Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

Faces turning Grey?

21K views 12 replies 12 participants last post by  lgnutah 
#1 ·
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.

Is this normal at this age?
 
#4 ·
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.
 
#6 ·
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.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
It seems to be different for dogs.

Comet started very early, around 4. Dakota took years later, but Daki was a light Golden anyway.

Gilmours pop was solid in 2003, and the pictures are solid at 5. His 8 year old picture shows him greying up nicely though.

To me, Goldens are their most beautiful when this light-colored face of wisdom starts to set iin :)
 
#8 ·
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.
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#12 ·
My Jake started to go grey in the muzzle at around 5 - then.. in the blink of an eye he was all grey - it creeps up on you.

Griff already is going lighter in the muzzle area - he's only 2 1/2.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top