When do dogs turn gray?

You can often see a pet with a white muzzle or sides, but it’s just not possible to clearly judge that you have an elderly dog ​​in front of you. Dog gray hair is certainly not the prerogative of puppies, but older animals are not necessarily gray either.

How do dogs turn gray?

There is an opinion that dogs, like people, turn gray when they reach a certain age. Large dogs – from 6 years old, medium – from 7, and miniature pets from 8 years old. But this is not entirely true, one might even say not at all true. Dogs turn gray due to several factors at once. Firstly, heredity is responsible for the appearance of gray hair. Secondly, a lot depends on the color and breed. It has been proven that poodles brown color, the first gray hair can appear as early as 2 years.

Gray hair in dogs, like in humans, is not related to age or health.

Causes of gray hair in dogs

There is no exact data on the causes of gray hair in animals, but there are several hypotheses, each of which has the right to exist.

1. Changes occur in the structure of the hair – air appears between the fibrils of keratin. When light falls on wool, this creates an optical illusion of gray hair.

2. In the body of the animal, the production of melanocytes decreases, their function is inhibited, which also leads to discoloration of the coat.

3. The hair follicles produce less hydrogen peroxide, it breaks down more slowly, which leads to gray hair.

There are many factors that lead to a change in the color of an animal. Scientists still cannot unequivocally determine the cause of gray hair in dogs.

To date, they have been able to prove only that due to frequent stress in animals (regardless of age, color and breed), the muzzle begins to turn gray. True, this is also not an axiom: there are dogs whose gray hair starts from the sides or from the back. The stress hormones, adrenaline and norepinephrine, are to blame for this.

A study conducted by the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science proved that gray hair is characteristic either for nervous animals, or for those living in constant stress, or for dogs over 4 years old.

The evidence base, of course, was not collected much. The sample included 400 dogs, selected randomly. Inspection was carried out only visually, the anamnesis of the animal was also collected. As a result, the results look like this:

• a pet is healthy or sick – this does not affect the amount of gray hair;

• dogs turn gray at the age of 4 years, if there are no provoking factors;

• stress and fear lead to gray hair in dogs of any size and color at the age of one year.

21 2019 June

Updated: July 1, 2019