I was having a discussion with a friend at a show this weekend about chocolate Labradors and pigment. The AKC standard says:
Nose-- The nose should be wide and the nostrils well-developed. The nose should be black on black or yellow dogs, and brown on chocolates. Nose color fading to a lighter shade is not a fault. A thoroughly pink nose or one lacking in any pigment is a disqualification.
Eye rims are black in black and yellow Labradors; and brown in chocolates. Eye rims without pigmentation is a disqualification.
So the scenario to ponder is: a chocolate bitch has a chocolate/liver colored nose, but her eye rims are very light in color -almost pink in appearance. Is this considered a DQ per the standard? Have you ever seen a chocolate DQ'ed from the ring due to pigment? She does not truly lack pigment as her nose is liver in color. However her eye rim pigment is very light. My feelings are that its similar to yellows that have less desirable/poor pigment. They are not a true NBP yellow and therefore not a DQ, just not optimal eye rim and/or nose pigment.
