Today I just noticed some white hairs around my dog’s muzzle. Brewster is a Lab mix and completely black from nose to tail. There aren’t too many white hairs, just a few around his lips. But damn it, he’s only 5 years old. He’s practically still a puppy (in my eyes). It’s a reminder that we have our little friends for only a brief time and we should do everything to make their lives with us as happy as possible.
I agree - and it doesn’t really take much to make them happy. A walk! A ride in the car!
Today is my boxer’s 11th birthday!! He’s already had a walk and a ride in the car to Wendy’s to get his birthday cheeseburger.
And I have noticed that, not only is the hair on his muzzle white, he has white hairs pretty much all over.
Your lab has many, many good years left!
Thanks, sherrylynn. Yes, he’s still very happy and healthy. I hope he’s around to see 11 or longer. I’m not very worried. It’s just that sometimes you notice little things that make you stop and reflect. Yeah, he’s still very young.
My boys are 8, 10 and 11 and I know exactly what you mean. Watching the muzzle slowly turn white is so sad. Especially my littlest Skip, he’s 10 and not nearly as white as the other two, but we were talking the other day and I was teasing him about his gray beard and mustache. I got a good nose nipping for my trouble. 
My dog (a golden retriever), I swear, always had a light face. Her mom was dark red but her dad was bright yellow. Mine ended up pretty bright all over. Her feathers were definitely white.
People like to talk to her when she’s in the car. One time a guy was all “Oh, I see she is getting pretty white around the face, huh?” and gave me a sad look like she was about to die the next day.
I was all “No! No she’s only 5! She’s just got light hair on her face!” and then was all traumatized about it.
Now she’s 8 and she’s got gray on her back and her face is pretty obviously gray. We deal with it. I will be excited to take her to Wendy’s on her 11th birthday and get her birthday cheeseburger 
Throw the ball! Throw the ball! Throw the ball! Throw the ball! Throw the ball!
My bulldog puppy is 11.5 yrs old and she is appears to be in much agony. She can barely walk and real sensitive to petting these days. She doesn’t want to be picked up but I can’t get her to get and walk outside. She cannot stand up on anything with little friction (tile, linoleum, even smooth cement).
It awful to see her in so much pain, and 11.5 is old for a bulldog. She has always been a happy dog around people, but never has played well with other dogs.
The only thing she does is eat, drink, do her business, and sleep. And she is literally sleeping 23 hrs a day.
notfrommensa
The obvious question here, what do you intend to do about it?
My Shepherd/Lab mix has always been a graybeard. When I got him him his estimated age was 4 or 5, which makes him 10 or 11 now. He’s doing so wonderfully, people can’t believe he’s so old even though his lower jaw is all white now and the top of his muzzle and his eyebrows are starting to gray too…
I know, Captain’s muzzle is going gray. He’s seven, but I’ve only had him a year and some! It’s upsetting.
I wouldn’t be too worried about the pup’s mortality. After all, gray hair in itself isn’t fatal (or else myself and many other 20/30-somethings I know would already be on our way out since we already have some stray grays :eek: ). They say that nowadays the average pet dog/cat lives longer than pets used to because vet care is more sophisticated nowadays, so even an old dog might live longer than you’d expect nowadays.
I also suspect that black dogs may just be more noticeable than other colors when they start to go gray so it looks like it happens earlier. Unfortunately a lot of times black dogs get passed up at shelters and are the most likely to be euthanized (it’s called “black dog syndrome” - here’s a site dedicated just to saving black dogs at shelters: http://www.blackpearldogs.com/ )
One of the explanations I’ve heard given for “black dog syndrome” (in addition to superstitions about black animals being unlucky) is that people tend to notice a black dog with white markings and may assume the white hairs mean the dog is older than it really is (whereas a mixed-color dog of the same age might have some gray muzzle hair and yet it would be overlooked).
Lots of people go a little gray in their 40s, and that’s where your medium-large breed 5-year-old is, compared to a human. Some start greying even earlier. Just be glad that dogs don’t get male pattern baldness!
Tell Brewster he’s still one sharp-looking dog, and never mind the white hairs.
They mark him as a man of Experience. 