Husky with dry/cracked nose

Question
We have 2 Siberian Huskies. One (5 y/o male) was with us from 8/2001 through 8/2003 while we lived in Albuquerque, NM. After about 6 months in NM, he developed a very dry and cracked upper surface of his nose. It looks as though it would be painful, but it doesn't seem to bother him. ABQ is hot and dry with an elevation of about 6,000 ft, but he really didn't spend a lot of time outside during the day. We tried everything from sun screen to Bag Balm with no improvement. Our vet biopsied his nose, and it came back negative for both Pemphigus and Lupus.

We moved back to our home in northern New Hampshire last September, and were hoping his nose issue would resolve on it's own. Well, it has not. We started giving him Zinc supplements about 2 months ago and have seen no signs of improvement.

Do you have any thoughts about possible causes and/or solutions?

Thanks....Al Lambert

Answer
Dear Al,
I know exactly how you feel as I had this same problem with my dog Nikki and it was a very perplexing problem for me. She was white mostly and I lived in the desert in Australia. I did the vet examination, and thought all the same things as you did and never really discovered anything that stopped it happening besides trying to keep my girl out of the sun. In the winter months it actually goes away but come summer time it was back with a vengence. I found only one out of my 4 dogs got it also. Nikki only developed it at about 5 years old as well. I guess she was more succeptable to it being so light, yet her nose was black. Be careful of applying sunscreen to her nose as she will ingest it and if it has zinc in it, it is toxic to dogs. I tried zinc suppliments too as some huskies are not good at absorbing it but it did not help. Nikki lived with this seasonal problem until something completely different came along and took her from me just 4 days short of her 9th birthday. Sorry I can not help you with this more, good luck.
I hope this helps Faye and Husky Crew.