Marley turned 5 months last week and has developed a white ring around his tail. It started about a month ago as just a little spot but has since grown to almost a complete ring. I've never seen this on a Lab before. I posted this picture on Reddit this morning and got a few responses saying their dogs had something similar so I am a bit relieved. Did a search here on the forum but didn't turn up any results so I thought I'd ask if any of you have seen this strange marking on one of your dogs:
Is the fur itself normal looking but white? There is no fur missing? I've seen one or two Labradors with areas of white/grey fur in odd places (eg one had a patch of grey on one ear - not solid white but mostly white). It wasn't an old age thing either. If the fur and underlying skin looks normal then I wouldn't worry. Out of interest, how closely related are your dog's parents?
Stanley has a little white strip down his chest. That's one of the reasons we picked him cos we liked that it made him more recognisable
The fur is normal, just white, like pure white...it looks like he got into wet paint! don't know how to tell how closely related his parents are. I have their names and AKC numbers but that doesn't tell me anything. Is it possible to look them up by that info?
If you have a pedigree certificate it might show his ancestry beyond his parents. Don't worry too much though, I was just interested Am just going on a theory that there are some obscure recessive genes being expressed and was interested to know if his parents were closely related. The dog who had the white on his ear (and it looked like a splash of white paint, like you said) had parents who were half brother and half sister (ie his parents had the same Dad).
The white tail ring is a 'thing' in chocolates - it has been reported on this and other forums before. Often enough for it to be a chocolate 'thing' anyway.
Unfortunately my documentation only shows names and registration numbers. On the Reddit thread someone posted this information in response to my query but I'm afraid it's all greek to me: "This condition, which is often not limited to the tail, is actually found frequently in both black and chocolate Labs and most likely indicates that the Lab is heterozygous at the Extension (E) Locus ("Ee") and does not carry the As allele at the A Locus. These Labs also can be observed as having red tones in their coat (occasionally causing a two-toned appearance especially obvious during shedding season). This two-toned appearance is not attributed to chocolate undertones, as some breeders may believe, but is rather due to the production of the red pigment, phaeomelanin, in "e" (yellow) carriers that also carry "ay-" or "as-".As a result, both Mc1 receptor types will be present in the dog: one that continuously makes eumelanin and one that will only make phaeomelanin. The receptor encoded by "E" for production of black/brown is more efficient, however, some phaeomelanin will be produced by the "e" receptor. Since the recessive Agouti alleles control synthesis of phaeomelanin during particular times of hair growth (with phaeomelanin produced only during the mid to late portion of hair growth), phaeomelanin will only be seen at the base of the hair shaft. If these Labs also carry the "cch" as the dominant allele at the C locus, the red pigment will be diluted allowing the base of the hair shaft to appear very light in color.
Benson (chocolate) when moulting, carries the lighter shafted fur until he has moulted out, this gives him an almost "badger" like darker stripe of chocolate down his back. The fur on his back moults out first, so it is a deep chocolate until the rest catches up!
It's interesting the rings are often/usually right about where the supracaudal gland is, the culprit behind stud tail. I wonder if there is any research to link these things. Are dogs with a white ring in that location more likely to get stud tail?
I did a short google before I posted that and came up with nothing to link them. I was on my way out to walk the dogs so I only looked at two links, maybe you could look some up. If you put the word "Veterinary" in with your search you are more likely to get something credible. You could ask your Vet but if there is nothing on the internet there likely is not a link. Maybe. I only know two dogs who have had stud tail and neither had a white ring before. Sorry, didn't mean to alarm you, was just wondering at the coincidence of the location.
@drjs@5 you probably have but know it as the more proper name of tail gland hyperplasia. It's also called the tail gland or violet gland though if you ask me the smell of it sure as heck is NOthing like violets. Stud tail is a common name deriving from it's more common victim, Tomcats. It can affect Toms, girls, spayed or entire, in dogs too. The dog next door who had it never did regrow his hair back there but he is a GR so his bald spot doesn't show. http://www.dailydogdiscoveries.com/dogs-supracaudal-gland/
Thank you Snowshoe!! I think our Finn has one. He has a same spot on his tail. We thought it was a spot he got after birth. One of the male pups was stuck and lay crosswise.... we thought that it had to be Finn and that his tail got injured....Most plausible he has a stud tail. It looks so much alike the photo in the article! If I can make a photo of it I will show it! Finn is vast asleep now!
