Black coat turning red??? - Page 1

Hi everyone I got a call from a buyer who says at four months his solid black puppy's coat has turned red.This puppy is about four months old or so.I was quite surprised to hear this complaint but told him this is likely due to the dog being exposed to too much sunlight.We live in California.I suggested to keep him indoors more often in summer.Is this possibly a flaw in the pigment?I have seen other solid blacks in the dam's side that are very dark and glossy and the blk/tans are very well pigmented,no fading.

The same thing happened to one of my pups at 4 months. The black puppy hair is dying and getting ready to fall out. Don't worry, the black pup should appear black again with it's adult dog hair. They will start to see new hair come in maybe alongthe tail and rump and it will be shinny black, soon it will grow as the red "dead" hair falls out.

I saw a black dog that turned reddish, because the dog's crate was being cleaned out with BLEACH, and I guess it bleached the dog too. Just a thought.....

Lisa, have the buyer be assured that the coat will change quite a bit until the puppy is one (1) year old, and may really not be final until eighteen (18) months of age. Bob-O

i have seen coats turn red as adult coats start coming in. sun or exposure to bleaching agents can do it also. if they have a swimming pool that dog is allowed in, this can bleach coats. living in florida, i see this all the time.

I've seen black puppies go through a "red" stage also. Like 4pack said, baby hair dying and falling out. The sun's probably helping too.

A friend of mine who owned a belgian groenendael noticed a red tint to the coat when feeding Exceed. Just a thought. Chris Orkies vom GrimOrkie

Sorry I believe it was Exceed Chicken and rice.

Lisa,I have a black GSD I got as a puppy. Like everyone else said it is the puppy hair growing out and the shiny will come in, but it also has to do with what brand of food they are feeding the pup. My GSD had a reddish tint to his coat until around 3 years old and I changed his dog food to a better brand ( more all natural) and the reddish tint is gone. That can come from food that has dye in it and a lot of fillers, it just isn't more all natural. I would tell them to wait until he gets rid of his puppy coat and go from there.

Black coats turning red is common in some lines, and usually its caused by bleach or sunbleaching, or when a puppy starts changing coat from the puppy wool, to the adult coat. Your pup is right at that stage where the coat starts changing from puppy to adult, and the puppy coat that is ready to shed out, does look rusty. Black dogs also do have different shades and intensities of black, some of it is just individual differences. I've seen the same kind of variations from very rusty coats to deep black coats that stayed black no matter what, with the black coats of tricolor collies. There are also individual variations in tendency for coats to sunbleach. Its nothing to worry about,but new owners often complain about minor things that they don't realize are all normal variations (white hairs on the toes is another common thing which novice owners of blacks will complain about!)