It is widely known that Lowchen can and often will change colors through out their lives. This has been referred to as the fade gene, however, there is no marker test for this gene. In historic Lowchen lore, there have been several instances chronicled when people got into heated arguments about the identity of dogs in the show ring once they changed colors. Luckily, today, we have microchips and DNA to verify identity if such a disagreement should occur.
There no health or behavioral issues that we have observed to be correlated to the fade gene in Lowchen. To date, none of the major genetic marker tests available like PawPrints now Orivet, Veterinary Genetics Lab at UC Davis, or Embark offer a fade gene marker test. As any color of lowchen can be exhibited, it is not a characteristics that we prioritize when making breeding decisions. Below are some examples of color change in Lowchen.
