My nose fades. Instead of the intense black pigment that protects it from the sun in summer, in winter the centre of my nose goes a mushroom/pinky colour.
At first Mummy was quite worried about this loss of colour. She thought I might be showing signs of sickness so we went to the internet to read up on it and discovered it’s quite common. It’s called ‘winter nose’ or ‘snow nose’.
It affects many breeds, large and small, and is particularly common in Labradors and light coloured and white-coated breeds.
I have a friend who is a golden labrador and we see him when we go walking around Shearwater Lake. He comes bounding over to the fence to talk to us and pokes his big wet nose through the bars. I notice that his nose is almost pink at this time of year. Of course, I’d never mention it to him, but mummy and I just look at each other and whisper “winter noise”.
I’m happy to say our noses will return to full black during the longer daylight months.That’s good because I don’t think a pale nose is particularly attractive. I like my little black button nose that matches my black eyes and black lips. Mummy is always telling me I have nice eyes, nice lips and a nice smile. However, the internet says that as dogs age, the snow nose may stay around all year long. Uhh.
Surprisingly, the cause is not understood. You’d think someone would do some research on this, but then again, the condition by itself isn’t a health problem; it’s just cosmetic, as far as we know.
But a word of warning to my doggie friends with winter nose. Watch out for sunny weather in winter and stay undercover if you go to the sports oval to watch the footy. That depigmented area is at risk of sunburn, and that leads to other nasty complications. Look after your nose!
