Are red lips a fault?

Are red lips a fault and can it be passed onto pups?

Hi Abbie, are you asking about red lips in all breeds or just some breeds. I think the picture you have posted is of a Malamute but the picture quality is so poor I can't be certain (and if you asking specifically about Malamutes this query would be better suited to the 'working dog' section ) .

If you are talking about breeds in general, in some breeds pink/brown lips are permissible and this is frequently dependant on the coat colour of the individual dog.

In some breeds red lips are a fault in accordance to some breed standards, so you would hope that if a bitches fault were red lips where it stated this is a fault, she would not be bred from !

Its a lack of pigment, it can happen in most breeds but only a few see it as a fault, Rottweilers being one of them. It is in NO way detrimental to the dog.

According to this USA link yes it is but this may not be the case for the UK.

AKC Malamute breed standard:

http://www.akc.org/breeds/alaskan_malamute/index.cfm

That looks like a tongue poking out the front...not lips and the sides look more like the fleshy interior of the mouth?


Just wondering what breed this is referring to?

It depends on the breed,and if in fact there was ever any pigment in the first place. I have a bitch that over the years her flewes have gone pinker, she did have dark pigment as a young bitch but as she got older more pink appeared, all the pups from her have good pigment,

Mo

UK standard doesn't mention it for Malamutes..but again it depends on what breed you are referring to

From that picture (a scan of a newspaper?) it looks to be more a case of loose flews. Poor pigmentation can be passed on to offspring (as can loose flews) however you need to weigh up how severe you consider this fault to be.

Funny that...

The OP posts and then disappears!!??

Abbie...have you got a malamute you are thinking of breeding with pink lips??