had small speckles of yellow on his check and a little strip down his chest. The fur circling his eyes are also whiteish. The kicker is that his hind legs are probably at least 20% yellow. It looks like yellow has been combed through on the inside of his hind legs. I was a bit surprised too. Like you said, we don't love him any less and hopefully it is just aesthetics. I will let you know if we find out anything useful! All the best with your little one's recovery!
Hi I'm so glad I found this. I have a 16 week chocolate male lab. His name is Barney. When we got him at 11 weeks he had 1 white spot on his leg, as he's getting older he's now got lots of white sprinkles across his back and around his hind. Everyday I look at him and it seems more have appeared. I was starting to get a little worried but now I know there are others I'm not so concerned. It makes him unique. Our yellow lab had some black hairs in his fur.
