White hair on pups, is this a fault? - Page 2

Taken DIRECTLY from the German Standard: "Pigmentation Black with reddish brown, brown, tan to light-grey markings. Solid black, grey with darker overcast, black saddle and mask. Inconspicuous small white chest markings, as well as lighter pigment on the inside of the legs is permitted, but not desirable. All dogs, no matter what their color, must have black noses. Missing mask, light to white markings on the chest and inner leg sides, light toenails, and a red tail tip are signs of faulty pigmentation. Undercoat has a slight grey cast. White is not permissible." So yes, it is a FAULT, but it is not a disqualifying fault. Many of the VA dogs have white on them, and obviously, it is not a huge issue. I would worry more about the severe and disqualifying faults: "Severe Faults Deviations from the breed characteristics described above which compromise the working ability of the animal. Ear Faults: ears set too low, tipped ears, overset ears, and soft ears. Considerable lack of pigment. Firmness strongly compromised. Faults of Dentition: All deviation from scissor bite and number of teeth, unless they are disqualifying faults. Disqualifying Faults: a) Character weakness, nervous biters, and dogs with a weak nervous system; b) Dogs with documented "severe hip dysplasia"; c) Monorchids and cryptorchids as well as dogs with testicles of visibly uneven size or shrunken testicles; d) Dogs with disfiguring ears and/or tails; e) Malformed dogs; f) Tooth faults as follows: 1. Missing 1 #3 premolar and one additional tooth; 2. Missing 1 canine tooth or 3. Missing 1 #4 premolar, or 4. Missing 1 molar #1 or #2 or 5. Missing a total number of 3 teeth and/or more; g) Dogs with bite faults: overbite of 2 mm or more, or undershot; level bite; h) Dogs that measure more than 1 cm over or under regulation size; i) Albinism; j) White coat (incl. those with dark eyes and nails); k) Long stock coat (long, soft loosely fitting outer coat with undercoat, flags on ears and legs, bushy pants and bushy tail with flag on underside); l) Long coat (long, soft outer coat without undercoat). This coat type frequently is parted along the center line of the back, has flags on ears, legs, and tail."

If a small white spot on the chest is the worst problem the dog has then he's likely a good one.

Are white spots on the chest and feet more common on red dogs, or do they just show up more? Up until recently I had only seen newborn puppies with a very small amount of white on their toes which invariably disappears, and they always have had black nails by 8 weeks, but recently I bred two litters with one puppy in each that had more significant amounts of white. Both fathers were deep red dogs, the mothers are not related, one is lightish tan with extensve deep black mask and saddle, the other is red, with less black, both have dark eyes and nails and no white marks. One puppy from the first female was born with a large bright white flash right across his chest, from armpit to armpit. He was red and had black nails, he turned out to be long coated so it did not really matter, but when he was sold at two months he had a lot of white on his chest still. I will try to see him again when he is older. His siblings were a lighter tan color (like the mother) but did not have any white marks. In the other litter all the puppies were red but one was born with about half her front feet white, we nicknamed her ¿socks as there was a straight well defined line dividing the red and white on each foot! I recently sold her at 10 weeks, by this time one nail was still white, the others had changed to black. There were some reddish hairs starting to show through the white feet so hopefully this will get less obvious with age. I will be seeing her. I seem to have noticed that quite a few red dogs described as ¿richly pigmented¿in shows, when you look closely have clear nails and white marks, I don¿t think I have seen this so much in lighter tan dogs with more black..... I am really not sure if this is related or just coincidence but would be interested to know if anyone else has noticed this?

HI ive had only a few litters over the years and always had at least two or three pups with white hair never on chest always toes, all the pups had black nails and were ex colors by 5months no white hair any place else this from showline dogs i was never worried about this. regards natz

White hairs on pups? Certainly not something I would just ignore when shopping for a pup unless it was the occasionally few white hairs on the chest. White groupings or patches can be permentant and noticable for the dogs entire lifetime. AS mentioned, sometimes the white stray hairs (meaning not a strong grouping) do show up in litters, but if your wanting a companion pup or family pet this shouldn't be taken into consideration if the temperment and nature you want is in the pup. But then if you decide to show in the future you have a possible unshowable dog. But to me, on pups I've bought in the past I distinctly look for stronger color and pigment and have the breeder keep me updated with pictures as they mature. I check for stronger color and pigment and make sure all the nails are black and get pics from all angles. This to me shows strong pigment and color in the breeding pair as one of the strong points in that particular breeding pair. But then again I love the deep red, even mahogany color. One pup I bought from a breeder back East I was offered pick of the litter on a planned litter. Fortunatly his pick for confirmation and drive was also my pick for color as he matured with a stunning rich deep red color that stops the crowds. Depends what you want. Number one is temperment to me, ball drive in the pups is second, rich color and pigment third. I do know of a breeder that advertises all her litters on this site and she just sold a litter with two longcoats and one pup with TWO completly WHITE FEET and still got $1,600.00 - $3,000.00 for this litter! Guess it's all in who comes looking and how good your sales pitch is.