I am adding a picture for you to view of my toy poodles fur color

Question

Brandi with spots on h   QUESTION: Kim,
I had previously written you about the following this morning and wanted to include a recent picture of my dogs fur color.  I wrote about:  I have a 3 year old female apricot (now mostly white and some apricot) toy poodle weighing about 8 pounds.   When I got the dog as a puppy, it was totally apricot. The dog has been spayed when she was 9 months old.  She has developed spots on the top of her spine.  I read your comment to another person whom' has the similar situation.  This has been going on for about 10 days and I thought maybe the dog had squeezed under the car and got burned by the muffler.  There has been no indication of a burn where the skin has blistured.  Yet, the area is dark in the area and the fur is shorter in this area (about 1/4 inch).  These spots are starting to connect to each other.  Do you have any answer as to what is causing this?


ANSWER: Jodie,
Since this just happened 10 days ago, it may be something that will go away when you shave her down and her hair grows back.  
Part her hair at the discoloration and see if the skin looks to be a different color or not.  This will be a good indication of whether or not the hair will grow back darker or the same as the other hair around it.  
Also check the base of the hair closest to the skin.  Is it lighter or dark?  

When you take her to the Groomer, let your groomer know whats going on and see if she has any suggestions for you.  
Chances are that her hair may grow back in the color its suppose to be.  

Heres hoping that it will.

I looked at the other picture and it made me think that her hair will grow back normal.  

I am going to reject the last picture, even though I already looked at it.  That is so that it takes it out of my question pool.  I answered your question here, so don't think that I am not considering your other picture.  

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.

Kim

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Kim, thanks for your response to the picture I sent of Brandi, my toy poodle with the fur discloloration.  Do you think it is possible she could have bruised herself from going under my bed?  My father was thinking that because he was over today and noticed my metal brown bed frame is lower than she would be to get out without scraping herself.  Yet she does not seem sore when you touch it.  Just thought I would see what you thought with this, since we just thought of that possibility.  Thanks again.  I found you on a google search and it is great to know that there are such caring people out there like you.  I even got her dog papers to see if here parents were both poodles, because I am starting to wonder with the color there if she was really a full bread poodle.  My mom told me sometimes people lie and you never know.  The dog papers show both here parents were poodles.  She looks like a toy poodle to me.  Let me know what you thing of that too.  Thank you

ANSWER: Hello again Jodie,
From the full view picture that you sent, I have another theory that may be the cause of Brandi's spots.  She could be licking herself there, which is dying her hair that brown color.  She has the same color under her eyes (where her eyes run) and that is caused by tears that mix with her hair and stain her face.  Do you see her licking or chewing her back in these spots?  If so, that would be the cause of the discoloration.
I don't think that she got those spots by crawling under the bed, unless it is something like rust stains.  

Also, by her picture, I am very sure that she is pure poodle.  Possibly a Toy poodle, and maybe a Miniature Poodle.  You can tell for sure by measuring her.  If she is shorter than 10" at the shoulder then she is a Toy, if she is bigger than 10" at the shoulder then she is a Miniature.  

So we can conclude that these spots can be from her licking her back, by her being burnt by the muffler of the car, or possibly from her being out in the sun and being sunburnt (though this one is less likely).  Like I said in the last post, part the hair at the discoloration and if the hair underneath is lighter, then it should grow out normal.  You might also get her shaved and see if this helps.  
Even if the hair doesn't grow back the normal color right away, it might in the near future, so I would wait a month or so and give it some time.  

I hope I have been of some help to you and Brandi.  She is a nice looking dog and sounds like she has a very caring, loving owner that is taking care of her, no matter what she looks like down the road (though most likely she will grow out of this and will look normal in a couple of months)

Thanks for writing me with your question and let me know what happens with Brandi.  
Talk to you soon,
Kim

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Kim,

I think I may have possibly gotten to the bottom of this situation because something came up today that made me wonder about somthing to ask your opinion too.  First of all, about the possibility you mentioned of her licking her back, my father said it is impossible for her to reach there because when he plays with her, he will put his finger there for her to do her playful bite and she can't reach it.  She measures 9 /12 inches.  I know she is definitely a toy poodle from the measurement and her looks.  What happened today was, I was walking her around the block and my next door neighbor's daughter (age 9) asked to pet Brandi.  I let her and my other next door neighbor shouted in a far away distance, "what happened to her fur?"  I responded, "I am trying to figure it out myself and then I mentioned in a loud voice that at first I thought she rubbed on oil under a car."  At that point my neighbors little girl interupted me and said whoops and immediately held her hands to her mouth as if to stop herself from saying something.  When I asked her what was it, she suddenly seemed to think of something quick and mention that where they used to live, her old neighbor's dog got under a car where there was oil and their neighbor had to take the dog to the vet because of it.  Since that bothered me not knowing if she was covering up or not, I asked her mom.  I told her mom that I was concerned and with my dog in my arm, I showed her Brandi's fur.  She looked puzzled and then she told me that she probably burned herself on their exhaust pipe of their car (which their car is always parked on their driveway).  Brandi always heads that direction when I let her out.  She said she did not know for sure, but it was almost totally dark outside and she volunteered that the fur seemed shorter in that area.  I find it strange that with it almost being dark, she would know to say that the fur was short in that area.  I forgot to mention that her daugter pointed out that the texture was not right in that area compared to the other parts of her fur.  I asked my neighbor if she could talk to her daughter because I explained that I felt as if she may know something about this and that this has been a complete mystery for over 10 days now.  She said she would ask her daughter, but kept telling me that she thinks Brandi was singed.  I don't like accusing anyone of anything unless I have proof, but I suspect that when Brandi heads in their direction to go out after I close the door, she is probably getting toward that car of theirs that is always on their driveway.  I think the shortness of fur was because maybe she got it burned, but not to the skin.  Strange isn't it?  Thanks, again for your ideas and opinions about this.  I will be looking forward in hearing back from you.

Answer
Hello again Jodie,
From this last statement, I can be pretty sure that she touched her back to the muffler and got burnt.  You said that the daughter said that the feel of the hair wasn't right and that would fit with it melting when it touched the muffler.  
You said that there wasn't any damage to the skin, so if you get Brandi's hair cut, I am almost sure that it will grow back normal.  

From now on, I think it would be best if you put Brandi on a long rope or tie-out when you let her go potty.  That way, she will be safe, and can stay in her own yard.  

It sounds like we got this mystery figured out for now.  Let me know if her hair grows out a different color or if anything else strange happens with Brandi.  

Again, thanks for talking to me and I hope I was a help to you.  

Talk to you again,
Kim