turning gray

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maximoo
Posts: 1111
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:07 am
Location: South Florida

turning gray

Post by maximoo »

Hey Gang: long time no see! Can u beiieve Max will be 5 yo in just 2 dys?! i first posted about him when he was just under a year! And some behaviors he never outgrew but he has gotten very smart in many ways. Love him anyway!

Not sure if this is the right category, nothing seemed to match perfectly ...

Anyway, Max's snout is beginning to turn gray a little. I always thought he wouldn't get grey till around 7 or 8.
Is greying in dogs similar to humans, some premature, others average or delayed? Does a greying snout indicate anything about projected life span? Max is 19" tall & around 44 lbs and physically still acts puppyish. He is perfectly medium-sized so I am expecting at least 15 years or more, but of course no one knows

Anybody with any thoughts comments or insight please share.
gwd
Posts: 1958
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:33 pm

Re: turning gray

Post by gwd »

maximoo wrote:Hey Gang: long time no see! Can u beiieve Max will be 5 yo in just 2 dys?! i first posted about him when he was just under a year! And some behaviors he never outgrew but he has gotten very smart in many ways. Love him anyway!

Not sure if this is the right category, nothing seemed to match perfectly ...

Anyway, Max's snout is beginning to turn gray a little. I always thought he wouldn't get grey till around 7 or 8.
Is greying in dogs similar to humans, some premature, others average or delayed? Does a greying snout indicate anything about projected life span? Max is 19" tall & around 44 lbs and physically still acts puppyish. He is perfectly medium-sized so I am expecting at least 15 years or more, but of course no one knows

Anybody with any thoughts comments or insight please share.
i've found that graying tends to be a breed thing. my background is setters and the irish tend to gray early......the english setters don't get the gray muzzles until much later. interestingly, the irish tend to be the more long lived of the two.
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Erica
Posts: 2697
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:35 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: turning gray

Post by Erica »

It depends on the dog. :) Opal and Zeus both had gray on their snouts before they were a year old! So I wouldn't be worried about it.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
lucyandbella
Posts: 304
Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 7:19 pm

Re: turning gray

Post by lucyandbella »

Bella had a gray chin as a puppy that has spread all over her muzzle and she is only three. Now its a bit white around her lips and my mom calls it her milk mustache. Lucy and my moms dog (both herding mixes) have a tiny bit of gray as well since a young age but theirs hasn't spread so I was assuming its a breed thing.

Also my boxer went gray around 5, like really gray it took out all the black on her face as the years went by; and then when elderly (starting around 10) her entire face went white to the top of her head. But she lived to be 13 which is very old for a boxer so I don't think premature graying is tied to longevity.
maximoo
Posts: 1111
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:07 am
Location: South Florida

Re: turning gray

Post by maximoo »

wow I've never seen a dog with a completely gray/white face like your boxer.
I'm sure he was beautiful till he crossed the bridge.

It makes sense that graying is a breed thing. I thought maybe it was but wanted to know what others thought. Generally I think graying reminds us of how short a time we have with our beloved dogs . When I noticed Max's snout getting slightly gray its just kinda freaked me out. I am now reassured that it is just like with humans--some teens get gray yet my 79 yo mthr in law isn't very gray at all.
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