Coat patch?

Hi Guys

My two year old Labrador retriever Louie has these patches either side of him.
Has anyone seen this before?
It doesn't bother him at all he's not off his food or lethargic.
Please help...

 

Hi Eddie, to upload photos you need to use a photo hosting service like Flickr, then paste the link in here.

What do the patches look like? Have you seen a vet about it?

 

Hi ill set up a Flickr account now thanks
its difficult to explain without a picture, no he hasn't been to the vets yet thought i would ask the experts first

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.

That's odd. It almost looks stained. Could it be from laying on something?

(Just to be facetious, my husband once spilled a glass of red wine on Shadow, my yellow boy, which stained him beautifully )

Shadow does have what I call a "splodge" on his coat, which is a bit of a mismark (you can see it halfway along his side in the picture below), but it's in keeping with colouring elsewhere on his body.

Has Louie always had these marks?

 

Hi Snowbunny thank you
The marks have appeared in the last 2 weeks
Yeah i thought i was staining from my bike as he runs along side me sometimes, but it doesnt seem to come off?
They are on both sides of him.
Splodge! ha Shadow looks amazing!

 

Hmmm, very peculiar! Does the hair feel any different there? Can you part it to look at the skin underneath to see if it's flaky, oily or inflamed? Have you noticed him licking himself there? The fact it's on both sides makes me think it's more likely to be something environmental than medical, but that's a completely uneducated guess, so it might be worth a vet taking a look if you can't think of anything else it could be.

 

Take him to the vet, could be a fungal infection just under the skin, or nothing of course!

 

As well as darker colour they look like the hair is shorter there. The bike is seeming more of a culprit to me. If he's rubbing somewhere against your bike there are thingies that attach to the bike that keep your dog a bit further out away from it while he runs. Sorry, what the heck are they called?

 

I agree with @Snowshoe, the hair looks shorter as if it still growing back after being shaved. Possibly rubbing on something?

 

Thanks for the advice guys, looks like a trip to the vets for Louie to be on the safe side.
ill knock the biking on the head for the moment.