graying puppy

Question
Hi Kim,
My puppy is not really apricot and not really red but somewhere between the two.  A very pretty colour.  She was more red when I brought her home at 12 weeks but has lightened to almost apricot.  Now she is 10 1/2 months old.  Her first birthday will be on July 12th.  And she is quickly going white and wiry.  She looks prematurely aged.  I'm kind of sad for her.  Is this indicative of a health problem?  There is a line down her back (like a skunk) that is whitening and a patch on top of her bum that is white.  It appeared so quickly. Is this from shock?  You know, like when a person is shocked and the next day has a streak of white hair?  I try to be very gentle with her all the time because she is so easily upset.  Please tell me what you think of this.

Answer
Hello Kim,
Actually this is due to poor color breeding rather than the dogs enviroment.  It is caused when a breeder adds White to the Red or Apricot rather than breeding Red to Red or Apricot to Red or Black.  White (and even Apricot) contains a fading gene that will cause a darker color, such as Black or Brown to fade.  It comes in handy when wanting to make a color such as Cafe Au Latte (light brown) or a Silver color, but not so good when you mix it with an already light color like Apricot, as it will cause it to also lighten.  
Unfortunally there isn't anything you can do to enhance your dogs color other than dying it as the color is being genetically told to lighten.  As to the skunk like stripe down the back and on the rear, sometimes there is spotting that occurs within the liteninga and there is nothing you can do about that either.  
I can tell you for a fact that you getting on to her ISNT what is causing this.  You still need to correct her when she does something that she shouldn't do.  

You might think of taking her to Obedience classes to help her get over her shy behavior.  You can find trainers in your area by looking in the YellowPages.  

I hope this helps you some and if you have other questions about this or other questions in general, please feel free to ask me.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim