Labrador Retriever Forum:
I have a question about my dog

I bought my son a black lab for Christmas from a pet store,( which I never do, I always get my dogs from breeders) but he didn't have papers, they gave me some story about the owners splitting and one having the papers and the other having the puppies so the woman sold them to the pet store. I have always had Labs, and he looks identical to them the only thing is he has a spotted tounge and I have never seen that in a lab before. Everyone that sees him asks if he has Rotwiler mixed in him? not that I care if he isn't purebred, he's a great dog and i wouldn't trade him for anything, but i don't like paying a purebred price and told the dog IS purebred if he isn't. He actually looks identical to the black lab on the homepage of the lab message board. Can anyone tell me if I paid $300 for a mixed dog??? I have pictures. also, he is HUGE!!! 6 months old and weighs over 60 pounds, and he's not fat... just HUGE!! thanks!

I don't know about labs having spots on thir tongues but I do know that my girlfriends champion golden certinly does also chow chows have coloured tongues and I wouldn't be surprised that there are others. If they had papers at one time i would think that the dog was registered If it has a tatoo or (less likely) a microchip that the vet could scan for you may be able to request new papers from the AKC

Rottweilers are not known for nor is it a trait for them to have spots on their tounges. Yes, Chows "are known" to have spotted tongues, but jsut because a dog has a spotted tongue does not mean he is part Chow. We have four AKC registered labs and our yellow and one of the blacks has a little black pigment on their tongue. The pigment on the tongue does not mean your lab is not purebred. And like you said, you love him so it really does not matter now.