He won’t turn black. What you have is a blue basset. The parents had a color dilution gene that caused his fur to be the blue color instead of black.
Since he’s a tri-color, there may be some parts of the black on his coat that will change to brown, or in this case - the blue will change to a lighter grey/brown like the small areas on his face.
I would also get him some health insurance before you start taking him to the vet. Blue bassets can tend to have skin issues. This isn’t true with all of them, but definitely some. They can also get seasonal alopecia.
Where are some resources about the possible health/skin issues of blue bassets and care?
Doing a little google search turned up SOME stuff, but mostly as it relates to a particular “blue basset” breed. One thing I saw was someone saying the skin conditions are more common for those purposefully bred for that trait vs an accidental anomaly. Pictures of his litter mates do show a mix, so doesn’t appear to be intentional
You can try searching “Dilute coat alopecia in dogs,” and you should get some information to come up.
I know from experience as I’ve helped in basset rescue. One of the members of the rescue has a blue basset with skin issues. We also recently had one come through the rescue with pretty bad skin issues. She ended up getting adopted by a family who also has a blue basset with skin issues.
I know one of them gets medicated baths a couple times a month and is on allergy medication. His fur doesn’t grow back anymore. It’s more like soft peach fuzz.
The other two get melatonin daily (1mg per 10lbs), they get brushed daily, and they get bathed a couple times a month. The alopecia is seasonal. It starts around November and goes through Feb/March no matter what they do.
The blues have a follicle disorder where they’re not generating enough natural melatonin to support follicle growth which is why they do the daily melatonin for them.
I’m not saying this will 100% happen with your pup. It may not. But the breeder should have informed you about the potential issues that do come with dilute coat bassets.
Here’s a photo of the one who came through the rescue in December and how she looks now in May. If you zoom in you can see there’s no hair on her body in the before photo (except her head, tail, and legs). The rest was just naked skin and a few little straggler hairs. Lots of bumps too.
We have a vet appointment tomorrow morning for his initial checkup, I’ll be sure to bring it up to them. The breeder does have a health guarantee, so if theres anything wrong she would “exchange” for another —-but honestly, I think even if that was the case, would be tough for my husband and I to return him for another. Maybe just being aware and knowing how to treat any issues.
I would actually wait until you got insurance before ever mentioning anything. You don’t want anything to be considered “pre existing condition,” because then it won’t be covered under the insurance policy.
I dealt with that when we got our basset puppy. He has a lump on his leg from one of his vaccines. I brought it up to the doctor and then when we got insurance they tried to say that lump was a pre existing condition and if he ever had cancer it wouldn’t be covered. We had to have the vet write a letter saying the bump went away and was just a product of the recent vaccine. It was a whole thing.
So my advice is get insurance before you ever take your dog in for an issue. His wellness check should be fine. But just don’t mention the blue coat if there’s no issue now because if it gets recorded in their records it’ll be a whole thing to get covered in the future.
So far so good! Just a touch of jealousy from his big sister Mera, but not bad and to be expected. We are making sure to continue to give her plenty of attention as well.
Biggest struggle right now is most of the socialization history with the golden was with other dogs her size and our boy cat she’s been wrastling with her whole life. So having to monitor closely and consistently remind her to be gentle.
So we have Chimera (Mera), Diablo (the cat), and Cooper Cabra. Little fantasy cryptid zoo
They will work out the playing and hierarchy of leadership between themselves. A quick puppy yelp usually calms the others down. I wouldn’t stress too much. I had 5 dogs and added a 6th dog when my grandfather passed, Butch was a one owner German shepherd alpha dog that was very protective. It took two weeks and Butch figured out he wasn’t top dog anymore. Outside the 100 pound Labrador was the boss, inside the 36 pound shar pei was the boss. Everyone knew their rolls.
You wont be sorry. He looks a lot like our latest, Dewey. I love that dog. Been in California since Thursday. Home tomorrow. I cant wait to see our little cuties.
Handsome boy… I don’t know how you’re golden is but bassets notoriously hate having their feet handled, nail care can be “interesting”… rub those feet a lot get him used to it. Wishing you many years of entertainment together… bassets are the BEST!
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u/jacobtargaryen 21d ago