From adriennelane.
A dog like this one can give us an idea of the tawny coloration in the Tweed water dog. This dog is also about the size of a Tweed water dog, except that her coat isn’t as short and curly as that breed’s was.
You can see more this golden here.
I’m sort of confused by what “brown skin pigment” means. My Golden is this color red, also. Are you describing the eye rim color?
It’s not just the eye rim color. It is the color of the whole skin. The lips are that color, too. Usually the eyes are either amber or lighter brown than than normal.
I’m not talking about the snow nose phenomenon in goldens, where the black nose turns brown.
Brown skinned yellows are actually liver or chocolate dogs that have two doses of the recessive red to yellow gene (e/e). Black skinned yellows are black dogs with two doses of the recessive red to yellow gene. If any of these dogs receive the dominant (E) gene, the dogs will be black or liver/chocolate and carry the recessive red to yellow gene (e).
That’s why I always point this out. Brown-skinned yellows are a fundamentally different color from the black-skinned ones.
In golden retrievers, it’s actually quite rare to have a brown skinned yellow. But they do exist.
Brown skin was bred out of them early on because very dark red dogs and certain shades of liver are easily confused, and because the GR fanciers didn’t want to accidentally register liver flat-coats into the registry, they tried to focus on black skin pigment. This is important because if you breed a dog that is liver, which is bbEe/bbEE to a yellow dog that is BBee, you will get at least some puppies that are BbEe, which are black in color.
Thanks for explaining. I really haven’t seen many retrievers with amber eyes besides Chessies.
Here’s a golden or yellow wavy-coat with brown pigment and that eye color: http://darkstar.jalbum.net/vintage1/slides/thm_carlsuhrlandtwaitingformastergoldenretriever188434x44.html
Not that I’m impressed a lot, but this is more than I expected for when I stumpled upon a link on Furl telling that the info here is quite decent. Thanks.
Hi Retrieverman. I have a GR that is redish with short wavy hair. He has a brown nose. How can I tell if he has brown skin or if it’s Snow Nose. He had a black nose when he was a puppy. I don’t remember when it turned brown but it’s been brown ever since – even in the summers. I’d gladly send you a photo if that’ll help.
Thanks,
Robyn
What color are his lips and the skin around his eyes?
It is not unusual for some goldens to go snow nose, and then stay that way.
It’s hard to tell from the photo I have (my dog is at home) but they look more brown or dark brown than black. The photo I have of him as a puppy his nose is black but the skin around his eyes could definately be dark brown.
Maybe he’s a very dark brown skinned yellow, one that had a black nose as a puppy.
Brown-skinned yellows are more common in Labradors.
So I shouldn’t worry about Snow Nose then?
Thanks!
I wouldn’t.
One of my dogs was a definite black skinned yellow. At age 10, her nose went brown in the winter. It stayed that way for the last 4 years of her life.
Thank you Retrieverman!