Chocolate Labrador Puppy

Question
Hello and thankyou to all you readers. I seem to have a dilema. I purchased an $800 Chocolate lab with AKC papers. I love him so much. The only problem is that he is growing WHITE FUR around his genetalia! I am stricken. What shall I do? He also seems to me missing a nipple. He is 10 weeks old and I have yet to send in the registration papers because of my doubtfulness. When I spoke with the breeders they were so caring. I wanted to train him with them too. Any advice? I may present the breeder with his puppy to genuinely solve this issue. I want to keep my puppy. PLEASE help. Once again thank you! It is greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Sarah,

This isn't the dilemma you're making it out to be.

With the Labrador breed, puppies of all colors can potentially occur in the same litter.
Lab coloration is controlled by multiple genes, it is possible for recessive genes to emerge and there can sometimes be unexpected pigmentation effects to different parts of the body. The chocolate coat is hard to maintain in one uniform color.  The sun easily bleaches the chocolate Labrador, giving him the appearance of various shades of the chocolate color scattered throughout the coat.

Sparse white hairs can appear on the tips of toes, between the footpads, on the heels, near the groin, and under the neck. It is not uncommon to see a Chocolate Lab with a small white spot on the chest, it does not lessen the quality of the dog, nor indicate it is not pure bred.
A white ring at the base of the hair one third of the way down the tail is a well recognised trait in many good-coated chocolates.

The only cause for concern would be if white spots were large and highly noticeable, then this is not typical and could indicate the dog may be mixed with another breed.  

The white hairs in no way affects the dogs ability to be an excellent pet or companion.  These sparse white hairs are permissible in the AKC standards. You might feel better hearing that "from the horse's mouth", you can ask the AKC this same question. The AKC headquarters phone is 212-696-8200 (8:15 a.m.-4:30 p.m. ET). You can submit your question online at:
http://www.akc.org/contact/contact_akc.cfm

I'm not sure what you meant by: "I may present the breeder with his puppy."
If you mean return the puppy to the breeder, I would think that's an extreme over reaction to the hairs.

Regarding your puppy's missing nipple: Often there are less, or more, or ones that aren't even fully developed. It's also not a problem. Dogs with 7 nipples aren't shockingly uncommon, neither are dogs with 10 nipples.

Whether or not you send in your dog's papers is up to you. The only reason you need to do so would be if you plan on showing or breeding your dog.
Registration itself is neither a guarantee nor even an indication of quality. No one examines the parent dogs or the puppies to see if they even qualify for registration.

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,
Patti