SamS Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I was reading about nose pigmentation in various breeds and found this website: http://www.ashgi.org/color/Aussie_noses.html about color change of noses over time (bottom of page). My question is how does this work? I thought that if a dog is born with a certain color nose it should stay that way, but I understand this is quite common in merles and also occurs often in other colored dogs. I am very confused Could someone please explain how this works to me? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I am taking an educated guess based on embryology that the stem cells that form pigment just hadn't quite reached the nose yet by the time the pup was born. This is a guess though. I bet you could find the info somewhere if you searched for stem cells and pigment. I think every Border Collie I have owned was born with a pink nose and eyelids. A few have taken months to years to for all their pigment to fill in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamS Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Thanks for the tip Liz I read on Yahoo Answers (not the best source, but one of the few I could find on the topic) that noses fill in when the pigment cells reproduce. That makes sense, but what about when spots of pigment randomly appear in non-pigmented places? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I looked it up, and it seems that there can be a second migration (after birth) resulting in the formation of spots/ticking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamS Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I looked it up, and it seems that there can be a second migration (after birth) resulting in the formation of spots/ticking. By "second migration", do you mean a second migration of stem cells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivehill Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 I looked it up, and it seems that there can be a second migration (after birth) resulting in the formation of spots/ticking. Interesting! Someone was just asking me last night how that happens when I mentioned our split-faced/piebald BC pup's white ear hadn't developed the black spots he has on it now until just recently (he's 5mo). With him it may still be the first switch over, I suppose, since his nose still has pink spots as well. But still, very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted August 16, 2012 Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Yes, a second migration of stem cells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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