At what age do Golden's start to turn Grey on their faces?
"Bo" is only four but I've had quite a few people think he is a much older dog.
I asked my wife the other day and she said she has noticed his face has been turning Grey also.
In my experience it is just like in humans and there is no set age when the muzzle starts to gray. It is not uncommon to see a 4 or 5 year old golden with a distinguished gray muzzle.
Comet just turned 5 in February and the first thing I noticed that turned grey on him was his eyelashes at about 4 years old, and under his chin is turning grey.
My bridge boy Tucker was a red guy and hardly had any white on him at all. My Tanner who is blonde and who will be 9 in Sept. has had a white face since he was 4.
Duke just turned 7 and he has been grey for a couple years. Bailey will be 5 in September and I just noticed a few grey hairs around her eyes yesterday.
Our Max, started going grey at 5. At almost 12, he is now very grey. I used to be afraid that it meant that he was aging prematurely. There is a huge population of goldens here in Washington state. I've started asking many owners of red goldens that are grey, their dog's age. I've found many younger dogs than Max that are more grey than he is. So now I believe that the only thing that it signifies is that our Max is an extremely distinguished gentleman.
My dog Gus started to gray at four and was pretty white by six. His brother, Finn (owned by LJilly28) is now seven and very much sugarfaced. Their brother, Rip, is also seven (duh!), and he hasn't turned white by a single hair.
Gus was the reddest of the three, but all three are pretty dark-golden. I chalk it up to genes, pigment, and probably a few environmental factors, including possibly diet, but it doesn't say anything else about age or health than gray hair on a person does.
Frankly, I always loved having a distinguished looking guy, and that pride was mixed with a little sadness of the more constant reminder that my friend was, in fact, mortal.
I actually can see it, and he is one handsome boy. I love white faces- four is when my dog Finn started getting it. I had one golden(Acadia) who never got grey and two other (Raleigh and Joplin, who gradually got grey on their backs too. Joplin was practically white when he passed away at 15 1/2.
Our first Golden Bailey ( past away at age 11) had no grey on his face or body.
Tahoe is 11 he started early his face and body turning grey.
Poncho is 9 has no grey on his face or body.
Sierra is 7 years old and her face is turning grey.
Brooks turned 4 last month so after reading this I went and carefully examined his face....no white yet.
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