Dog Gives Birth to Green Puppy

Status: Seems to be real
image A golden retriever has given birth to a green puppy, appropriately named Wasabi. Local 6 News reports:

The dog is healthy and green, according to the report. Local 6 News showed video of the puppy rolling around with its normal-looking newborn brothers and sisters. Skeptics said the dog had to be dyed green but the owner said the puppy was born green. Veterinarians said it is possible for a newborn puppy's fur to be green because the placenta, which is green, rubs off at birth.

This reminds me of the guy whose sweat turned green. I'm inclined to think the dog case might be real, because if you're going to dye a puppy, why do such a bad job? Go all out and make him glow in the dark. The puppy in the pictures hardly looks green at all (though maybe that's just because of the poor quality of the video images). Of course, if their next move is to sell the puppy on eBay, then I might suspect a hoax.

Animals

Posted on Thu Nov 10, 2005



Comments

Green fur on dogs and bears with light coats is possible, as the hair fibres are hollow and can pick up agents that colour them from outside sources. Polar Bears go green in some places when the weather is warm enough for algae to grow in the hollow fur.

I would doubt the puppy would be green for long though. The mother must have licked it to clean it at some stage, and the saliva from that would shift a lot of colour
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Thu Nov 10, 2005  at  01:19 PM
reminds me of the purple polar bear: http://www.nwbotanicals.org/mediawatch/purplebear.htm
Posted by Snowy  on  Thu Nov 10, 2005  at  04:04 PM
There have been cases of green cats that were linked to excessive consumption of copper: http://www.messybeast.com/freak-skin.htm

I'm inclined to buy the vet's placenta story, but it doesn't explain how the color got to be so uniform, or why none of the other puppies are green.
Posted by Elizabeth  on  Thu Nov 10, 2005  at  05:33 PM
I remember the story of the Tokyo child in the Guinness Book of Records who had a 200+ IQ. Apparently he was born with a thin layer of green fur.

As people tend to be less hirsute than dogs, an Emeraldog is very possible.
Posted by eriC draveS  on  Thu Nov 10, 2005  at  07:42 PM
True, my friends! I've seen it happen to other light-coated puppies. In fact, that breeder is bad for not knowing why this happened! Dog placenta is green. A puppy that stays in the womb too long after the placenta detaches can be stained temporarily green by contact with the placenta. It's almost always the last pup out who shows the color, and it does fade in under a week.
Posted by Steph  on  Fri Nov 11, 2005  at  12:50 AM
The fact that the photo doesn't look so green doesn't prove much. In my experience, most photography processes don't reproduce greens and reds very well. They're much better for blues, whites, and yellows.

I'd be inclined to say Wasabi is just a puppy who's been rolling in a newly-mown lawn, but if Steph says she's seen other puppies that were born green, that's good enough for me.

Incidentally, although real wasabi is presumably green (I'm not sure I've ever seen the genuine article), the vast majority of "wasabi" on the market is just ordinary horseradish with green food dye added. Read the ingredient list on the package label.
Posted by Big Gary in Antarctica  on  Fri Nov 11, 2005  at  04:12 PM
its is possible to be yellow if you eat enough carrots.
Posted by bunny  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  05:47 PM
I thought if you eat too many carrots you turn orange! o well! That puppy is just too cute! I want one!
Posted by Pumbaa  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  07:08 PM
Goes to show you the owner is a typical BACKYARD BREEDER. Doesn't know JACK about breeding and birthing dogs and sees something that is actually not unheard of and makes a quick buck.

It's NOT genetic, first off. She can breed that puppy to death and it won't produce green offspring.

I have several vet tech friends and they have witnessed green puppies before. The green color is not normally as "bright" as this one, but the hue is there and it normally goes away after a few weeks-months. I'd be shocked if the dog is green in a year. But GREAT, now we have another backyard breeder cashing in on something that happens pretty often. Ignorant idiot breeder. If she was half the breeder she wished she was, she'd shrug it off, not call every news station from Cali to Florida to show off her normal dog, thus scamming people to think its some great 1 in a million fluke.
Posted by Siren  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  08:24 PM
Gotta agree 100%, Siren.... it's sad and maddening.
Posted by Steph  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  08:41 PM
I get so sick of these BYB who breed for ignorant reasons, and when something happens, like this, they cash in. Like the Munchkin cats. People think they get some great breed. No, the first Munchkin cat was a STRAY mixed bred cat with short legs. Some breeder saw it, knew they'd make a buck and continued to breed the gene for short legs, but the same gene that effects short legs, effects the heart. So the CAT pays the price for "beauty". And this puppy and its eventual offspring will likely pay the price for its NATURAL coloring. Be overbred or inbred, more the likely. I swear breeders should be required to pass an IQ and MORALITY test before they can breed.
Posted by Siren  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  08:45 PM
Not to mention a knowledge test covering genetics, nutrition, and training!

The best way I've ever found of convincing people to not breed their animals is to explain the costs. Very few professional breeders make any money at all -- they do it for the furtherance and health of the breed. Anyone who breeds correctly will spend every penny they make and more on genetic testing and medical care. And the time spent vetting prospective owners, cleaning, socializing.. egads. I wouldn't do it!

Of course, most people don't believe it.. ooh, sorry, I get just as worked up about this. Not to pimp <a >my site</a> (seriously) but I devote a lot of time and money to educating pet owners, and I deal with lazy attitudes towards proper care every day. :(
Posted by Steph  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  09:09 PM
Whoops, me again.. what gets me most about this story is how long that puppy had to remain in the womb to get stained that vividly. Any bets on this family "discovering" the green puppy LONG after the rest were born? Way to get radiographs or basic medical attention for your dam. "Wasabi" could easily have died in situ, killing the dam and sentencing the other pups to probable death because hand raising is hard.
Posted by Steph  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  09:17 PM
I use the same idea to convince people not to breed. My idiot cousin wanted to breed her dog she got from a BYB for $100. She didn't even KNOW the breed of dog. First told me it was a Bull Terrier, the moment I saw the pup I told her it was either an American Bulldog, American Pit Bull, or AmStaff. She's such a fucking idiot. I told her many of the complications that can happen from breeding and the cost. Breeding for money, it is NEVER good for the dogs. She ended up giving the dog away (my feeling is she sold it for drugs). Twit...

Read this list, print it out, hand it out to every BYB wanna be you meet... http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/breeding/breeder2.html

I work at my local Humane Society as a kennel tech. I know all too well the result of these BYBs. And I'll pimp my site too :D http://www.sirens-grotto.com/animals.htm I have music videos I made in support of adopting pets, as well as for pit bulls, and against animal abuse
I've seen your site before! Love it!!!
Posted by Siren  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  09:25 PM
Thanks! I've seen some of your videos too. Never ending fight, huh? 😊

Our next Activism feature is on breedism. I'll be linking to some of those videos!
Posted by Steph  on  Sun Nov 13, 2005  at  09:40 PM
If it were died bye the mothers saliva after birth it would be a rust color. DFStuckey, you are correct in the fact that a dogs saliva is colored, however it is a reddish color. Thats why you se red feet so often on light colored dogs!
Posted by Skye  on  Mon Nov 14, 2005  at  04:22 AM
I just wanted to point out that if they do try to sell the dog on ebay, it's majorly against the site's rules, but that doesn't mean they won't try to sell it on Hoobly.com, or some other person-to-person trader site. I had personally never heard of green dogs, but it doesn't surprise me. If I had pups, and one was green, I think I'd call my vet first and find out why, and if the vet thought it was something special, I might, too. Maybe that's this woman's case. Not knowing something like that doesn't necessarily make one ignorant, just uninformed. But yeah, if she does try to breed the dog for color, or sell the poor thing for more than its siblings, that is very upsetting.
Posted by Jessica  on  Mon Nov 14, 2005  at  09:47 AM
To Siren:

LMAOOOO, "Vet-tech"..not quite a vet, not quite a highschool graduate..but somewhere in-between a GED and 6 months of night classes. Even so, she seems to have a whole lot of nothing to say.
Posted by D  on  Mon Nov 14, 2005  at  11:34 AM
So the dog is green, big deal! It's not even that bright! Chow-chows have bluish tongues! If it were BRIGHT BRIGHT green it might be more impressive. Don't you find it odd that this woman(from what you can read in the article at least) wasn't worried that this might be some sort of disease? Honestly, people care more about the money than they care about the puppies! 😠
Posted by Lady Hedoniste  on  Mon Nov 14, 2005  at  06:38 PM
D...when you have something intelligent to say, please do so. Read my post again. I said several vet tech FRIENDS, as in not me. I am not a vet tech. I am a kennel tech at a Humane Society. Also, many vet techs learn from experience alone. All you need is a high school diploma and prior experience in animal fields (grooming shops, shelters, etc) to be a vet tech. If you think that any idiot can be one, then you are the only idiot here. It takes patience, hard work, and of course, love for animals. It takes an understanding that you will likely be bitten, scratched, crapped and peed on, have anal glands sprayed all over you, probably some blood on you that is not your own, and always the possibility you could be seriously mauled by a patient. So if you think any kid with a GED and some courses can do it, then lets see you try. When you come crying that a chihuahua bit off your index finger (happened to a girl I know), then we'll just see who's the real idiot.

Back to the INTELLIGENT discussion...

Steph, yes, it is a never ending battle. We plan on distributing that breeding info out to any wanna-bes. My boss LOVED it. 😊
Posted by Siren  on  Mon Nov 14, 2005  at  06:46 PM
Should be Status: Real
Just hope the lil guy stays green
Posted by Craig  on  Tue Nov 15, 2005  at  08:11 AM
Unlikely he'll stay green. Highly unlikely. Coat color changes in puppies as they grow older, just as hair color does in humans. Eventually the color will likely fade and he'll have a more natural golden color like his parents.
Posted by Siren  on  Tue Nov 15, 2005  at  09:07 AM
:sick: look this is what the dog lokks like in smileys version. lol
Posted by george  on  Thu Dec 01, 2005  at  04:22 PM
Well, it's possible that the dog's white fur was tinged green by meconiun.
Meconium is, basically, the fetus' waste and is produced by the digestion of the amniotic fluid and accompanying hair and skin cells that the puppy ingests while still inside the mother's womb.
In humans (and I don't know any reason why this would not apply to dogs, but then, I'm not a vet either) meconium is usually deep green (deeper than olive green, almost black) in color and it sticks to the skin of babies but does not tinge it because of the presence of a greasy bustance calles caseum.
Meconium defecation appears in babies when they have gone through a lot of stress, particularly during the birthing. If aspirated, it can seriously complicate the baby's first days of life and, if severe, even cause death.

Not definitive, I know, but something to consider.
Posted by Dr Noir  on  Thu Dec 29, 2005  at  10:31 AM
My dog had a puppy whose fur had a greenish tint to it. Oddly enough, the puppies were part Goldren Retriever, as this is what their father was (mom's a spitz mix). I didn't really think much of it, and it wore off fairly quickly. So, the vet is probably right.
Posted by Rachel  on  Tue Jan 10, 2006  at  12:56 AM
I saw this on CNN today, it had a video of this dog, a Golden Retriever that has now grown up a little and is no longer green.
Posted by Alex Clark  on  Thu Jan 12, 2006  at  11:50 PM
D-
I am so sick and tired of the disrespect that people in the veterinary profession recieve from people who know absolutely nothing about the proper care of animals. If any high school dropout could be a tech, then why is it required in 48 out of our 50 states that you are CERTIFIED with a DIPLOMA from an ACCREIDTITED INSTITUTION?? By accreitited I mean by NAVTA The National American Veterinary Technicians Association. I am a senior now in college to be a vet tech and let me tell you, it's NO JOKE. Not only do I have class every day all day, I also have a job and I have to do 90 hours of clinical rotations a semester, 25 shadowing hours at an emergency clinc, an 5 week internship, A NATIONAL BOARD EXAM, and three certification exams before I get my license. I read something once that said One person can do it all and that person is a vet tech I am: a nurse, an anesthesiologist, a dentist, a x-ray tech, a pharmacist, a caregiver, a midwife, a mortician, a coroner, a janitor, a maid, a vet's best friend, a pet's best friend, a surgery assistant, an EMT, a shoulder to cry on, and most importantly a protector. I save lives, what do you do?
Posted by Lindsay  on  Fri Feb 03, 2006  at  12:09 PM
Lindsay, while I agree with everything you say in your post, your intention is somewhat obstructed by your repeated misspelling of "accredited".
Posted by V. Ryan  on  Thu Apr 12, 2007  at  06:57 PM
Hey Guys! First Green Puppy Born Video!!! Really worth seeing!
http://yetmorefun.net/mov.php?v=Green_Puppy_Video
Posted by tikamiha  on  Fri May 09, 2008  at  05:23 PM
That is not really all that cool but the puppy is cute. :roll:
Posted by Dee-deee  on  Thu May 29, 2008  at  07:00 PM
why was this in the news? doesnt it happen occasionally? now, if it stayed green throughout the rest of its life, i think that would be a different story. i wish i had a green dog that would always be green.
Posted by GreenWolfDog  on  Fri Nov 07, 2008  at  01:31 PM
GreenWolfDog, that is why the bulti-billion dollar puppy industry releases these stories with such loud media promotion - to get you wishing for one, and paving the way for yet more expensive dogs.

Not to make any trouble here, but isn't green a predominant colour in the Islamic world for flags and banners? And now you have a guy called Hussein as your president . . . ? Hmmmmmmm? 😊
Posted by D F Stuckey  on  Fri Nov 07, 2008  at  02:12 PM
You all must be morons. The puppy is green due to the mother dogs amniotic fluid getting into the placenta. Having been raised on a farm we've had dozens of green puppies and kittens. They only stay green for a short while. Do some homework before you fire off your mouths. It only makes you look like an idiot.
Posted by Natalie Kreitzman  on  Tue Nov 11, 2008  at  10:34 AM
What a crock of crap.
Posted by Lisa S.  on  Mon Jul 06, 2009  at  04:46 PM
Are you people really that stupid?
Posted by Urootypoo Lisa S.  on  Mon Jul 06, 2009  at  04:47 PM
Lisa S., since so many people are isolated form the working sof the natural woerld by living in cities, then they can be forgiven for ignorance over such oddities like this - Which are quite unusual to those not used to this sort of thing.

But then, at least most peopel here are clever enough to join their thoughts together into one email rather than having to send each sentence seperatly. 😊
Posted by D F Stuckey  on  Mon Jul 06, 2009  at  05:55 PM
"Well, it's possible that the dog's white fur was tinged green by meconiun.
Meconium is, basically, the fetus' waste and is produced by the digestion of the amniotic fluid and accompanying hair and skin cells that the puppy ingests while still inside the mother's womb."

absolutely correct; good job. I learned this in veterinary school, and although it's not readily available online, if you search hard enough, this can be confirmed through reputable sources.

The placenta is NOT, in fact, green, and it did not rub off on the puppy. In a normal birth, the puppy should not have passed meconium (essentially, its first poop) until after it is delivered. Unfortunately for this little guy, he got to hang out in his own dirty waste for a while before being delivered. It can happen in people too, but can be a serious problem, for (hopefully) obvious reasons.


"You all must be morons. The puppy is green due to the mother dogs amniotic fluid getting into the placenta. Having been raised on a farm we've had dozens of green puppies and kittens. They only stay green for a short while. Do some homework before you fire off your mouths. It only makes you look like an idiot.
Posted by Natalie Kreitzman in New Jersey on Tue Nov 11, 2008 at 09:34 AM "

Strong words there. Nice try, but the amniotic fluid didn't "get into" the placenta- the placenta surrounds the fetus, which is wrapped in an amniotic sac containing- you guessed it- amniotic fluid. Nice, normal amniotic fluid is not green. It's the meconium that causes the staining.

Calm down people. It'll be okay.
Posted by CG  on  Fri Feb 12, 2010  at  01:21 AM
this happened to one puppy in a lab litter 2 nights ago. the placenta and puppy were green and in the morning i just thought oh it pooped while it was being born but after checking with a well known vet, it is not uncommon, and the puppy is stained by the placenta but not permanetly.
any way it looks strange seeing 7 yellow puppies and one light green one, the color of lime sherbert. the skin is not green but pink. the puppy is normal in every way other than the color. never heard of this before it happen
Posted by barbara  on  Wed Mar 10, 2010  at  12:34 PM
My pit bull recently had pups and one of them was born green. At first my fiance thought the little pup was yellow, then i started looking up stuff on the internet and saw that there were actually 6 green pups born in the united states. That i could find. My puppy was a female and 1 of 2 runts. Unfortunatly she didnt make it. She was the last born of a large litter of 11. Mother and the rest of pups are fine and healthy. Including the second runt.
Posted by nikki  on  Sun Apr 11, 2010  at  09:01 PM
I just found this artical and on mothers day my Golden gave birth to a green puppy. The litter consisted of seven (4 males and 3 Females) that are from my full golden (mother) and the neighbors full yellow lab (father). Out of the 7 pups there is just one that is this color thsat appears to be a blueish green hue. I would love to hear the color of your pup at this time.
Posted by Carol Dove  on  Mon May 17, 2010  at  09:12 AM
I also have a green Husky puppy,2nd born,just wondering how to get the green off?
Posted by Jo  on  Sat Dec 11, 2010  at  02:49 PM
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