Dear Daisy Dog
Maize, our five-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, had a black nose when she was a puppy, but over the years, it has faded to beige. How can we make her nose black again?
Daisy Responds
Maize has the same problem I have.
If Maize is descended from a long line of yellow Labs, she probably has less pigment in her nose and elsewhere than a yellow Lab who had more black and chocolate ancestors. Her light nose just reflects her ancestry.
I am a white standard poodle, and if you look at my rather pinkish nose, you can tell that my heritage includes very few black standard poodles. White poodles from families with many black ancestors get to keep the black noses they are born with.
As long as her nose – called the planum nasale – still has its normal cobblestone appearance, its bland color is only a cosmetic problem, not a medical one.
Maize undoubtedly thinks she is beautiful, so leave her nose just as it is.
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