Hi all, I’m adding a new yellow lab puppy to my home with my 13 yo yellow lab. The pup is 5 1/2 weeks old and has a pink nose. I can’t seem to find any info on when their noses start to turn black. Should it have turned by now or does it take awhile or do I have a Dudley? Thanks!
At five weeks, it is probable that the puppy is a dudley. Pigment is nearly complete by three weeks of age.
I don’t know much about this but I’ve just checked a picture of buddy at 4 weeks and his nose is fully black if that gives any indication?
Aww bless! Dudleys will have a pink nose from birth, and it will stay pink. The pigmentation around the eyes will also be lighter. My understanding is that unless your puppy is genotype eebb (Dudley) then noses start to change colour after a few weeks, so by collection time a puppies nose (if from a yellow litter) will be black. What colour are the parents? Both yellow with yellow genes? or one chocolate? If I remember correctly, it's the recessive chocolate genes that express in Dudley skin tones... A bit more information on Dudley labradors, personally I think they are gorgeous! https://www.thelabradorsite.com/dudley-lab/
Thanks. I've read that article. They say noses start pink and change to black (if they're going to change) in the first few weeks. I was looking to see how firm that "few weeks" was. The father is a yellow English Lab and the mother is a Chocolate. Her last litter from the same sire was all yellow. My coworker is the owner of the mother and her neighbor owns the father. He sneaks over and gets busy with mom, so this litter wasn't planned. She said the last litter had black noses. My 13 yo yellow, Odin has a black nose. His father was also English. So, this is kind of fate's way of telling me to get a puppy! I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. I didn't want Odin to feel like he was getting replaced. He's been my only child for 13 years. He is failing and I wasn't sure what I would do with an empty house. So, I went for it.
Just to say, do make sure that all health-testing has been carried out on both parents - it's unlikely this has been done, if it was an oops litter... It might seem over-kill, but believe me that a Dudley nose could be the least of your worries when recessive genes get to work...
