We listened to your show while on Martha's Vineyard this past weekend however due to the bad cell phone reception could not call in.

We have a golden who will be 2 in July and met some people on island who told us that his nose is pink because he eats out of a stainless steel bowl.

Have you heard about this before? We surveyed all the golden owners we met on island and all their pink nose goldens eat out of stainless steel bowls.

Can you please clarify this for us.

We love your show.

Thanks,
Vicki

Dear Vicki -

You got your question in right under the wire because I cannot answer emails directly to listeners anymore because it was taking over my life! However, your question was really intriguiging. I was certain that stainless bowls had no part in pink noses - (and your personal "survey" on the Vineyard is just the kind of assumption-based science that I come across in research, although I know yours was just a personal experiment. You could as easily have found that all the dogs who eat out of stainless bowls (the majority of
dogs) pant more in the heat!)

I passed your question along to Greg Wessel, who is a well known breeder of champion Goldens and also a show judge. This is his reply:

"I have seen pink noses but I have never heard of it because they eat out of stainless bowls. Pink nose in my opinion is a genetic issue. It is something I always consider when I plan a breeding. Once a breeder loses good pigmentation it sometimes takes several generations of careful breeding to bring it back. True English bloodlines tend to have the best pigmentation. There are varying degrees of pigmentation, black is preferred and lightening in the winter is common we call it a "snow nose", loss with age is also common. I would be curious to know about the dogs eye liner and lip liner if they also are lacking in pigmentation? There are suppplements such as Kelp and vitamin E that are known to help with pigment. All of my dogs eat out of stainless steel bowls, and I am very satisfied with their pigmentation."

So there you have it!

I do hope that some Saturday when you have good phone reception that you will call the show and ask me anything you want in person. Also, please check out the Dog Talk baseball caps on the website that raise money for the Morris Animal Foundation.

Best,

Tracie Hotchner